AP unit two and three

Central nervous system:

The brain and the spinal cord

Peripheral nervous system:

part of the nervous system that consists of nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord

Autonomic nervous system:

regulates involuntary bodily functions

Parasympathetic:

relaxes the body

Sympathetic:

arouses the body

Neurons:

basic building blocks of the brain

Glial cells:

provide support, protection, and nourishment to neurons

Reflex arc:

an automatic, involuntary, and rapid responses through the spinal cord

Sensory neurons:

(afferent) carry messages from the body to the brain

Motor neurons:

(efferent)carry messages from the brain to the body

Interneurons:

carry messages between the sensory and motor neurons

Neurotransmitters:

chemical messengers released in the synapse to keep a message/impulse going

Dopamine:

motor movement and alertness

Serotonin:

mood, hunger. sleep , and arousal control

Norepinephrine:

helps control alertness and arousal

Glutamate:

excitatory, involved in memory

GABA:

inhibitory, calms you down

Endorphins:

released when your body feels pain/stress

Substance P:

tells you when there is pain

Acetylcholine:

motor movement, memory and learning (too much=jittery, too little=slow)

Hormones:

chemical messengers released by glands in the endocrine system

Adrenaline:

activates flight or fight response (sympathetic NS)

Leptin:

makes you feel full after eating

Ghrelin:

tells you you're hungry

Melatonin:

makes you feel sleepy

Oxytocin:

“love” hormone, associated with bonding, empathy, and trust

Psychoactive drugs:

chemical substance that temporarily alters brain function and perception

Stimulants:

speeds up neural activity (caffeine and cocaine)

Depressants:

slows down neural activity (alcohol)

Hallucinogens:

distorts perceptions (marijuana)

Opioids:

reduces pain (heroin)

Brainstem:

responsible for basic survival functions

Medulla:

controls heartbeat, breathing, swallowing, etc,

Reticular activating system:

controls arousal and alertness (norepinephrine)

Pons:

coordinates movement, relax, controls sleep cycle

Cerebellum:

‘little brain”, coordination, movement, and muscle memory

Frontal lobe:

focusing,checking, problem solving, planning, making decisions, movement, and PERSONALITY

Occipital lobes:

processes visual information (occipital=ojos)

Temporal lobes:

processes auditory information (Temporal= THE headphones)

Parietal lobes:

receives sensory input for touch and body position (Parietal: Please don't touch)

Limbic system:

a group of interconnected brain structures that regulate emotions and behavior

Thalamus:

the brain's sensory switchboard; receives all information from the senses EXCEPT smell (Thal and Amus are the the UPS workers (not usps bc no s for smell))

Hypothalamus:

maintains homeostasis and controls pituitary gland (blood flow hypo)

Pituitary gland:

“master gland”, secretes hormones

Hippocampus:

processes explicit memories (present with past)

Amygdala:

responsible for emotions (aggression and fear)

Corpus callosum:

connects right and left side of the brain ( think corpus connects)

Motor cortex:

controls voluntary movements

Prefrontal cortex:

controls decision making, planning, impulsivity, and personality

Somatosensory cortex:

registers and processes body touch

Left brain hemisphere:

primarily responsible for language

Right brain hemisphere:

responsible for spatial ability

Broca's area:

produces speech (left hemisphere)

Wernicke's area:

comprehends speech (left hemisphere)

Circadian rhythm:

internal 24-hour clock (explains jetlag)

NREM:

non-rapid eye movement

Stage 1 of nrem:

falling asleep (heartbeat and breathing slowing down)

Stage 2 of nrem:

light sleep (brain produces sleep spindles)

Stage 3 of nrem:

deepest sleep (tissue repair growth and cell regeneration, immune systems strengthens)

REM sleep:

dream state- internally your body is aroused but externally body is paralyzed

Hypnagogic sensations:

the few minutes when you are not quite awake, but not totally asleep yet (feeling like your falling)

Activation-synthesis theory:

dreams stem from random neural activation spreading upward from the brainstem

Restoration theory:

sleep is essential for body and mind to recover, repair, and replenish energy levels, resources and brain tissue

Insomnia:

difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or both

Narcolepsy:

uncontrollable sleep attacks

REM sleep behavior disorder:

when muscle paralysis associated with REM sleep does not occur

Sleep apnea:

when breathing repeatedly stops and starts, causing you to wake up multiple times in the night and feel tired during the day

Somnambulism:

sleepwalking

Ganglion cells:

neurons in the retina that receive information from the bipolar cells

Dichromatism:

induvidual only has ⅔ types of functioning cones

Monochromastism:

individual can only perceive shades of a single color or grey

Prospagnosia:

“face blindness”, unable to recognize familiar faces

Blindsight:

ability of people with damage to the visual cortex to respond to visual stimuli without experience of seeing

Wavelengths:

determine hue in sight and pitch in hearing

Amplitude:

determine brightness in sight and loudness in hearing

Loudness:

determined by amplitude

Pitch:

the highness/lowness of a tone (based on frequency)

Frequency theory:

pitch is determined by how fast or slow the neurons in our auditory system fire in response to sound waves

Volley theory:

frequency theory + groups of neurons can work together to perceive sounds at frequencies beyond their individual firing rates

Place theory:

different areas along the cochlea respond to different frequencies- all based on location

Sound localization:

ability to identify to origin and direction of a sound

Conductive deafness:

when the outer and middle ear have problems and they obstruct sound waves from reaching the inner ear (ex: born with it)

Sensorineural deafness:

damage to the inner ear/ auditory nerve that affects the transmission of sound signals (ex: wearing headphones too much)

Olfactory sense:

smell

Gate control theory:

suggest a neurological gate in the spinal cord that determines which pain signals reach the brain

Vestibular sense:

balance and coordination

Fovea:

center of the retina, where cells are most concentrated and image is more clearly focused

Bottom up processing:

analyzing information from the environment to build a perception or understanding of the world (from bottom (ground) to up (brain))

Top down processing:

our knowledge or experiences influence how we interpret sensory information (from brain;top, to down; ground)

Perceptual set:

context of your situation detects more stimuli (hearing noises when home alone)

Change blindness:

phenomenon where people fail to notice significant changes in their environment (not noticing someone dyed their hair)

Difference threshold:

the SMALLEST difference between 2 stimuli that can be accurately detected on 50% of trials

Absolute threshold:

the minimum intensity of a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time

Farsightedness:

close objects are blurry, far objects are clear

Nearsightedness:

close objects are clear, far objects are blurry