AP psych unit 1 vocab

Neural Transmission

The transfer of information between neurons. Ex: In animals, communication of a new food source or predator through chirping and calling.

heredity

The genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring. Ex: the manner in which characteristics and traits are passed on from parents to their offspring, such as hair color, eye color, height, facial structure and others. Genetic info containing these traits are stored in the nuclei of cells called genes.

nature

the innate qualities and traits inherited from one's parents, often contrasted with nurture. Ex: eye color, body shape, sex, intelligence, and temperament.

nurture

the environmental influences and experiences that shape an individual's development and behavior. Ex: upbringing, education, and social interactions.

evolutionary perspective

A psychological approach that examines human behavior through the lens of evolutionary theory, focusing on how natural selection influences mental processes and behaviors. Ex: the ability to recognize poisonous snakes was passed down through generations.

natural selection

The principle that the inherited traits enabling an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment (in competition with other trait variations) most likely be passed on to succeeding generations. Ex: finches with long and strong beaks will be passed to their offspring because best with breaking hard shelled nuts.

eugenics

The study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally, how experiences influence genetics and denies. Ex: abortions, sterilizations and other methods of family planning.

twin studies

Used to investigate the roles of genetics and environment in various traits, behaviors and conditions. Ex: identical twins are more likely to suffer from high or low cholesterol levels that fraternal twins, because genes play an important role in the development of that trait.

adoption studies

Research studies that compare an adopted person’s behavior to both their biological and adoptive parents behavior. Ex: if an adopted person develops alcoholism, but their adoptive parents do not, it is less likely that nurture influenced this behavior.

central nervous system

The body’s processing center is made up of the brain and the spinal cord. Ex: the brain controls most of the functions of the body, including awareness, movement, thinking, speech, and the 5 senses.

peripheral nervous system

A network of nerves that runs throughout the head, neck, and body. Gathers info, sends messages back and forth from CNS to the rest of the body. Ex: carries messages to and from the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord).

autonomic nervous system

A component of the peripheral nervous system that regulates involuntary physiologic processes including heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestion, and sexual arousal. Regulates involuntary functions. Ex: contains three anatomically distinct divisions: sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric. Heart rate, blood pressure etc.

somatic nervous system

A component of the peripheral nervous system associated with the voluntary control of body movements via skeletal muscles. Communicates sensory info to the CNS, motor neurons take to muscles. Ex: responsible for all functions we know and can consciously influence, including moving our arms, legs, and other body parts.

sympathetic nervous system

A network of nerves that helps your body activate its flight or fight response. Ex: this system’s activity increases when you're stressed, in danger or physically active. Increases heart rate, blood pressure. Decrease saliva and digestion.

parasympathetic nervous system

A network of nerves that relaxes your body after periods of stress or danger. Rest and digest after the threat is gone. Ex: helps run life-sustaining processes, like digestion, during times when you feel safe and relaxed. Does the opposite of what is listed for sympathetic.

neurons

Specialized cells that transmit electrical signals. Ex: people have about 90 billion neurons, they carry out most of the brain’s communication, sends messages from the brain to the body and back.

glial cells

The brains support staff. They protect, nourish, and clean up after neurons. Worker bees. Ex: Have about 900 billion glial cells. Maintains the environment for neurons to function properly.

reflex arc

The pathway of neural stimulation that occurs to translate a sensation into a physical reflexive response. Simple automatic response to a sensory stimulus. Ex: a simple reflex arc happens if we accidentally touch something hot. A receptor in the skin detects a stimulus. Knee jerk reflex.

sensory neurons

The nerve cells that are activated by sensory input from the environment. Ex: when you touch a hot surface with your fingertips, the sensory neurons will be the ones firing and sending off signals to rest the nervous system. Eyes, ears, nose, hands, mouth.

motor neurons

The nerves responsible for carrying signals away from the central nervous system in order to initiate an action. Ex: the motor neurons cause you to move your hand away from a hot surface once you receive that from your sensory neurons. Pulling hand away.

interneurons

Neurons in between, they connect spinal motor and sensory neurons. Ex: sensory neurons within the skin, tendon, and muscle respond to the stretching caused by the hammer.

neural transmission

The transfer of information between neurons. Ex: in animals the communication of a new food source or a new predator throughout a group of birds by chirping and calling to each other.

All or Nothing Principle

A neuron either fires or it doesn’t — there’s no halfway. Ex: The firing of a nerve sets off an action potential traveling down the axon.

Action Potential

A brief electrical charge that travels down the axon. Ex: Triggered when the neuron reaches a threshold.

Depolarization

A shift in a neuron’s electrical charge that allows an action potential to occur; neuron becomes more positive as sodium enters. Ex: Muscle cells contract when stimulated by an electrical charge.

Refractory Period

The recovery time a neuron needs between action potentials. Ex: Talking on the phone while driving slows your reaction to a stopped car.

Resting Potential

The state of a neuron when it is not firing; more potassium inside and sodium outside.

Reuptake

The reabsorption of neurotransmitters by the neuron that released them. Ex: Affects serotonin communication between brain cells.

Threshold

The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse. Ex: Like the minimum light intensity needed for us to perceive a bulb as “on.”

Multiple Sclerosis

An autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks myelin in the central nervous system, disrupting nerve signals, leading to varied symptoms like cognitive issues (memory, focus), emotional changes (depression), motor problems (weakness, balance), and sensory deficits (numbness, vision), often starting in young adulthood. Ex: a person experiencing blurred vision and fatigue (symptoms) due to demyelination, impacting their daily functioning and mood (psychological effects). 

Myasthenia Gravis

An autoimmune disorder that destroys communication between nerves and muscles. Ex: Causes weakness in voluntary muscles like those controlling eyes, mouth, or limbs.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers that transmit signals between neurons or from neurons to muscles. Ex: Occurs across the synaptic cleft.

neurochemical messages

The body’s chemical messengers, the molecules used by the nervous system to transmit messages between neurons, or from neurons to muscles. Ex: communication between two neurons happens in the synaptic cleft (the small gap between the synapse).

Excitatory Neurotransmitter

Makes the next neuron more likely to fire. Ex: Dopamine, glutamate, norepinephrine.

Inhibitory Neurotransmitter

Makes the next neuron less likely to fire. Ex: GABA, glycine, serotonin.

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter involved in movement, memory, pleasure, attention, and motivation. Ex: Linked with Parkinson’s and schizophrenia.

Serotonin

Regulates mood, sleep, appetite, and memory. Ex: Low levels are associated with depression.

Norepinephrine

Controls arousal, attention, and stress response. Ex: Heightens sensitivity and alertness to surroundings.

Glutamate

The main excitatory neurotransmitter in the CNS; strengthens synaptic connections. Ex: Involved in learning and headaches.

GABA

The main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the CNS; calms neural activity. Ex: Associated with anxiety disorders.

Endorphins

Natural painkillers that create pleasure and reduce pain. Ex: Released during exercise, causing “runner’s high.”

Substance P

Neurotransmitter involved in pain sensation. Ex: An 11-amino acid neuropeptide.

Acetylcholine

Neurotransmitter involved in movement and memory. Ex: Linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Adrenaline

Stress hormone that boosts energy and triggers fight-or-flight. Ex: Released in response to stressors.

Leptin

Hormone that regulates hunger by signaling stored fat levels to the brain. Ex: Found in hypothalamus receptors.

Ghrelin

Hunger hormone that increases appetite and fat storage. Ex: Stimulates growth hormone release.

Melatonin

Hormone that regulates sleep and circadian rhythms. Ex: Light exposure at night blocks production.

Oxytocin

Hormone linked to bonding, reproduction, and trust. Ex: Released during childbirth, breastfeeding, and hugs.

Psychoactive Drugs

Substances that alter perception, mood, or consciousness by affecting neurotransmitters. Ex: Act as agonists or antagonists.

Agonist

A drug that mimics a neurotransmitter and activates receptors. Ex: Heroin or methadone.

Antagonist

A drug that blocks or inhibits neurotransmitters. Ex: Ketamine or dextromethorphan.

Reuptake Inhibitor

A drug that blocks the reuptake of neurotransmitters, increasing their levels in the synapse.

Stimulants

Drugs that increase activity in the CNS by acting as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin agonists.

Caffeine

A stimulant that increases alertness and reduces fatigue by releasing dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.

Cocaine

A powerful illegal stimulant that causes euphoria by tapping into the brain’s reward system. Ex: Long-term use can cause depression or heart problems.

alcohol

Any beverage containing ethyl alcohol including beer, wine, and liquor. Ex: alcohol binds to the neurotransmitters GABA to relax the drinker. Alcohol depresses the areas of the brain that control judgement and inhibition.

marijuana

Mind-altering (psychoactive drug, produced by the cannabis sativa plant. Ex: smoked as a cigarette (called a joint) or in a pipe or bong.

heroin

A highly addictive drug derived from morphine, often used illicitly as a narcotic producing euphoria. Ex: heroin can be injected, snorted, or smoked.

tolerance

The diminishing effect a drug has after repeated use of the same dose, leading an individual to require increasingly larger doses to achieve the original effect. Ex: The way that someone who has become physically dependent on a substance, no longer responds to it in the same way.

addiction

A state of psychological and or physical dependence on the use of drugs or other substances such as alcohol, or any activities. Ex: addictions can be gambling, eating, exercising, dieting, shopping.

withdrawal symptoms

A term used to describe the physical and mental symptoms that a person has when they suddenly stop. Ex: alcohol is a depressant, so if you sudden;y stop consuming alcohol, you might experience symptoms or overstimulation such as anxiety or restlessness.

brain stem

The structure that connects the cerebrum of the brain to the spinal cord and cerebellum. The central cord of the brain, responsible for automatic survival functions. Ex: our brain stem perceived an object, person, or situation as unfamiliar or alarming and set off a cascade of arousal signals.

medulla oblongata

The lowest part of the brain present at the base of the brainstem. The hindbrain structure that uses the brainstems base, controls heartbeat and breathing. Ex: is responsible for various brain activities that involve the autonomic nervous response, such as heart rate and respiration process.

reticular activating system / reticular formation

A neural network in the brainstem that filters sensory info, controlling arousal, attention, and the sleep-wake cycle; it acts like a gatekeeper, letting important stimuli (like your name, threats) through to conscious awareness while blocking out distractions. Ex: suddenly noticing new red cars after buying one (Baader-Meinhof Effect) or hearing your name in a loud room (Cocktail Party Effect

pons

A collection of brain structures and neural pathways that are responsible for reward related cognition. Bridge between different areas of the nervous system Ex: included associative learning primarily classical conditioning and operant reinforcement, incentive salience. Motivation and wanting desire or craving for a reward.

cerebellum

Located at the back and below the cerebrum, it coordinates voluntary movements, balance, and posture. Ex: the cerebellum plays a role in learning to ride a bicycle or play a musical instrument. Role in thinking, processing language and mood.

cerebral cortex

The outer layer of your brain’s surface, located on top of the cerebrum. The body’s ultimate control and information processing center. Ex: carries out essential functions of your brain, like memory, thinking, learning, reasoning, problem-solving, emotions, consciousness, and sensory functions,

limbic system

A group of interconnected brain structures that help regulate your emotions, memory, motivation, and behavior. The neural system is located mostly in the forebrain, associated with emotions and drives. Includes the amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, thalamus, and pituitary gland. Ex: the structure or parts of the limbic system work together with other brain regions by processing your memory, thoughts, and motivations, then tell your body how to respond.

thalamus

An egg shaped structure in the middle of your brain. Relay motor and sensory signals to the cerebral cortex. Forebrains sensory control center, on top of the brain stem, directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla. Ex: a relay station of all incoming motor (movement) and sensory information - hearing, taste, sight and touch (but not smell) from your body to your brain.

hypothalamus

An area of the brain that produces hormones that control: body temperature, heart rate, hunger, mood. Below the thalamus, directs several maintenance activities like eating, drinking, body temperature, helps govern the endocrine system and is linked to emotion and reward. Ex: controls many of our bodily rhythms, but if certain hormones are released at the the wrong time, they can create a domino effect in our lives. If melatonin is released at the wrong time, we can have trouble falling asleep

pituitary gland

A small, pea sized endocrine gland located at the base of your brain below your hypothalamus. Often called the "master gland" Ex: it produces and releases hormones that control other endocrine glands and regulate vital body functions such as growth, metabolism, and reproduction.

hippocampus

A part of your brain that's responsible for your memory and learning. Converts short term to on processing new info, making maps. Ex: helps you remember, both short and long term and gain awareness from your environment. Hippocampus is at risk of injury or damage from underlying conditions like Alzheimer's disease.

amygdala

A small part of your brain, but it has a big job. Major processing center for emotions. Two lima bean sized neural clusters. Ex: links your emotions to many other brain abilities, especially memories, learning and your senses. Can cause disruptive feelings and symptoms

corpus callosum

A structure in the middle of your brain that connects the right and left hemispheres. Ex: the structure is made up of nerve fibers. Nerve fibers help the left and right sides of your brain talk to each other by sending signals.

cerebrum

Largest part of the brain, responsible for higher-level functions like thought, voluntary movement, and processing sensory information. Ex: contains the frontal lobe, occipital lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, and corpus callosum.

Occipital Lobe

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; it includes areas that receive information from the visual fields. Ex: Recognizes writing, and works with the temporal lobe to recognize written shapes.

Temporal Lobe

Portion of the cerebral cortex above the ears; includes auditory areas and enables language processing. Ex: Recognizing a cup as a container.

Parietal Lobe

Portion of the cerebral cortex at the top and rear; processes sensory information such as touch, temperature, and pain, using the somatosensory cortex. It also helps with spatial awareness, body position, and the integration of sensory input. Ex: Recognizing a kitchen layout.

Association Areas

Cerebral cortex areas linking sensory and motor regions. Ex: Visual association cortex integrates multiple sensory inputs.

Somatosensory Cortex

Detects sensory info from the body (temperature, touch, pain). Ex: Identifying a spoon by touch alone.

Frontal Lobe

Cerebral cortex behind the forehead; enables higher-order thinking, linguistic processing, and cognitive functions like planning, decision-making, and impulse control. It also controls voluntary movement via the motor cortex and contains Broca’s area for speech production. Ex: Self-control, attention, working memory.

Prefrontal Cortex

High-order brain center for decision making, reasoning, personality, and social behavior. Ex: Prevents impulse buying.

Motor Cortex

Rear of frontal lobes controlling voluntary movements. Ex: Fires for moving hand left, inhibited for right.

Split Brain Research

Corpus callosum severed to eliminate hemispheric connection. Ex: Right hand picks snow shovel, left hand picks chicken head.

Cortex Specialization

Different brain areas control different activities/behaviors. Ex: Reading activates specific cortical computations.

Contralateral Hemispheric Organization

Hemispheres control opposite sides of the body. Ex: Left visual field processed in right hemisphere.

Hemispheres

Half of cerebrum controlling muscles, speech, thought, emotions, reading, writing, learning. Ex: Right hemisphere controls left muscles, left hemisphere controls right.

Broca’s Area

Command center for speech muscle movements. Ex: Coordinates lips, tongue, and throat to form words.

broca’s aphasia

A language impairment that occurs when broca’s area is damaged, leading to difficulties with speech production. Ex: instead of saying “I’m going to the store to buy some milk” they might say “i go store … milk.”

Wernicke’s Area

LEFT temporal lobe area for language comprehension. Ex: Strings words into coherent sentences.

wernicke’s aphasia

A language disorder that results from damage to Wernicke's area in the temporal lobe, causing a person to have poor language comprehension. Ex: a doctor asks a patient “How are you feeling today?” and the patient responds, “I called the dog to play the television for me today, and the children came in the window and made the smoodle go round.”

Aphasia

Language disorder from brain damage affecting speech or comprehension. Ex: Difficulty reading, writing, or speaking depending on damaged area.

Brain Plasticity

Nervous system’s capacity to change structure/function over a lifetime. Ex: Learning a new language or instrument.

EEG

Recording brain electrical signals via scalp sensors. Ex: Evaluates trauma, intoxication, or coma damage.

fMRI

Imaging scan showing activity in specific brain areas; helps plan surgeries. Ex: Viewing images of faces while lying in scanner.

Lesioning

Intentionally damaging/removing brain areas to treat disorders. Ex: Damaged area responsible for speech production.

association areas

Areas of the cerebral cortex that functions in linking and coordinating the sensory and motor areas. Ex: the visual association cortex in the occipital lobe processes visual information, integrates information from multiple sensory modalities.

consciousness

The individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations, and environments. Ex: use consciousness to describe perceptual awareness, i am conscious of the person in front of me.

circadian rhythm

The 24 hour internal clock in our brain that regulates cycles of alertness and sleepiness by responding to light changes in our environment. Ex: the sleep wake cycle is a circadian rhythm which determines how sleepy or alert you feel throughout the day and night.

jet lag

Common sleep problems like insomnia and other symptoms you may experience after traveling a long distance quickly. Ex: someone traveling from New York to London, from west to east, feels as if the time were five hours earlier than local time.