PSY 121 Exam 2 Study Guide Missouri State University

soma

The cell body that contains the nucleus, which includes DNA and other structures that support the neuron, is called the ___________.

terminal buttons

The structures that extend out from the axon and release chemicals into the space between neurons are called ___________.

presynaptic neuron; postsynaptic neuron

The neuron that secretes neurotransmitters into the synapse is called the _________, and the neuron that receives the signal is called the ________.

negatively charged

At its resting state, the inside of a neuron is more ______________ than the outside.

depolarized; electrical

An action potential occurs when: the inside of the cell becomes ____________ and reaches its threshold, which causes a(n) ______________ reaction.

chemical; neurotransmitter

An action potential becomes a(n) ______________ event once the _______________ is/are released into the synapse.

Dopamine

Muhammad Ali had trouble controlling his motor movements in the last decades of his life. He had tremors in his muscles, which made it difficult for him to walk and talk. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which means he had low levels of which neurotransmitter?

chemical that blocks the effects of a substance or neurotransmitter.

An antagonist can be described as a:

synaptic plasticity

A study with London taxi cab drivers found that the hippocampus of their brains had greater volume, which was presumed to mean more neural connections, as a result of learning and driving new routes around the city. This finding demonstrates the concept of _________________.

exercise; hippocampus

Chen has felt depressed for the last six months and is on an antidepressant. He still struggles with depressed mood and difficulty with his memory. His psychologist suggested getting more ______ because that may increase the volume of the _______ in his brain.

toward; away from

Sensory neurons carry information ________________ the central nervous system, and motor neurons carry information ______________ the central nervous system.

Somatic nervous system

As Makelah does squats and lunges to warm her body up to play basketball, she realizes she is using which part of her peripheral nervous system?

Hips and legs

Brad is a 45-year-old man who was in a car accident and injured his lower spine area. As a result of the damage, he has lost feeling and movement in what parts of his body?

Hypothalamus

Which structure is considered part of the endocrine system and the nervous system?

pancreas; insulin

Sayla has had to monitor her blood sugar levels since she was a child to make sure she doesn't get sick. Although she would like to be able to eat sweets, she understands she can't because her ______ does not produce enough _________.

neurotransmitters; hormones

Epinephrine and norepinephrine are secreted by the adrenal glands and are both _____________ when used in the nervous system and _________ when used in the endocrine system.

computed tomography (CT)

Keisha was brought to the ER with a bump on her head. The doctor ordered a test that consists of a series of x-rays from many different perspectives that will display a two-dimensional image of her brain. This test is called ___________.

Positron emission tomography (PET)

This type of brain scan provides a functional assessment of the brain.

medulla

Brett was up to bat and the pitcher threw a wild pitch hitting Brett in the back of the head. Luckily, Brett's batting helmet covered his neck protecting his ______________, which controls breathing and heartbeat.

parietal

The only lobes of the brain that touch all other lobes are the __________ lobes.

Temporal lobe

We hear with our ears, but which lobe of our brain is used to understand language?

Amygdala

Which structure of the limbic system is considered the center of our emotions?

concussion

Manny is a 15-year-old boy who has been begging his parents to let him try out for his high school football team. Manny's parents are concerned about the risk of a ________ if he plays football.

prefrontal cortex

Phineas Gage became a famous case study demonstrating how damage to the ________________ can lead to significant personality changes.

Right hemisphere

Rayna considers herself to be a creative person. She creates sculptures out of recycled materials and loves to paint. She also seems to be skilled at reading people's emotional expressions. Which hemisphere of Rayna's brain would be the most active in these situations?

The left visual field is processed by the right side of the brain, which is not associated with language.

Ava has had her corpus callosum severed and is referred to as a "split brain patient." When her doctor presents an apple in her left visual field she claims she doesn't see anything. Why is this?

His parents both had recessive genes for blue eyes.

Ricky has blue eyes. Both of his parents have brown eyes. How is this possible?

20,000

The results of the Human Genome Project concluded that the human genome has approximately _________________ genes.

epigenetics

The study of how the external environment can influence and change gene functions is called ____________.

Afterimages

Which of the following is a good example of a physiological illusion?

rapidly; slowly

Strong bright lights will cause sensory neurons to ______ fire while dim low lights will cause sensory neurons to ___________ fire.

Auditory nerve

Which part of the ear carries the message to the brain?

To funnel sound waves to the ear drum

What is the function of the outer ear?

perception

The interpretation of raw stimuli from our senses into meaningful information is called ____________.

subliminal priming

Leander was really hungry before being interviewed about his study habits. Researchers whispered "taco truck" several times during his interview although he didn't hear the words. He was then given the opportunity to eat food from a taco truck or from the cafeteria. Leander would most likely choose the taco truck. He was subjected to what researchers call ____________.

percentage

Weber's law states that detectable differences between stimuli involve the ______ difference between them.

By the time they can crawl

According to the visual cliff experiment, when can most humans judge depth?

Rods and cones, bipolar cells, ganglion cells

List the three layers of cells in the correct order that transmit neural signals from the retina to the optic nerve.

feature detector

Helmut is at a crowded park walking his dog. He is looking for a friend and finally sees his friend's face among the crowd. He is using his ______________ neurons to detect faces.

subtractive; additive

Mixing objects (such as paint) is referred to as _____________ color mixing; whereas, mixing colors of light is called ___________ color mixing.

top-down processing

You are attending a lecture with your friend but can't quite hear what the presenter is saying. Once your friend tells you the title of the lecture is "Psychology in Oscar-Winning Movies," you are able to understand much more of what was being said. This is an example of ____________.

iris

The ______ is the colored muscle of the eye that dilates and constricts according to the amount of light.

just noticeable difference

Kendra likes to listen to soft music while studying. Each time her roommate Layla comes in, Layla turns the music up by one. Kendra doesn't always notice the change, but she does notice it more than 50 percent of the time. This is an example of __________.

high frequencies; low frequencies; low and moderate frequencies

The place theory of hearing explains _________; the frequency theory explains ____________; and the volley principle explains _____________.

Sensorineural hearing loss

Marcus loves to listen to music, podcasts, and radio talk shows. He usually falls asleep while listening to something on the Internet and has his earphones in almost 5–6 hours a day. He has noticed lately that he seems to be asking his wife to repeat what she said several times before he can hear it. What type of hearing loss may Marcus be experiencing?

At the top of the nasal cavity

Where are the olfactory receptor sites located?

supertaster

Anita has a severe reaction to chili peppers—they actually cause her pain—and she finds kale and broccoli too bitter to eat, while oranges are too sweet. Anita may have many more taste buds than the average person, which would make her a ____________.

touch

Preterm infants have been found to thrive when their sense of _________ is stimulated by their mother.

Vestibular sense

Which sense originates in the inner ear and can cause you to lose your balance when you have an ear infection?

Opponent process theory

Which theory of color vision states that we have three special receptor cells to process color that work in an opposing manner?

retina

The __________ is comprised of multilayered tissue at the back of the eye and is responsible for visual transduction.

perceptual set

Stephan convinced his friend Derek that if he played a Beatles song backward, he would hear it whispering, "Worship Satan." Derek tried it and did hear the words "Worship Satan." Derek's perception of these words was probably influenced by __________.

Illusory contour

What concept explains how a person can perceive lines in a diagram, even though distinct lines are not actually part of the diagram?

It refers to how we naturally group objects together and perceive whole shapes instead of individual parts.

What does the term Gestalt mean for psychological purposes?

Closure

When a person is shown a series of disconnected curved lines in a circular pattern, the brain will interpret it as a circle. Which Gestalt principle is this example illustrating?

Both bottom-up and top-down processing

Most perception involves which type of processing?

retinal disparity

Humans receive images on their retinas from two slightly different angles. This binocular cue is referred to as ___________.

subliminal perception

Research has determined that our brain is capable of sensing stimuli without conscious awareness of that stimuli. This is called ____________.

There are reliable cultural differences in perception of the illusion, but no consensus regarding why the differences exist.

Why has the Müller-Lyer Illusion intrigued psychological researchers for years?

unpredictability and lack of control

Some stress researchers have proposed we restrict the definition of stress to situations that involve ____________.

stressors

A hurricane and an hour daily commute are both considered:

distress; eustress

Stress that has a negative impact on people is referred to as __________, whereas the stress that has positive results is called ____________.

Cognitive

Leesa is excited and nervous to go on her first overseas vacation. She has been thinking about how much the trip will cost and wonders if she is independent enough to manage on her own. Leesa is experiencing which aspect of psychological stress?

behavioral

When people feel stressed, they often start eating unhealthy food and stop exercising. These ____________ aspects of stress can lead to more stress in the future.

social support

Mitch was raised in foster care and has no real family to rely on when life becomes overwhelming. He also has difficulty making friends because he does not trust that people won't leave him. Mitch does not have good _______, which can increase the impact of stressors.

income; educational attainment

Socioeconomic status or SES is most often calculated using a combination of _______ and ___________.

high SES; live in an urban area

The group of people who will most likely have the highest life expectancy are those who are __________ and ____________.

more religious

Muslim Arabs who are ___________ are more likely to experience acculturative stress when trying to adjust to the United States.

Increased heart rate, increased respiration, sweating, decreased digestive function

What are some of the physiological changes that make up the fight-or-flight response?

Weight gain and memory impairment

Increased cortisol production has been linked to what negative outcomes?

cortisol; epinephrine; norepinephrine

Under stress, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis releases _____________, whereas the sympathetic nervous system releases ____________ and ______________.

tend and befriend

Women’s emotional response to stress typically involves nurturing behaviors that have been called ___________________.

Brownies and ice cream

Marissa's boyfriend broke up with her, and she failed her chemistry test the same day. Marissa feels depressed and worried. Which foods is she most likely to eat in response to her stress?

Dopamine

Researchers believe that emotional eating and obesity use similar brain pathways as substance use and addiction. Which neurotransmitter is associated with these pathways?

Age, genetics, and nutrition

What factors can influence the functioning of your immune system?

They patrol the body looking for diseased cells and attack them with lethal chemicals.

What is the function of the natural killer (NK) cells?

They suppress the disease-fighting activity of the T cells, B cells, and NK cells leaving the person more susceptible to illness.

During periods of stress, the brain releases cortisol and other stress-related hormones. What impact do these stress hormones have on the immune system?

Mindfulness-based therapy

Which psychological treatment has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression among cancer patients?

Stress can make a person's body more hospitable to cancer.

How is stress related to cancer?

Stress leads to increased cortisol and decreased functioning of the immune system, which increases the risk of illness or infection.

What is the relationship between stress, cortisol, the immune system's functioning, and the risk of illness?

involuntary; reduce

Biofeedback is designed to help people control their _____ bodily functions as a way to _____ stress.

Guided imagery

Quincy is imagining himself lying on a beach. He tries to feel the cool ocean breezes against his skin, hear the quiet lap of the ocean, and see the swaying of the palm trees. He is using which technique to reduce stress?

All of the answers are correct

Aerobic exercise has been found to ____________.

perceived control

Reza's parents are going through a divorce. Reza would like to live with his mother, but where he lives will be decided by a judge. Reza feels stressed, in part, because he lacks ____________.

A primary appraisal and a secondary appraisal

A cognitive appraisal of a stressful situation involves two steps. What are they?

Emotion-focused coping

Helga was diagnosed with breast cancer and is anxious and worried about the outcome. Her friends have rallied around her, spending time watching funny movies or taking her to comedy clubs. Helga's friends are engaging in which type of coping?

more; more

Compared to a collectivistic culture, a person from an individualistic culture is likely going to have __________ friends and be ___________ likely to seek out social support.

The number of Facebook friends is positively related to perceived social support.

How is Facebook related to social support?

Healthier diet, more physical activity, improved immune system functioning

What are some of the positive physical health outcomes associated with being religiously active?