Unit 1 Vocab

Evolutionary psychology

study how natural selection influences behavior

Heredity (nature)

how genes influence your behavior

Environment (nurture)

how outside situations influence your behavior (school)

CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS)

Brain and spinal cord

PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (PNS)

Rest of the NS – relays to Central NS

Somatic NS

Voluntary movement, has sensory and motor neurons

Autonomic NS

Automatic movement, controlling involuntary organs (heart, lungs, etc)

Sympathetic NS

fight/flight (generally activates – exception digestion)

Parasympathetic NS

rest / digest (generally inhibits - exception digestion)

NEURON

Basic cell of the Nervous system

Dendrites

Receive incoming Neurotransmitters

Axon

Action Potential travels down this

Myelin Sheath

speeds up AP down axon, protects axon

Synapse

gap b/w neurons

SENSORY neurons

receive sense signals from environ.–send signal to brain

MOTOR neurons

signals to move – send signals from brain

Interneurons

cells in spinal cord /brain responsible for reflex arc

Reflex arc

important stimuli skips the brain and routes through the spinal cord for immediate reactions (hand on a hot flame)

GLIA Cells

support cells – give nutrients and clean up around neurons

Neurons Fire w/ an Action Potential

ions move across membrane sends an electrical charge down the axon

Resting potential

neuron maintains a -70mv charge when not doing anything

Depolarization

charge of neuron briefly switches from neg to pos. – triggers the AP

Threshold of depolarization

stimulus strength must reach this point to start the AP

All or nothing principle

stimulus must trigger the AP past its threshold, but does not increase the intensity or speed of the response (flush the toilet)

Refractory period

neuron must rest and reset before it can send another AP (toilet resets)

NEUROTRANSMITTERS (NT)

Chemicals released in synaptic gap, received by neurons. Classified as excitatory (increase APs in other neurons) or inhibitory (decrease APs)

GABA

Major inhibitory NT

Glutamate

Major excitatory NT (glutes excite you!)

Dopamine

Reward (short term) & fine movement – in hypothalamus, assoc. w/ addiction

Serotonin

Moods (long-term), emotion, sleep –in amygdala, too little assoc. w/ depression

Acetylcholine (ACh)

Memory and movement –in hippocampus, assoc. w/ Alzheimer’s

Norepinephrine

increases alertness, arousal, and focus while regulating the body’s fight-or-flight stress response

Endorphins

decrease pain

Substance P

pain regulation (abnormality increases pain and inflammation)

HORMONES

if not in the nervous system, it’s a hormone (chemical messengers released by endocrine glands into the bloodstream that regulate bodily processes, influence mood, and drive behavior)

Oxytocin

love, bonding, childbirth, lactation

Adrenaline

a hormone and neurotransmitter released by the adrenal glands, primarily during high-stress, exciting, or dangerous situations, to initiate the "fight-or-flight" response

Leptin

makes you full (stops hunger)

Ghrelin

makes you hungry (turns you into a gremlin)

Melatonin

sleep

Agonist

drug that mimics a NT

Antagonist

drug that blocks a NT

Reuptake

Unused NTs are taken back up into the sending neuron.(antidepressants cause reuptake inhibition (block reuptake) – treatment for depression

Depressants

Decrease NS activity (alcohol)

Stimulants

Increase NS activity (caffeine & cocaine)

Hallucinogens

hallucinations and altered perceptions (Marijuana)

Opioids

relieve pain (endorphin agonists) (heroin)

Tolerance

Needing more of a drug to achieve the same effects (the reduced effectiveness of a drug resulting from regular, repeated use)

Addiction

must have it to avoid withdrawal symptoms

Withdrawal

symptoms associated with sudden stoppage

Cerebellum

movement, balance, coordination, procedural memory (walking a tightrope balancing a bell)

Brainstem / Medulla

autonomic, life-sustaining functions (breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure)

Reticular activating system

alertness, arousal, sleep, eye movement

Cerebral Cortex

outer portion of the brain – higher order thought processes – includes limbic system, lobes, corpus callosum

Amygdala

emotions, fear

Limbic system

brain

Hippocampus

episodic and semantic memory (if you saw a hippo on campus you’d remember it!)

Hypothalamus

Reward/pleasure center, eating behaviors – link to endocrine system, homeostasis

Thalamus

relay center for all but smell

Pituitary gland

talks w/ endocrine sys and hypothalamus – release hormones (master gland)

Occipital Lobe

vision

Frontal Lobe

decision making, planning, judgment, movement, personality, language, executive function

Prefrontal cortex

front of frontal lobe – executive function

Motor Cortex

back of frontal lobe - map of our motor receptors – controls skeletal movement

Parietal Lobe

sensations and touch – controls association areas

Somatosensory Cortex

map of our touch receptors

Temporal Lobe

hearing and face recognition, language

Association areas

receive input from multiple areas / lobes to integrate info

Left hemisphere

controls language and speech, damage to these, results in aphasia (damaged speech)

Broca’s Area

Inability to produce speech (Broca – Broken speech)

Wernicke’s Area

can’t comprehend speech (Wernicke’s what?)

Corpus Callosum

bundle of nerves that connects the 2 hemispheres – sometimes severed in patients with severe seizures – leads to “split-brain patients”

BRAIN PLASTICITY

Brain changes via damage and through experience

ENDOCRINE SYSTEM

sends hormones throughout the body

Pituitary Gland

Controlled by hypothalamus. release growth hormones (master gland)

EEG

shows broad brain activity – not specific – electrical output (primarily used to study brain function during sleep, arousal, and cognitive tasks)

fMRI

show brain activity in specific regions, measures oxygen

Lesion

destruction of brain tissue

Multiple sclerosis

destruction of myelin sheath, disrupts APs, causes impaired mobility, paralysis, pain

Myasthenia gravis

acetylcholine blocked, disrupts APs, causes poor motor control and paralysis

Blindsight

caused by lesions to primary visual cortex, ppl can “see” ie catch a ball etc despite being blind – evidence for association areas

Prosopagnosia

face blindness – damage to occipital and/or temporal lobe

Broca’s aphasia

damage to Broca’s area – stuttered speech

Wernicke’s aphasia

damage to Wernicke’s – jumbled speech

Phantom limb pain

pain from a limb that no longer is there (amputated) – caused by brain plasticity

Epilepsy

unprovoked seizures caused by sudden, abnormal electrical discharges in the brain's nerve cells (neurons) – too much / little Glutamate / GABA

Alzheimer’s

destruction of acetylcholine in hippocampus, memory loss

Consciousness

awareness of cognitive processes (asleep or awake?)

Circadian Rhythms

24ish hour biological clock of Body temp & sleep

Beta Waves

awake (you beta be awake for the exam)

Alpha Waves

high amp., drowsy

NREM 1

light sleep, has hypnagogic sensations (falling feeling)

NREM 2

bursts of sleep spindles

NREM 3

Delta waves, Deep sleep

Rapid Eye Movement (REM)

dreaming, cognitive processing (The entire cycle takes 90 minutes, REM occurs inb/w each cycle. REM lasts longer throughout the night, deep sleep decreases)

REM Rebound

after sleep disruptions and/or lack of REM sleep you’ll have more / more intense REM sleep

Activation Synthesis

Brain produces random bursts of energy – stimulating lodged memories in limbic sys & brain stem. Dreams start random then develop meaning. Its Neural theory.

Consolidation dream theory

brain is combining and processing memories for storage

Consolidation

storage of memories

Restoration

helps regenerate the immune system and restore energy