AP Psychology Unit 1

Neuron

Nerve cells, responsible for giving and receiving information from the brain

Dendrites

The part of the neuron that receives input from other neurons through receptors

Axon

Sends signals away from the body; long tubular structure of the neuron that responds to input

Myelin sheath

Fatty layer that speeds up neural signals

Synapse

The gap between dendrites and other neurons (never touches)

Action potential

Neural impulse (electrical signal) that travels down the axon

Reuptake

When a neurotransmitter is broken down and reabsorbed into the sending neuron

Central nervous system

Brain and spinal cord

Peripheral nervous system

All the nerves outside the brain and the spineal cord

Sympathetic nervous system

Arouses the body (flight-or-fight)

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Calms the body (rest-and-digest)

Dopamine

Neurotransmitter associated with movement, attention, and reward

Serotonin

Neurotransmitter related to arousal, sleep, pain sensitivity, mood, and hunger regulation

Acetylcholine

Neurotransmitter involved in muscle movement and memory, ESPECIALLY in the heart

Brain Stem

Part of the Hindbrain that controls involuntary actions (breathing, digestion, heart rate, swallowing)

Thalamus

Relays sensory information (except smell)

Cerebellum

Part of the hindbrain that coordinates movement and procedural learning

Amygdala

Part of the forebrain that is affected in Anger, frustration, or fear

Hippocampus

Part of the forebrain involved in memories

Hypothalamus

Part of the forebrain that controls temperature, water balance, hunger, and sex drives

Frontal lobe

Part of the cortex responsible for decision making, planning, and motor control

Parietal lobe

Part of the cortex that receives temperature, pressure, texture, and pain

Occipital lobe

Processes visual information (optical)

Temporal lobe

Processes auditory information and language

Broca’s area

Controls speech production

Wernicke’s area

Controls language comprehension

Circadian rhythem

Our body’s day-and-night marker, affected in jet lag

REM sleep

Rapid eye movement sleep, the last stage of sleep; Brain waves resemble beta waves and body is paralyzed

Sensation

Detection of physical energy from the environment

Perception

The interpretation of raw sensory information

Transduction

Receptors converting stimuli into neural impulses and are sent to the brain

Sensory receptors

Specialized cells that are intended to detect specific types of energy (eg. light)

Signal detection theory

Theory that states there are four possible outcomes (participants detecting or not, actually stimuli or no)

Bottom-up processing

The brain builds up knowledge from raw sensory input without prior info

Top-down processing

The brain uses prior knowledge when taking in new knowledge

Absolute threshold

The minimum amount of stimulus to detect a stimulus correctly over 50% of the time

Difference threshold / just-noticeable difference

Smallest detectable difference between two types of stimuli (JND)

Retina

At the back of the eye and is a screen where proximal stimulus is projected

Rods

Sensitive to low light, covering retinas

Cones

Sensitive to bright light, covering retinas

Fovea

Cones in the center of the retina that are sensitive to bright light and color

Blind spot

Our eyes have a blind spot where there are no photoreceptors but is filled by our brains

Weber’s law

JND is proportional to size of the original stimulus (0.5 lb lost from 30 lb is less of a noticeable difference than 0.5 lb lost from 1 lb)

Sensory adaptation

Decreased response from constant stimulation (dark room eyes)

Place theory

High pitches detected at specific places in cochlea

Frequency theory

Low pitches detected by the rate of neural firing

Trichromatic theory

Color vision from red, green, blue cones

Opponent- process theory

Color vision in opposing pairs (red-green, blue-yellow, afterimage)