Learn: AP Psychology Unit 1: Biological Bases, Nervous System, Brain Structures, and Consciousness

What is the nature-nurture issue?

The debate over the influence of genetics (nature) and environment (nurture) on behavior.

What does nature refer to in psychology?

The influence of genes and biology on behavior and characteristics.

What does nurture refer to in psychology?

The influence of environment and experience on behavior.

What is modern psychology's answer to the nature-nurture debate?

Nature × Nurture; genes provide predispositions influenced by the environment.

What is evolutionary psychology?

The study of how evolution and natural selection influence behavior and mental processes.

What is natural selection?

The process where individuals with traits that help them survive and reproduce are more likely to pass those traits to future generations.

What are the steps of natural selection?

1. Individuals vary. 2. Some variations help survival/reproduction. 3. Those individuals are more likely to reproduce. 4. Their genes are more likely to be passed on. 5. Over generations, those traits become more common.

What is the Belyaev Fox Experiment?

An experiment where Dmitry Belyaev bred the tamest foxes, demonstrating how selecting a behavioral characteristic can influence future generations.

What is behavior genetics?

The study of the relative effects of genes and environment on behavior.

What is heredity?

The genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring.

What is a gene?

A segment of DNA that contributes to inherited characteristics.

What does polygenic mean?

A trait influenced by many genes.

What are identical twins?

Monozygotic twins that develop from one fertilized egg and have essentially the same genetic makeup.

What are fraternal twins?

Dizygotic twins that develop from two different eggs and share about half of their genes.

What is the difference between identical and fraternal twins?

Identical twins share the same genetic origin, while fraternal twins develop from separate eggs and share about 50% of their genes.

What do adoption studies compare?

Biological relatives vs. adoptive relatives to assess genetic vs. environmental influences.

What is epigenetics?

The study of how environmental factors can trigger or block gene expression.

What is the gene-environment interaction?

The way genes and environment influence each other.

What is the central nervous system (CNS)?

The brain and spinal cord, which serve as the body's main decision-making system.

What is the peripheral nervous system (PNS)?

All nerves outside the brain and spinal cord that connect the CNS to muscles, glands, and sensory receptors.

What does the somatic nervous system control?

Voluntary movement of skeletal muscles.

What does the autonomic nervous system (ANS) control?

Automatic/internal functions like heartbeat and digestion.

What is the function of the sympathetic nervous system?

To activate the body during stress (fight or flight response).

What is the function of the parasympathetic nervous system?

To calm the body after stress (rest and digest).

What does the sympathetic nervous system do?

Increases heart rate, raises blood pressure, slows digestion, raises blood sugar, and makes you more alert.

What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?

Calms the body after stress by slowing heart rate, restoring digestion, and conserving energy.

What is homeostasis?

Maintaining a relatively stable internal environment.

What do sensory neurons do?

Carry information from the body to the CNS.

What do motor neurons do?

Carry information from the CNS to muscles or glands.

What do interneurons do?

Connect and process information within the CNS.

What is the function of dendrites?

Receive incoming information.

What is the role of the cell body (soma) in a neuron?

Contains the nucleus and keeps the neuron functioning.

What does the axon do?

Carries neural information away from the cell body.

What is the myelin sheath?

A fatty covering around some axons that insulates and speeds neural impulses.

What are axon terminals?

The endings of the axon that release neurotransmitters.

What are glial cells?

Support, nourish, and protect neurons.

What is the threshold in neural firing?

The minimum level of stimulation needed to trigger an action potential.

What is an action potential?

A neural impulse that travels down the axon.

What is the all-or-none response?

A neuron either fires completely or does not fire at all.

What is the refractory period?

A brief period after firing when the neuron resets and cannot immediately fire again.

What happens when an action potential reaches the axon terminal?

Neurotransmitters are released.

What are neurotransmitters?

Chemical messengers that travel across synapses.

What is reuptake?

The sending neuron reabsorbs excess neurotransmitters.

What is an agonist?

A chemical that increases or mimics a neurotransmitter's action.

What is an antagonist?

A chemical that blocks or decreases a neurotransmitter's action.

What is the function of acetylcholine (ACh)?

Muscle action, learning, and memory.

What are endorphins?

Natural opioids produced by the body associated with pain reduction, exercise, and pleasure.

What is dopamine associated with?

Movement, reward, motivation, and learning.

What is serotonin associated with?

Mood, sleep, and appetite.

What is the endocrine system?

A system that communicates using hormones traveling through the bloodstream.

What is the difference between the nervous system and the endocrine system?

The nervous system uses electrical and chemical signals and is very fast, while the endocrine system uses chemical signals (hormones) and is slower with longer-lasting effects.

What is the pituitary gland known as?

master master gland because it influences other endocrine glands.

What does the hypothalamus do?

Connects the nervous system with the endocrine system.

What do adrenal glands release during stress?

Epinephrine and norepinephrine.

What is a psychoactive drug?

A chemical that changes perception, mood, and consciousness.

What is substance use disorder?

A pattern of drug use that continues despite significant problems in life.

What is tolerance in substance use?

Needing more of a substance to experience the same effect.

What is withdrawal?

Unpleasant physical or psychological symptoms after stopping or reducing a drug.

What do depressants do?

Slow down neural activity and bodily functions.

What do stimulants do?

Increase alertness and neural activity.

What do hallucinogens do?

Distort perceptions and can produce altered sensory experiences.

What influences behavior?

Biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors.

What does the biopsychosocial approach include?

Genes, brain, hormones, thoughts, emotions, learning, culture, relationships, environment.

What is neuroplasticity?

The brain's ability to change and reorganize itself based on experience.

What does EEG measure?

Electrical activity in the brain.

What is the purpose of a CT scan?

To create images of brain structure using X-rays.

How does an MRI work?

It uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create detailed images of brain structure.

What does fMRI show?

Brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow.

What does a PET scan use to show metabolic activity?

Radioactive glucose.

What is a lesion in the brain?

Damage to a specific brain area that helps researchers understand its function.

What are the three major divisions of the brain?

Hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain.

What functions does the hindbrain control?

Basic survival functions.

What is the role of the midbrain?

Movement and sensory processing.

What does the forebrain handle?

Complex thinking, decision-making, sensory processing, voluntary movement.

What does the brainstem control?

Automatic survival functions.

What does the medulla control?

Heartbeat and breathing.

What is the function of the pons?

Sleep and movement coordination.

What does the reticular formation involve?

Arousal, alertness, attention, filtering incoming information.

What is the thalamus known for?

Being a major sensory relay station.

What is the exception to the thalamus routing sensory information?

Smell largely bypasses the thalamus.

What functions does the cerebellum serve?

Balance, coordination, fine motor movement, nonverbal learning/memory.

What is the limbic system associated with?

Emotion, motivation, and memory.

What is the amygdala important for?

Fear, aggression, and emotional responses.

What is the role of the hippocampus?

Forming new explicit memories and memory processing.

What does the hypothalamus regulate?

Hunger, thirst, temperature, sex, hormonal regulation, homeostasis.

What is the cerebral cortex involved in?

Thinking, perception, language, decision-making, and voluntary movement.

What are the four lobes of the brain?

Frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal.

What functions does the frontal lobe serve?

Planning, judgment, decision-making, personality, voluntary movement, speech production.

What does the parietal lobe process?

Touch, pressure, temperature, pain, spatial processing.

What is the main function of the occipital lobe?

Vision.

What functions does the temporal lobe handle?

Hearing, language comprehension, memory.

What does the motor cortex control?

Voluntary movement.

Where is the somatosensory cortex located?

In the parietal lobe.

What are association areas responsible for?

Integrating information and supporting complex mental processes.

What is Broca's area responsible for?

Speech production.

What is Wernicke's area responsible for?

Language comprehension.

What is the corpus callosum?

A large bundle of neural fibers connecting the left and right hemispheres.

What does contralateral organization mean?

The brain controls the opposite side of the body.

What is neurogenesis?

The formation of new neurons.

What happens in a split-brain patient?

The corpus callosum is severed, reducing communication between hemispheres.