AP Psych Unit 1

Brain Parts and Neurtransmitters

Temporal Lobe

Auditory Areas and assists with memory, contains the auditory cortex and Wernicke's Area

Occipital Lobe

Receives information from the visual fields and organizes and processes the information, contains the visual cortex

Parietal Lobe

Spatial reasoning, receives sensory input for touch sensations like pain, pressure and temperature, and body positions, contains the somatosensory cortex and the angular gyrus

Angular Gyrus

Visual representation into auditory code(Reading)

Somatsensory Cortex

Information from the skin & involuntary movement

Brain Stem

A region of the brain that contains the most instinctual and basic functions

Cerebellum

Rear of brain stem, processes sensory input for coordination and balance, nonverbal learning and memory

Primary Motor Cortex

Muscle, fine, voluntary movement, broken into sections for different body parts

Frontal Lobe

Decision making and executive functions, personality and abstract thoughts, contains the prefrontal cortex, the primary motor cortex, and Broca’s area

Prefrontal Cortex

Motion control

Broca’s Area

Controls speech muscles, part of the motor cortex

Wernicke’s Area

Responsible for language comprehension

Cerebral Cortex

The connected fabric covering the cerebral hemispheres

Medulla

Breathing, heartbeat, blinking, base of the brain stem

Corpus Callosum

Connects the left and right hemispheres (communication)

Pituitary Gland

Hormone control, controls all endocrine glands

Pons

Sleep, unconscious movement

Pineal Gland

Melationin production and sleep regulation

Reticular Formation

Arousal, selective attention, filters incoming stimuli

Limbic System

The “Lizard Brain“, memories and emotions, contains the Amygdala, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus

Amygdala

Fear and aggression, (fight or flight), facial recgonition

Hippocampus

Memories, moving short term to long term, episodic memories (story oriented)

Thalamus

Relay station for information, sends signals to right part of the name

Hypothalamus

Hunger, thirst, sex, helps govern the Pituitary Gland, emotions and rewards system

Glial cells

Worker bee cells, clean up

Nerve Cells

Queen bee cells, make the decisions 

Myelin Sheath

Increase signal speed

Schwann Cells

Produce Myelin Sheath

Dendrite

Receives signals

Axon

Signal pathway

Axon Terminal

Transmits signals

Dopamine

Reward pathway, voluntary movement, influences sleeping

Serotonin

Mood, sleep, hunger

Norepinephrine

Alertness and arousal (vigilance), with epinephrine during SNS response

Gultamate

Learning and memory, wildly distributed excitatory neurotransmitter

GABA

Sleep, calm, slowdown, inhibitory neurotransmitter

Endorphins

Reduce pain

Substance P

In the Brian and spinal cord, transmit pain signals

Acetylcholine (Ach)

Muscle actions & attention (in learnin)