Myers' Psychology for AP Second Edition Unit 3: Biological Bases of Behavior

Reticular formation

________- a nerve network that travels through the brainstem and thalamus and plays an important role in controlling arousal.

Evolution

________ shows that men are more attracted to healthy, fertile- appearing women.

Agonists

________ cause a person to get high and have pleasure because they are similar to neurotransmitters.

Consciousness

________ allows us to have voluntary control and communicate with others.

Scientists today

________ can now predict what the motor cortex will do before a patient even moves.

Neurogenesis

What is the process of forming new brain cells? Answer with a single words or term.

Evolutionary psychologists

________ look to natural selection to determine why men have more of an interest in sex than women.

Glial cells

________ provide nutrients and clean up after ions.

Cerebellum

________- the "little brain "at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input, coordination movement output and balance, and enabling nonverbal learning and memory.

Genomes

________- the complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in that organism's chromosomes.

Mutation

________- a random error in gene replication that leads to a change.

Deaf people

________ use the left part of their brain to understand sign language.

right hemisphere

The ________ makes inferences, modifies our speech so that it is clear, and helps orchestrate self sense.

Interneurons

________- neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.

Plasticity

________- the brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage of by building new pathways based on experience.

Endorphins

________-"morphine within- "natural, opiate- like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.

Antagonist

________- a molecule that, by binding to a receptor site, inhibits or blocks a response.

CT

________ (computed tomography) scan- a series of X- ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice of the brain's structure (Also called a CAT scan)

Synapse

________- the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron.

Myelin sheath

________- a fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons of some neutrons; enables vastly greater transmission speed as neural impulses hop from one sausage- like node to the next.

Epigenetics

________- the study of environmental influences on gene expression that occur without a DNA change.

Motor neurons

________ carry instructions from the CNS to muscles and glands.

Humans

________ pair off monogamously and get married because there is a higher chance of getting the woman pregnant and the man sticking around.

Natural selection

________- the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.

Scientists

________ use an electroencephalogram (EEG) to capture the electrical activity of the brain.