AP Psych Unit 1

Heredity

Passing different physical and mental traits from generation to generation

Epigenetics

Focuses on how environment and people behavior affect the genes of people

Epigenetics happens ______

Slowly

How have Twin studies, family studies been used

used to better understand how heredity and environment on people behavior and mental process

Plasticity

brain's ability to change and adapt as a result of experience, learning, or injury.

What is the Central Nervous system made of

Brain and Spinal cord

What does CNS do?

Send orders to the body

What does the PNS (Peripheral system) consist of

Consists of the different nerves go from the brain and the spinal cord

What does the PNS do

Connect the Brain and Spinal cord to the different organs within the body

What does the somatic nervous system consist of and what does it do

The five senses and the skeletal muscle movements. Controls voluntary actions

Autonomic nervous system

involuntary actions, breathing, heart beating, stomach digesting

Sympathetic system

apart of autonomic nervous system. Energies the body for stressful situations, increase breathing, heart beat faster

Parasympathetic system

Apart of autonomic nervous system, relaxes the body, stores energy, increases digestion, slows heart rate

Glial cells

They provide structure ,insulation and communication, and waste transportation. Building blocks of mental processes

Glial do process information

False

Neurons

Basic functional unit of nervous system.

How do Neurons communicate

By using electrical impulses, chemical signals. Sending info throughout the body

Reflex arc

nerve pathway that allows the body of an individual to respond to other stimuli without thinking. Allows us to respond threat before processing it

What does the Reflex Arc consist of

Sensory neurons, Inter Neurons, Motor Neurons

Action Potential

When a neuron fires and sends it down the axon, sends signal to other neurons, needs positively charged and negatively charged ion

To trigger an action potential

A neuron must depolarize, which happens when an outside stimulus is strong enough to meet the threshold that causes the depolarization to occur, finally it fires the potential.

Repolarization

brings the neuron back to resting potential

Refectory Period

Time where the cell cannot fire and needs to wait until repolarization occurs.

What are Neurotransmitters

Chemicals that transmit signals across a synapse from one neuron to another, influencing activity in the receiving neuron.

Electrical Synapse

A type of synapse that is for sending message quickly

Synaptic Gap

The small space between two neurons where neurotransmitters are released to transmit signals.

Presynaptic terminal

converts the electrical signal to a chemical one and sends the neurotransmitters into the synaptic gap

Post synaptic terminal

is where neurotransmitters are accepted in the dendrite of the receiving neuron

Reuptake

The process of taking the excess neurotransmitters left in the synaptic gap

Excitatory Neurotransmitters

Increase the likelihood that a neuron will fire an action potential through depolarization in the postsynaptic neuron

Inhibitory Neurotransmitter

Decrease the likelihood that a neuron will fire an action potential, it leads to hyperpolarization

Hyperpolarization

When the inside of a neuron becomes more negative moving the neuron farther away from it’s intensity level needed for an action potential

Multiple sclerosis

When myelin sheath is damaged, disrupts the transmission of electrical signals. Symptoms: Muscle weakness, Coordination problems, Fatigue.

myasthenia gravis

auto immune disorder, affects communication between nerves and muscle, block or destroy acetylcholine receptors, muscle weakness and fatigue

Acetylcholine

Enables Muscle action, learning and memory

Substance P

Helps with transmitting pain signals from sensory nerves to the CNS

Dopamine

Helps with learning, attention and emotion

Serotonin

Impacts an individual’s hunger, sleep, arousal, mood

Endorphins

Pain control, impact on individual pain tolerance

Norepinephrine

Increases your blood pressure, heart rate, alertness, and helps with body’s fight or flight

Glutamate

Long term memory and learning

GABA

sleep movement and slows down your nervous system

Adrenaline

Helps with body’s response to high emotional situations, expands air passages in the lungs, redistributes blood in the lungs redistributes blood to the muscles and is involved in the body’s fight or flight response.

Leptin

Regulate Hunger, signals body that you are fat making sure you don’t eat to much

Ghrelin

Tells Brain that we are hungry, and releases growth hormone