psych unit 1 (bio brain stuff)

nervous system

electrochemical communication (Fast)

endocrine

hormones (slow)

CNS

brain, brainstem, spinal cord

somatic nervous system

skeletal muscles

autonomic nervous system

smooth muscles/involuntary actions

sympathetic nervous system

“scared” — HR up, digestion down, focus up

parasympathetic nervous system

HR down, digestion up, focus down

neuron

brain cell

glial cells

help neurons work the way they should (brain filler)

reflex arc

mediated by spinal cord

steps: receptor → sensory neuron → interneuron → motor neuron → effector (muscle/acting tissue)

all-or-nothing principle

neuron fires or no

depolarization

charges balance between outside and inside of neuron and neuron fires

reuptake

sending neuron takes back excess NTs from recieving neuron

multiple sclerosis

caused by damage to the myelin sheath, causes numbness, pain, and fatigue

excitatory neurotransmitters

glutamate, epinepherine, norepinepherine, acetylcholine

inhibitory neurotransmitters

GABA, glycine, serotonin

refractory period

waiting until ready for another action potential

resting potential

the default diff between inside and outside charges (neg inside)

GABA

inhibition

Dopamine

attention (too much = schizo, too little = parkinsons)

serotonin

mood (too little: depression, OCD)

acetylcholine

muscle action

GABA

inhibition

Glutamate

exciting

endorphins

pleasure + pain control (opioids)

norephinepherine

fight or flight

substance P

pain signaling

myasthenia gravis

breakdown of comm. btwn muscles and nerves (antibodies destory acetylcholine receptor sites) — voluntary muscles feel tired

leptin

appetite inhibitor

ghrelin

increase hunger (tummy grrrowls)

oxytocin

reproductive stuff

psychoanalytic perspective

pure freud; childhood, unconcscious mind, urges

psychodynamic perspective

basically the same as psychoanalytic but includes neofreudians (e.g. erikson)

behavioral perspective

we have no free will, everything is elicited by our environment (motivation behind operant and classical conditioning)

cognitive perspective

focuses on learning and thinking, likens brain to a computer

cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

seeks to analyze and change thought patterns

biological perspective

focuses on chemical/biological processes

sociocultural perspective

actions change based on who we’re around

ex. individualistic cultures like US have higher social loafing

collectivist cultures like China tend to work harder in groups

evolutionary perspective

stuff like fear has developed as survival instincts back in the day

humanistic perspective

everyone is a good person, they try to seek self-actualization (maslow) (free will)

study methods

CCEMN (semen)

• case study

• correlational study (usually done through surveys)

• experiment (only one that proves causation, giveaway is random assignment)

• meta analysis

• naturalistic observation

ethical rules

protect from harm, informed consent/assent, confidentiality, debriefing, IRB (DIPIC)

adrenaline/epinepherine

fight or flight (similar purpose to norepinepherine)

alcohol

2nd most used drug, lowers inhibition, judgment, alertness

impairs cerebellum (balance + movement) and hippocampus (encoding memories)

prevents REM sleep

too much can affect medulla (breathing)

opioids

morphine, codeine, percs; lowers neural activity and pain, acting as an endorphin agonist. some are hallucinogenic

nicotine

releases dopamine, epinepherine and norepinepherine (increases happiness but also anxiety)

cocaine

blocks reuptake of dopamine, norep, and serotonin

destroys these receptors, causes heart problems and psychosis

hallucinogens

distort perceptions, evoke sensory images in absence of sensory input

agonist

mimics a NT

antagonist

blocks a NT

caffeine

the most commonly used drug, blocks GABA receptors which sedate nervous system

effects: what you’d expect

cannabis

lowers inhibitions, increases relxation, causes euphoria

active ingredient is THC

lowers memory and causes long term damage

withdrawal: insomnia, tremors, lower appetite

inc. risk of schizophrenia

EEG (electroencephalogram)

recording waves of electrical activity sweeping across the brain’s surface (gives you an idea of general activity)

fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)

measures blood flow to brain regions by comparing continuous MRIs (gives you activity of specific brain regions in detailed structures)

brainstem

core of brain, responsible for automatic survival, consists of medulla, pons, midbrain

medulla

base of brainstem, controls heartbeat + breathing

pons

sleep

cerebellum

handles muscle memory and processes sensory input (‘little brain'“)

hindbrain

spinal cord, cerebellum, pons, medulla

hippocampus

process memories of facts/info for storage

amygdala

regulates emotions, captures smell (especially emotional sense)

corpus callosum

axon fibers connecting hemispheres

limbic system

rewards: amygdala, hippocampus, pituitary gland

cerebral cortex

meat (gray matter covering of cerebrum); ultimate control + info processing center

hypothalamus

controls maintenenace tasks like eating. helps control pituitary gland

frontal lobes

linguistics, muscle mvmt, higher order thingking, executive functioning

reticular activating system (RAS)

brainstem nerve network; determine if you wake up (coma), arousal + consciousness

midbrain

simple mvmts + sensory info (part of brainstem)

forebrain

complex behaviors + metal processes

thalamus, limbic system (amygdala, hippocampus)

left hemisphere

speech, lang, logic, math, objective analysis

right hemisphere

read in btwn lines, emotions, intuition, visual + spatial thinking

thalamus

processes senses (minus smell)

lobes

lobe has 4 letters → there are 4 of them

frontal, pareital, temporal, occipital

cortexes

motor, visual, auditory, somatosensory, prefrontal

frontal lobe

cognition

pareital lobe

senses

occipital lobe

vision

temporal lobe

hearing + memory

somatosensory cortex

tactile perception

prefrontal cortext

p for personality

broca’s area

speech processing

wernicke’s area

language processing

aphasia

speech and lang are cooked

association areas

in cerebral cortex → function in learning, thinking, remembering, speaking (no response when shocked)

contralateral hemispheric organization

flip flop

narcolepsy

uncontrollable sleep attacks (random REM)

sleep apnea

sometimes stopping breathing during sleep

consciousness

subjective awareness of ourselves +enviornment

circadian rhythym

body clock (~25 hrs), physical regulation

REM sleep

rapid eye movement, dreams, body systems active

alpha waves

relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed awake person

hypnagogic sensation

feeling like you are falling when you are about to go to sleep

activation synthesis theory

rem evokes random visual memories, which our brain turns into stories → dreams tell us something about ourselves

consolidation theory

dreams sort out day’s events + help us consolidate memories

rem sleep behavior disorder

acting out dreams

rem rebound

rem sleep inc. after a period of little rem sleep

somnambulism

happens during deep sleep

CAT scan

like MRI but w/ x rays

PET scan

imaging w/ radioactive substance

DTI scan

detects the white matter threads that connect brain bits. more detailed than MRI (looks cool)