Psychology - Unit 3: Biology

how does acetylcholine affect how we think or feel?

essential for learning, memory, and muscle movement. controls our parasympathetic nervous system to help us calm down

what happens when there's not enough acetylcholine?

confusion and forgetfulness

what disorder or diseases are associated with acetylcholine?

mainly alzheimer’s but can also cause dementia (too little)

how does glutamate affect how we think or feel?

learning and memory; when we learn something, it is released.

what disorder or diseases are associated with glutamate?

strokes, migraines, epilepsy, Alzheimer's, and parkinson's (too little)

how does norepinephrine affect how we think or feel?

fight or flight system. makes us focus, especially in danger. affects the sympathetic nervous system. It is also our “internal alarm clock”, increases heart rate, alertness, and readiness to respond

what disorder or diseases are associated with norepinephrine?

anxiety (too much) ADD or ADHD (too little)

how does dopamine affect how we think or feel?

central to motivation, pleasure, movement, attention, and can make us always want more

what disorder or diseases are associated with dopamine?

fatigue, ADHD, and parkinson's (too little) addiction and schizophrenia (too much)

how does serotonin affect how we think or feel?

regulates our sleep, appetite, and mood

what disorder or diseases are associated with serotonin?

depression and anxiety (too little)

How do endorphins affect how we think or feel?

makes us feel good by reducing pain sensors in the brain (natures pain killers)

how does GABA affect how we think or feel?

lowers brain activity making us feel more relaxed

what neurotransmitters are excitatory?

glutamate, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, and dopamine

what neurotransmitters are inhibitory?

serotonin, endorphins, and GABA

what is biological psychology?

the exploration of how our brain and what happens in our body impacts our behavior.

what can impact our behavior?

changes to our body or brain

what role does our nervous system play in our behavior?

receives information from our senses and sends it to our brain. our brain then processes that information and tells our body what to think, feel, or do

nervous system

communication system in our body

neuroscience

the study of how our nervous system affects our behavior

what are the two main parts of our nervous system?

the centeral system and the peripheral system

the centeral system

contains the brain and spinal cord; the brain processes information and makes us act and think; the spinal cord relates information between the brain and body; gets messages from the brain to the body quickly

the peripheral system

the nerves outside of the centeral nervous system; connects the brain to the rest of the body; made up of voluntary and involuntary systems that keep us alive

why don't reflex signals reach out brain?

our reflexes are behaviors that we do automatically without thinking; happens before a signal reaches out brain

what are the two parts of the peripheral nervous system?

the somatic system and the autonomic system

the somatic nervous system

voluntary nervous system; controls all actions you choose or want to do consciously; examples: walking, talking, and writing

the autonomic system

involuntary nervous system; job is to keep you alive by activating fight or flight; doesn't give you a chance to think; prepares your body to respond to danger; classical conditioning activates it

what are the two parts of the autonomic nervous system?

sympathic and parasympathetic

sympathic

feels bad for us and prepares us for danger; fight, flight, freeze, or faun system

parasympathetic

our “parachute”; relaxes us and brings us down from danger

how does our sympathetic nervous system affect our body?

dilated pupils, inhabits salvation, increased heart rate, relaxes bladder and airways, inhabit activity of the stomach, gallbladder, and intestines

how does our parasympathetic nervous system affect our body?

constricts airways, stimulates saliva, slowed heartbeat, constricts pupils, stimulates stomach, gallbladder, and intestines, and constricts the bladder

what role do neurons play in our nervous system?

neurons are the building blocks and transmitters of messages in our body

what are the three types of neurons?

sensory, motor, and interneurons

sensory neurons

sends information from our senses to our CNS

motor neurons

sends info from our CNS to our body to react

interneurons

sends signals between the sensory and motor neurons; mostly in our brain

what is a presynaptic neuron?

a neuron that has not been fired yet

what do dendrites do?

receives messages like locks that receives neurotransmitters

what do receptor sites do?

receive the messages

what do the cell bodies (soma) do?

its the brain of the cell that decides what to do with a message; sends a signal (action potential) down to the axon

what is the action potential?

the signal going to the axon