AP Psych Unit 2

Neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters

chemicals that allows neurons to communicate with each other throughout body

Acetylcholine

enables muscle action, learning, and helps with memory

Dopamine

helps with movement, learning, attention, and emotions

Serotonin

impacts one’s hunger, sleep, arousal, and mood

Endorphins

help with pain control and impacts individual’s pain tolerance

Epinephrine

helps with the body’s response to high emotional situations and helps form memories

Nonrepinephrine

increases blood pressure, heart rate, and alertness

Glutamate

is involved with long term memory and learning

GABA

helps with sleep, movement, and slows down your nervous system

Agonist Drug

increase effects of neurotransmitter

Antagonist Drug

decrease effects of neurotransmitter

Broca’s Area

Left front lobe; ability to speak

Wernicke’s Area

Left temporal lobe; interpreting and creating language

Medulla oblongata

Brainstem; controls autonomic function (breathing, heart rate, & blood pressure)

Pons

Connects medulla with cerebellum; helps coordinate movement and sleeps/dreams

Cerebellum

Located at the base of the brain in the back; maintain balance and manage coordination

Brainstem

base of brain/top of spinal cord; includes medulla, pons, and midbrain. Death if damaged, controls autonomic functions

Spinal cord

connects brain to rest of body, nerves send info to brain

Midbrain

Sends visual and auditory information to appropriate structure of the brain

Reticular formation

tunnels down the brainstem; arousal in sleep and awake cycle

Reticular activating system

Has reticular formation; network of nerves that run through brainstem and out to thalmus.

Cerebrum

brain processes that are not just for survival (complex thoughts)

Corpus Callosum

Made up of nerve fibers that connect the two cerebral hemispheres and allows them to talk and communicate

Frontal Lobe

higher level of thinking and split into two important areas

Prefrontal Cortex

Foresight, judgement, speech, and complex thought

Motor Cortex

deals with voluntary movement

Motor homunculus

shows visual representation of brain area dedicated toward a specific body part

Somatosensory Cortex

Touches motor cortex and lets you register touch/movement sensations

Parietal Lobe

Recieve sensory information and understand different sense

Occipital Lobe

Allows you to see

Temporal Lobe

Helps you recognize faces, smells, hear noise, balance, and assists with memory

Auditory Cortex

In temporal lobe; processes different sounds

Thalmus

Takes all different sensory info every sec and sends info to forebrain to be interpreted

Limbic System

motions, learning, memory

hippocampus

Learn and create memories, not stored here

Amygdala

End of each arm of hippocampus, where you get emotional reactions

Hypothalmus

Keeps your body balanced (allows homeostasis), control drives like thirst, hunger, and sex. Works with pituitary gland to regulate and control hormones

Nucleus accumbens

near limbic system, associated with drug dependency. Main function is pleasure, reward, and motivation.

Basal Ganglia

link Thalmus with motor cortex, involved with intentional body movement

Brain lateralization

different functions of the left and right hemisphere(division of labor)

Left Hemisphere

Recognizing words/letter, interpreting/processing language, logic

Right Hemisphere

Spatial concepts, facial recognition, Discerning direction and distance

Split brain research

having the corpus callosum severed to eliminate the connection between the hemispheres of the brain (study each side independently)

Lesion studies

intentionally damaging or removing specific areas of the brain to treat certain disorders.

EEG

electrodes place on scalp to record electrical signals from neuron firing. Helps with sleep and seizure research

CT

Advanced x rays, helps locate brain damage and tumors.

PET

small amount of radioactive glucose injected into person, they track usage of glucose in regions of the brain. Allows researchers to see in real time which area of brain is active

MRI

detailed pics of brain by using strong magnetic field that vibrates molecules at different frequencies.

fMRI

show metabolic function, more detailed pic of PET scan

Neuroplasticity

ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. It is when the brain is rewired to function in some way that differs from how it previously functioned

Psychoactive substances

alter individuals perception, consciousness, or mood

Depressants

reduce neural activity in person, cause drowsiness, muscle relaxation, lowered breathing, and possibly death (alchohol or sleeping pills)

Opioids

Functions as depressent and gives pain relief but are addictive (morphine, heroin)

Stimulants

excite and promote neural activity, give individual energy, reduce appetite and cause irritability (caffeine, cocaine)

Hallucinogens

Causes person to sense things not there, reduce motivation and induce panic (marijuana, LSD)

Circadian Rhythm

Biological clock involves changing blood pressure, internal temperature, hormones, and regulates sleep/wake cycle.

Restoration Theory

we sleep because we get tired from daily activites, sleep to restore energy/resources

Adaptive Theory

Sleep because it allows us to conserve energy so we can save it for when we will need it most (evolutionary aspects and how it protects us)

Information processing theory

Sleep allows us to restore and build memories, lack of sleep makes us struggle with info we learned that day.

Alpha waves

brain waves that occur when you are awake and in relaxed state

Beta waves

low amplitude that occur when you are in awake alert stage

Theta waves

greatest amplitude that occurs when you are relaxed and focused(daydreaming)

Delta waves

lowest frequency waves that occur when you are in deep sleep

Non Rem Stage 1

Light sleep 5 to 10 min (low amplitude, alpha waves)

Non Rem Stage 2

10 to 20 min, experience k complex and sleep spindle ( bursts of neural activity), theta waves

Non Rem Stage 3

30 min, Deep sleep with high amplitude delta waves

Rem

Rapid eye movement, external muscles paralyzed and internal structure become active. Brain emitts beta waves, lasts 10 min.

Hypnagogic sensations

experiences that occur when person is drowsy and feels like its happening in real life, stage 1(falling in dream)

Activation Synthesis Model

Dreams are our brain trying to make sense of random neural activity happening while asleep

Cognitive Development Theory

Dreams reflect cognitive development, hence why adults have more complex dreams than children.

Activation Theory

Specific area of the brain are activated and depending on which area your dreams will have different content and context.

Physiological function approach

How dreams stimulate our neural pathways and allow them to grow and be preserved.

Insomnia

trouble falling asleep or staying asleep

Sleep Apnea

Hard time sleeping because struggling with breathing, no good night sleep or go into REM

Night Terror

intense fear while sleep, sleep deprivation and disrupted sleep schedule.

Narcolepsy

individual struggle to sleep at night and will uncontrollably sleep during day.

Heredity

passing on of physical or mental characteristics

Theory of Evolution

the behaviors that give the best chance of survival are passed on to further generations

Heritability

the amount of variance in a trait that is controlled for by genes

Nature vs Nurture

biological factors vs environmental factors that influence development and personality.

Epigenetics

study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work.

Homeostasis

balance in body in order to function and survive

Endocrine system

tissues, mainly glands, that create and release hormones

pituitary gland

‘master gland’ , tells other glands what to do

pineal gland

secretes melatonin

thyroid gland

hormones that regulate metabolism, growth, and development

parathyroid gland

regulates calcium and phosphate levels

adreanal gland

hormones tha regulate metabolism, immune system, blood pressure

pancreas

enzymes that help digest food, protein

gonads

reproduction hormones

Nervous system

transmitts signals between brain and rest of body

Central Nervous System

receiving, processing, and responding to sensory information

Peripheral Nervous System

feeds info to brain from most of your senses

Sensory Division

afferent (sensory info from body to nervous system)

Motor Division

efferent (CNS to muscles and glands in body)

Somatic nervous system

move and control muscles in body

Autonomic nervous system

regulates involuntary processes like heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and sex drive

sympathetic division

controls ‘fight or flight’ response

parasympathetic division

control body during times of rest

Gilal Cells

cells that hold nerve cells in place and help them work