psych 202: exam 2

Exogenous

Substances that originate outside the body, such as drugs or toxins.

Endogenous

Substances that are produced within the body, like hormones or neurotransmitters.

Glutamate

The most predominant excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain.

GABA

The most predominant inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain.

Acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter involved in learning, memory, and motor control.

Basal forebrain

An area in the brain involved in the production of acetylcholine.

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter that plays roles in reward, learning, motivation, and movement.

Ventral tegmental area

A part of the midbrain that produces dopamine and is involved in the reward pathway.

Substantia nigra

A region of the midbrain that produces dopamine and is associated with motor control.

Serotonin

A neurotransmitter that regulates mood, sleep, and anxiety.

Raphe nuclei

A cluster of nuclei in the brainstem that is the primary source of serotonin.

Norepinephrine

A neurotransmitter involved in alertness, mood, and sexual behavior.

Locus coeruleus

A nucleus in the brainstem that produces norepinephrine.

Retrograde transmitters

Neurotransmitters released from the postsynaptic cell back to the presynaptic cell.

Agonist

A substance that activates a receptor to produce a biological response.

Antagonist

A substance that blocks or dampens the biological response by binding to a receptor.

Benzodiazepines

Drugs that act as agonists to GABA receptors, typically prescribed for anxiety.

Caffeine

A stimulant that blocks adenosine receptors, increasing alertness.

Cannabis

A plant that produces substances like THC which acts on cannabinoid receptors.

Nicotine

A stimulant that acts as an agonist for acetylcholine receptors.

Cocaine

A powerful stimulant that increases dopamine levels in the brain.

Amphetamine

A stimulant that increases the release of dopamine and norepinephrine.

Alcohol

A depressant that increases GABA activity and decreases glutamate activity.

LSD

A hallucinogen that primarily affects serotonin receptors.

MDMA

A substance that increases the release of serotonin and dopamine.

Transduction

The process by which sensory stimuli are converted into neural signals.

Eardrum

A membrane that vibrates in response to sound waves, transmitting them to the ossicles.

Ossicles

Three small bones in the middle ear that transmit sound vibrations to the inner ear.

Cochlea

A spiral-shaped structure in the inner ear responsible for converting sound waves into neural signals.

Photoreceptors

Cells in the retina that detect light and enable vision.

Rods

Photoreceptors that are sensitive to low light levels but do not detect color.

Cones

Photoreceptors that function in bright light and enable color vision.

Blind spot

The area in the visual field where there are no photoreceptors due to the optic nerve.

Retinotopic mapping

The spatial representation of the visual field in the brain.

Tonotopic organization

The arrangement of neurons in the cochlea and auditory pathways according to sound frequency.

Place coding

A theory that explains how the brain interprets different sound frequencies based on the location of activation in the cochlea.

Temporal coding

A method by which the frequency of a sound is coded by the timing of neuronal firing.

Gustation

The sense of taste, which detects flavors through taste receptor cells.

Olfaction

The sense of smell, involving olfactory receptor cells in the nasal cavity.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical substances that transmit signals across a synapse from one neuron to another.

Exocytosis

The process of neurotransmitter release from presynaptic neurons.

Reuptake inhibitors

Drugs that block the reabsorption of neurotransmitters, increasing their availability in the synaptic cleft.