AP Psych current

Genetic predisposition

A genetic tendency that makes an individual more likely to develop a certain trait, behavior, or disorder.

Neurons

Specialized nerve cells that transmit information through electrical and chemical signals.

Multiple sclerosis

A disease in which the myelin sheath deteriorates, disrupting neural transmission.

Neural transmission

The process by which neurons communicate using electrical impulses and neurotransmitters.

Resting potential

The stable negative electrical charge of a neuron when it is not firing.

Threshold

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

Action potential

A rapid electrical impulse that travels down a neuron’s axon once threshold is reached.

All

or

Depolarization

The process during an action potential when the inside of the neuron becomes more positively charged.

Excitatory

A neurotransmitter effect that increases the likelihood that a neuron will fire.

Inhibitory

A neurotransmitter effect that decreases the likelihood that a neuron will fire.

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter involved in movement, reward, motivation, and pleasure.

Serotonin

A neurotransmitter that affects mood, sleep, appetite, and arousal.

Norepinephrine

A neurotransmitter involved in alertness, arousal, and the fight

Glutamate

The main excitatory neurotransmitter, involved in learning and memory.

GABA

The main inhibitory neurotransmitter, which reduces neural activity.

Endorphins

Natural opiate

Substance P

A neurotransmitter associated with pain perception.

Acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter involved in muscle action, learning, and memory.

Alzheimer’s disease

A progressive neurodegenerative disease involving memory loss and impaired thinking, linked to reduced acetylcholine.

Myasthenia gravis

An autoimmune disorder that causes muscle weakness by blocking acetylcholine receptors.

Sensory neurons

Neurons that carry incoming information from sensory receptors to the central nervous system.

Interneurons

Neurons within the central nervous system that process information between sensory and motor neurons.

Motor neurons

Neurons that carry signals from the central nervous system to muscles or glands.

Central nervous system

The brain and spinal cord.

Peripheral nervous system

All nerves outside the brain and spinal cord that connect the body to the CNS.

Reflex arcs

Neural pathways that control automatic reflex actions, usually through the spinal cord.

Somatic nervous system

The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls voluntary skeletal muscle movement.

Autonomic nervous system

The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls involuntary functions such as heart rate and digestion.

Sympathetic nervous system

The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body for fight

Parasympathetic nervous system

The division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body and restores energy.

Endocrine system

The system of glands that releases hormones into the bloodstream.

Hormones

Chemical messengers released by glands that regulate body processes.

Adrenaline

A hormone involved in the stress response that increases heart rate, blood pressure, and energy.

Leptin

A hormone that signals fullness and helps regulate appetite.

Ghrelin

A hormone that stimulates hunger.

Melatonin

A hormone released by the pineal gland that regulates the sleep

Oxytocin

A hormone involved in bonding, childbirth, lactation, and social attachment.

Lesioning

Destroying or damaging brain tissue to study its function.

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

A recording of the brain’s electrical activity using electrodes on the scalp.

Functional MRI (fMRI)

A brain imaging technique that measures activity by detecting changes in blood flow.

Medulla

A brainstem structure that controls vital functions such as breathing and heart rate.

Cerebellum

A brain region responsible for balance, coordination, posture, and motor learning.

Reticular formation

A network in the brainstem that regulates arousal and alertness.

Thalamus

The brain’s major sensory relay station, directing incoming sensory signals to the proper cortical areas.

Hypothalamus

A brain structure that maintains homeostasis and links the nervous system to the endocrine system.

Amygdala

A limbic system structure involved in emotion, especially fear and aggression.

Hippocampus

A limbic system structure involved in forming new memories.

Brain stem

The lower part of the brain that controls basic survival functions.

Cerebral cortex

The outer layer of the brain responsible for higher cognitive functions.

Limbic system

A group of structures involved in emotion, memory, and motivation.

Contralateral hemispheric organization

The principle that each hemisphere of the brain controls the opposite side of the body.

Hemispheric specialization

The idea that certain functions are more strongly controlled by one hemisphere than the other.

Split

brain patients

Corpus callosum

The large bundle of neural fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres.

Lobes

The major divisions of the cerebral cortex: frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital.

Association area

Regions of the cerebral cortex responsible for integrating information and higher mental processes.

Frontal lobes

Brain regions involved in planning, decision

Prefrontal cortex

The area of the frontal lobe involved in executive functions such as judgment, planning, and impulse control.

Central executive

The part of working memory that directs attention and coordinates the other components.

Broca’s area

The brain area responsible for speech production.

Aphasia

A language impairment caused by brain damage.

Wernicke’s area

The brain area responsible for language comprehension.

Motor cortex

The area of the cerebral cortex that controls voluntary muscle movements.

Parietal lobes

Brain regions involved in processing touch and spatial information.

Somatosensory cortex

The area of the cortex that receives sensory input from the body, such as touch, pressure, pain, and temperature.

Phantom limb syndrome

The sensation that an amputated or missing limb is still present.

Occipital lobes

Brain regions primarily responsible for visual processing.

Temporal lobes

Brain regions involved in hearing, language, and memory.

Linguistic processing

The brain mechanisms used to interpret and produce language.

Placebo effect

Improvement caused by expectations about a treatment rather than by the treatment itself.

Just

noticeable difference

Weber’s law

The principle that the just

Top

down processing

Bottom

up processing

Schema

A mental framework or organized pattern of knowledge that helps interpret and understand information.

Perceptual set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Context effects

The influence of environmental factors on the perception of a stimulus.

Gestalt psychology

A perspective emphasizing that people organize perceptual experiences into unified wholes, and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Closure

The tendency to fill in gaps in incomplete images in order to perceive a complete whole.

Figure

ground relationship

Proximity

The tendency to group nearby objects together.

Similarity

The tendency to group objects that look alike as belonging together.

Continuity

The tendency to perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than disconnected ones.

Attention

The process of focusing mental awareness on particular stimuli or tasks.

Selective attention

Focusing on certain stimuli while ignoring others.

Cocktail party effect

The tendency to notice personally meaningful stimuli, such as your name, in a noisy environment.

Inattentional blindness

Failure to notice a visible but unexpected object because attention is focused elsewhere.

Change blindness

Failure to notice changes in the environment due to lack of attention.

Visual cliff

A laboratory device used to test depth perception, especially in infants and young animals.

Binocular depth cues

Depth cues that rely on the use of both eyes.

Retinal disparity

The slight difference between the images projected onto each retina, helping create depth perception.

Convergence

The inward turning of the eyes to focus on a nearby object, helping create depth perception.

Monocular depth cues

Depth cues that can be perceived with one eye and give the illusion of depth on flat surfaces.

Relative clarity

The monocular cue that hazy objects seem farther away than sharp objects.

Relative size cue

The monocular cue that smaller retinal images are perceived as farther away.

Texture gradient

The monocular cue that distant surfaces appear smoother and less detailed.

Linear perspective

The monocular cue in which parallel lines appear to meet in the distance.

Interposition cue

The monocular cue in which one object partially blocking another makes the blocked object seem farther away.

Color constancy

Perceiving an object as the same color even under different lighting conditions.