The Brain (Unit 1)

AP Psych

What is the Medulla responsible for?

Controls breathing, digestion, heart rate, and reflexes.

What is the Pons responsible for?

Producing facial expressions

What is the Cerebellum responsible for?

Coordinates body movements for balance and accuracy- motor learning.

What is the Reticular Formation responsible for?

Alertness, control center of the brain, (like our conscious alertness and awareness) it helps us sleep and wake up.

What is the Thalamus responsible for?

our body's information relay station. All information from your body's senses (except smell) must be processed through your thalamus

What is the Hypothalamus responsible for?

Regulates basic needs like, hunger, thirst, sex and going to the bathroom.

What is the Amygdala responsible for?

Responsible for emotion

What happens if the Amygdala gets injured?

They become aggressive and/or fearful (instinctual)

What is the Hippocampus responsible for?

Creating memories

What is the Frontal Lobe responsible for?

control over many abilities, including the way you think, how you move and how you remember things. Also important in decision making and planning. (part of the cerbral cortex)

What is the Broca’s area responsible for?

producing Speech

What is the Motor Cortex responsible for?

planning, control and execution of voluntary movements (part of the cerebral cortex)

What is the Parietal Lobe responsible for?

Interprets touch and pain

What is the Sensory Cortex responsible for?

interprets touch

What is the Temporal Lobe responsible for?

Hearing and some speech function

What is the Wernicke’s area responsible for?

interprets written and spoken speech (Left hemisphere)

What is the Occipital Lobe responsible for?

Visual information (Visual cortex)

What is a Dentrite?

receives information from other neurons

What is an Axon?

Send information away to other neurons

What do the ends of axons always have?

Terminal buttons

What is the Myelin Sheath?

Fatty covering around the axon that helps info travel faster

What is the terminal button?

branched end of the axon that contains the neurotransmitters.

What is a vesicle?

Structure that contains the neurotransmitters

What is the Synapse?

Space between two neurons where neurotransmitters are released.

When does action potential occur?

When a neuron sends information down an axon.

What is the refractory period?

When neurons need a resting period before it can fire again.

What is dopamine responsible for?

Helps control brain’s reward and pleasure centers

What is Acetylcholine responsible for?

Involved with movement and memories (stored memorys- and you couldn’t move without it)

What is Serotonin responsible for?

emotions and mood (inhibitory with pain pathway)

What is Norepinephrine responsible for?

Bringing out nervous system into high alert AKA fight or flight

What is Endorphins responsible for?

involved with pain reduction and pleasure (opiods)

What is GABA responsible for?

Important in producing sleep and reducing anxiety (inibitory)

What is Glutamate responsible for?

important in learning and memory (exitatory)

Wat is a neuron?

A nerve cell that communicates information through a brain (like point A to point B

What is dopamine responsible for?

What is dopamine responsible for?

What is dopamine responsible for?

What is dopamine responsible for?