ap psychology

heredity

passing traits from parents to offspring, (genetic transmission)

evolutionary perspecitive

focuses on how natural selection has shaped behavoirs, (survival strategy)

genetic predisposition

increased likelihood of developing a particular disease based on genetics, (inherited risk)

eugenics

improving a population by controlled breeding, (selective breeding)

cerebral cortex

brain’s outer layer

responsible for thinking and processing info, (thought control)

association areas

regions of the cerebral cortex that integrate simpler functions into more complex ones

(complex functioning)

frontal lobes

involved in speaking, muscle movements, and making plans (control panel)

prefrontal cortex

part of the frontal lobes involved in decision making and cognitive behavior

(decision maker)

executing functioning

higher order thinking processes that include planning, organizing, inhibition, and decision-making (Brain’s CEO)

motor cortex

rear of the frontal lobes, responsible for voluntary movements

parietal lobes

upper back area of the skull, responsible for processing sensory info

medulla

responsible for heartbeat and breathing

brainstem

responsible for automatic survival functions

somatosensory cortex

registers and processes body touch and movement sensations

temporal lobes

plays role in hearing, undertsanding language, and memory

occipital lobes

responsible for visual processing

cerebellum

responsible for coordinating movement and balance

reticular activating system

essential for arousal and attention (alert system)

corpus callosum

large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres (brain’s bridge)

limbic system

responsible for emotions and drives (emotion center)

reward center

pleasure, critical in motivation and addiction (pleasure zone)

thalamus

brain’s relay station for sensory info (information hub)

hypothalamus

controls metabolic processes including temperature and emotions (regulation central)

hippocampus

responsible for memory formation

amygdala

linked to emotion, espeically fear —> flight or flight (emotion alarm)

Transduction

conversion of one form of energy to another (energy conversion)

synesthesia

neurological condition where stimulating one sense automatically triggers an involuntary experience in another sense

photoreceptors

rods and cones that convert light energy into neural signals

rods

detect black white gray, necessary for pheriphral and twilight vision (low light helpers)

cones

detect fine detail and color

ganglion cells

nerve cells in the back of the eye that send visual information from the retina to the brain

place theory

links pitch we hear with the placce where the cochleo’s membrane is stimulated (pitch place)

volley theory

relates the frequency

frequency theory

Pheromones

chemical substances produced by organisms to trigger social, behavioral, or physiological responses in others of the same species

gustation

sensation of taste

sensory interaction

one sense influences another sense (smell of food influences its taste)

gate control theory

a "gate" in the spinal cord regulates pain signals traveling to the brain (rubbing it can stop)

retrograde amnesia

cant remember old mems

antrograde amnesia

cant make new mems

proactive interference

old mems hinder new mems

retroactive interiference

new mems hinder old