AP Psych Vocab Mods 12-15

Cerebral Cortex

The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center.

Frontal lobes

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments.

Parietal lobes

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position.

Occipital lobes

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes areas that receive information from the visual fields.

Temporal lobes

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each receiving information primarily from the opposite ear.

Motor Cortex

An area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements.

Somatosensory Cortex

An area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.

Association Areas

Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking.

Plasticity

The brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.

Neurogenesis

The formation of new neurons.

Corpus Callosum

The large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them.

Split Brain

A condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them.

Consciousness

Our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment.

Cognitive Neuroscience

The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language).

Dual Processing

The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.

Blindsight

A condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it.

Parallel processing

Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; generally used to process well-learned information or to solve easy problems.

Sequential processing

Processing one aspect of a problem at a time; generally used to process new information or to solve difficult problems.

Behavior genetics

The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.

Heredity

The genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring.

Environment

Every nongenetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us.

Chromosomes

Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

A complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes.

Genes

The biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes; segments of DNA capable of synthesizing proteins.

Genome

The complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in that organism's chromosomes.

Identical (monozygotic) twins

Develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms.

Fraternal (dizygotic) twins

Develop from separate fertilized eggs. They are genetically no closer than ordinary brothers and sisters, but they share a prenatal environment.

Heritability

The proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied

Interaction

The interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity)

Molecular Genetics

Genetics the subfield of biology that studies the molecular structure and function of genes.

Molecular Behavior Genetics

The study of how the structure and function of genes interact with our environment to influence behavior.

Epigenetics

"Above" or ‘in addition to" (epi) genetics; the study of environmental influences on gene expression that occur without a DNA change.

Evolutionary Psychology

The study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection.

Natural Selection

The principle that inherited traits that better enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment will (in competition with other trait variations) most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.

Mutation

A random error in gene replication that leads to a change.

Social Script

A culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations.