AP Psychology: Unit 1A Test

What is the peripheral nervous system?

• Everything other than the brain and spinal cord

• Somatic: in charge of voluntary muscle movements (ex: picking up a pencil with your hand)

• Automatic: controls self-regulated action of internal organ and glands (ex: breathing, heart beating, etc)

What is the central nervous system?

The brain and the spinal cord

What are the parts of the autonomic nervous system?

“Fight or flight” response

1. sympathetic → arouses

2. parasympathetic → calms

What does the sympathetic nervous system do?

Will kick in during times of stress

• Heart and respiratory rate increases for survival

• Dilation of pupils will let more light in so that you can see more during times of survival

• Blood flows away from digestion system into muscles so you can run away from threat

• Hormones will be released, as well as adrenaline to help you get away (prepares you to cope with stress, will ready muscles for movement, will make you prepared and alert)

• Bladder relaxes so that you can cope with stress (all energy directed to getting away from threat)

What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?

Homeostasis will bring you back to equilibrium

• Heart rate comes back to normal along with all body parts due to parasympathetic nervous system

• Is only active when it’s needed to return you to baseline and will bring you back to homeostasis after a stressful situation (ex: lunch with friends after taking a difficult test)

• NOT active when you’ve been relaxing for a while

What are the parts of the central nervous sytem (CNS)?

Brain

• Enables all functioning

• Billions of neurons and their connections → these neurons work together in neural networks (group of neurons that communicate w/ each other, all have diff. jobs)

Spinal Cord

• Connects brain to PNS

• Handles reflexes

Why is injury higher up the spinal cord bad?

Spinal cord links your brain to the peripheral system, info is transmitted from the arm → spinal cord → brain

• The higher up the injury on the spinal cord, the more damage you may have due to these complex connections

Why are reflexes automatic?

Automatic movements come from the spinal cord because if there’s danger, you have to move as fast as possible

• Reflexes come before the brain signal

• Spinal cord can make you move without the brain receiving the signal first

What is the endocrine system?

• Helps coordinate and integrate complex psychological reactions

• Endocrine glands secrete hormones into the bloodstream

• Organizes NS & Body

What are hormones?

Hormones are chemicals in your body that affects your thought and behavior

• Comes from structures in your body (glands)

• Glands are structures that release hormones

What is the thyroid gland?

Function: controls metabolism

• Secretes thyroxin

• Hyper- vs. hypothyroidism

• A butterfly-shaped gland in your neck

What is hyperthyroidism?

An extra, overactive thyroid

• Will cause you to have a hiked metabolism

• Heart will beat faster → burn more calories → will require more calories to maintain a healthy body weight

• People w/ this have trouble sleeping due to the elevated heart rate

• Can be diagnosed w/ Grave’s disease → thyroid can be removed and be put on synthetic thyroid

What is hypothyroidism?

A lack of sufficient thyroxin

• Will have trouble maintaining a healthy body weight → will keep gaining weight

• Slower heart rate, feels sluggish and not enough energy

• Can be prescribed synthetic thyroxin → will boost levels of thyroxin

What is the pituitary gland?

Human growth hormones (HGH) come from this gland → promotes growth

• Kids produces LOTS of it → athletes found out that HGH also help muscle tissues, ligaments, & tendons grow → thought that by getting lots of HGH it would cut down recovery time (would lose less $$)

• After a certain age, you stop producing HGH

• Also produces oxytocin alongside HGH → oxytocin creates a feeling of trust (ex: moms produce oxytocin when giving birth, why baby & mom feel such a deep connection)

• Injury to the pituitary gland can stop attraction to partners

What is the pituitary gland also known as?

The “master” gland → regulates the other glands

• Can signal other glands to release the hormones that other glands should produce

• Communicates w/ gonads to tell them to release sex steroids, BUT the signal originated in the brain because the pituitary gland is located in the brain

What is the pineal gland?

Function: regulates sleep & wake

• Secretes melatonin

• When darkness sets it, the pineal gland doesn’t get the signal from the sun and starts to release melatonin

• Brain can’t distinguish light from the sun and from the phone → prevents the release of melatonin

• Melatonin designed to help people FALL asleep, not designed to KEEP them asleep

What are the adrenal glands?

Function: reacts the stress, releases adrenaline (epinephrine)

• Adrenaline released in stressful situations

• Fight or flight response: preparing us for a stress response

• Makes us very responsive → allows you to make split decisions in the moment

• EpiPen filled w/ adrenaline → injected into a person’s thigh and it’s released in their bloodstream (airway can close w/ the allergic reaction, but EpiPen will counteract the reaction)

• MOSTLY from adrenal glands (in torso) BUT can also be released in other places as well

What does the pancreas do?

Function: regulates blood sugar

• Located in your torso

• Secretes insulin (which controls blood sugar)

• Pancreas indicates sugar in the blood and secretes insulin to lower the amount of sugar in your blood stream

What is the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes?

Type 1: pancreas producing little to no insulin

• When eating food, blood sugar levels go up and stay up (can be deathly)

Type 2: pancreas is producing insulin, but body isn’t responding correctly to insulin

• Blood sugar stays high and body became desensitized to insulin

What are the gonads (ovaries & testes)?

Function: modulate sexual behavior

• Only glands that are different in both men and women

• Both ovaries and testes produce testosterone → women produce less compared to men (men can also produce estrogen)

• Associated w/ sex drive in men and women

• Testosterone is correlated w/ aggression

• Estrogen doesn’t really affect behavior, BUT is important for healthy behavior → helps keep the blood vessels soft and limber, less levels can make them more rigid

• Androgens are more abundant in men

How has the brain been studied so far?

New discoveries through studying lesions or damaged areas

• Figured out how brain works through brain injuries in other people (can’t dissect brain due to ethical reasonings → have to rely on animal brains & neuro imaging)

The EEG

• Records electrical activity on the surface of the brain

• Functional techinique

• Electrodes are sensors that are used in an EEG and measures electricity and brain waves

• Used in sleep studies

• Functional neuroimaging b/c it shows brain functioning over time (an image in a moment in time)

What are some examples of structural neuroimaging?

CT scan

• Used to create overall images of the brain

• Only shows the structure of the brain → can’t tell how the brain is functioning by using this

• Good for giving overview on what brain looks like

MRI

• Produces detailed pictures of soft tissue in brain

• Can focus on specific regions when CT can’t produce clear images

What are some examples of functional neuroimaging?

PET

• Shows that the brain is working/functioning → shows the most comprehensive of imaging

• Injects you with glucose for this test → all cells in body uses glucose as it’s a source of fuel

• Checks which part of your neurons are consuming glucose

• Red parts are neurons going through action potentials in brain, green ones are at rest (brain w/ alzheimer’s will mostly be green)

fMRI

• Measures and tracks blood flow in brain

• Neurons that have more action potentials, the more blood will flow in that part of the brain

• Do not need to inject anything for this test

What parts of the brain make up the hindbrain?

1. Brainstem

2. Thalamus

3. Cerebellum

These parts of the brain are our “autopilot” so other regions can deal w/ higher-level “human” functions

What is the brainstem?

Oldest part of the brain

• Contains the medulla (controls heartbeat, BP and breathing)

• Contains pons (helps regulate sensory info and facial expressions)

• Contains reticular formation (RF) → alertness/arousal, sleep/wakefulness

Showing a person w/ damage to their medulla will be hard b/c they’ll either be seriously injured or dead

What is the thalamus?

• Pair of egg-shaped structures on top of the brainstem

• Routes all incoming sensory info except for smell to appropriate areas of the brain

What is the cerebellum?

Controls coordination, balance, and muscle tone

What is the limbic system (midbrain) and what is it made out of?

Located btwn the primitive parts of the brain and the cerebral hemispheres

• Hippocampus

• Amygdala

• Hypothalamus 

Primarily, the limbic system processes drives, smells, and various emotional responses 

What does the hippocampus do?

Processes new memories

• In charge of more sophisticated systems

• Controls our “drives” → hunger, thirst, sex drive

• Makes us feel rewarded → when gambling, lots of action potentials are occurring in the hypothalamus

• Neurotransmitter that’s most abundant in the hypothalamus is dopamine

What does the amygdala do?

Controls emotions such as aggression and fear

• In humans, when amygdala is active, we become scared

• Part of Gage’s amygdala flew off and he became emotionally unstable (how we figured out that the amygdala controls these things)

What does the hypothalamus do?

Regulates hunger, thirst, body temp and sex drive

• Also controls the pituitary gland

What is the cortex?

Aka the forebrain

• Part of the cerebrum (two large hemispheres making up most of brain’s weight)

• Mass majority of the neurons live in the cortex

• Wrinkly b/c it has many convolutions → brain is folded and stacked on top of itself

• Some animals have a smooth brain (meaning they can’t fit as many neurons in their skulls)

• Most highly evolved part of the human brain

The cortex has 4 lobes, what are they?

1. Frontal lobe

2. Temporal lobe

3. Parietal lobe

4. Occipital lobe

The lobes are separated by deep convolutions aka “fissures” (spaces btwn the convolutions are the natural dividing lines btwn the lobes)

What does the occipital lobe control?

Visual cortex

• A group of neurons help process incoming visual info → can recognize and put together what they’re looking at

• Blind people don’t get any info here → meaning that the rest of their senses are heightened b/c the neurons that were supposed to be there are elsewhere

What does the parietal lobe control?

Primary sensory or somatosensory cortex

• A strip of neurons called the somatosensory (SS) cortex

• Sensory neurons send info to the brain to the  SS cortex (this is the final destination for these neurons) and is located within the parietal lobe

What does the temporal lobe do?

Auditory cortex

• Causes you to hear things

• Soundwaves hit your ears and the temporal lobe processes it and causes you to hear things

• Auditory cortex can be activated, but if there’s NO stimulus it could be due to hallucinations

• Temporal lobe will impart meaning in what you see

What does the frontal lobe do?

Most evolved → contains the motor cortex, which allows us to move

• In charge of impulse and behavior, among other things

• Last part of the brain to develop when you become older (that’s why kids take more risks)

• Planning also comes from the frontal lobe

• Is the most unique to humans (if animals DO have frontal lobes, it’s proportionally smaller compared to ours)

What is the motor cortex?

Left hemisphere section controls the body’s right side → Deals w/ motor neurons

• Actions comes from motor neurons

• More neurons in this cortex are dedicated to hands and very little space is allocated to the upper arms and thigh movements b/c you can’t really move these areas

• We have many neurons dedicated to the mouth b/c communication would be difficult without them

What is the sensory cortex?

Left hemisphere section receives input from the body’s right side

• Deals w/ sensory neurons

Debunk the myth: “We only use 10% of our brains'“

Not all neurons can have action potentials → maybe 20% are having action potentials at a time, the rest are at resting potential

What is an undifferentiated cortex?

Some animals have an undifferentiated cortex meaning that there aren’t many different parts to it (ex: rats don’t have many different parts to its brain)

What are association areas?

A group of neurons that work together to help you produce sound and process speech

• Broca’s area → in charge of speech

• Wernicke’s area → in charge of language comprehension

• Auditory cortex → another association area 

What is neuroplasticity?

The brain’s ability to change and reorganize as a result of experience

• Rosenzweig’s rat studies showed that the environment and experiences that you’re raised in can impact brain size

• Supports the nurture part of the nature vs. nurture debate

What does neuroplasticity imply for humans?

Means that it’s important to stimulate your brain

• Social media usage changes your brain

• Amygdala grows a lot w/ excess social media usage (ex: “I’m scared that no one likes me b/c I didn’t get x amounts of likes on my post)

What is neurogenesis?

Recent evidence has suggested that human brains may be able to generate new brain cells → can support stem cell research

• Brain is shrinking/growing meaning that you can create new neurons

• Stem cells are universal cells that can transform into any other type of cell → stem cells in the brain can become neurons

• Research is limited due to ethical reasons → can’t inject stem cells into brain for humans b/c in experimental stage

• Umbilical cords and placenta are #1 sources of stem cells (very abundant in undifferentiated stem cells) → can be injected into other people’s health issues to help them (ex: injecting stem cells in someone’s bone and muscle to help grow it)

What are the hemispheres (half) of the brain?

Lateralization of function

• Most people have a dominant hemisphere (usually the left, which controls the right side of the body)

• Both sides serve important functions, revealed by studying split-brain patients

• Each hemisphere isn’t in charge of the same thing → has their own functions

What is the psychological impact of split-brain studies?

The corpus callosum was cut in brain to reduce epileptic seizures

• Allowed us to find out that there were different abilities in each hemisphere

• Info is trapped in right/left hemisphere and CANNOT travel to the opposite hemisphere

• Right hemisphere controls the left side of the body

What are each hemisphere in charge of?

Left hemisphere

• Language in most people

• Logic

• Right side of body

Right hemisphere

• Perception

• Sense of self

• Inferences

• Left side of body

• More creative and outside the box thinking

Does being right or left handed demonstrate a strength in a certain hemisphere?

Don’t know what causes left or right handedness

• Being left-handed supports the “nature” argument of “nature vs nurture” → cannot learn how to write w/ their right hand

Why do psychologists want to study genetics?

Seeks to understand the relative influence of genetics and our experiences

• Nature vs. nurture debate: to what extent do genes influence behavior and to what extent does your environment influence your behavior?

• Presents the question: are there genes that make up your personality?

What is heredity?

Examines the transmission of trait from one generation to next

What are chromosomes?

• Pairs of thread like bodies that contains genes

• Average human cells has 23 pairs → sperm cell has 23 chromosomes (so does the egg cell coming from your mom)

• Everyone has 46 chromosomes in every cell of your body (makes us who we are, unique to us, don’t have the same exact chromosomes as anyone else UNLESS you’re a twin)

• Made of DNA

What are genes?

Basic units of inheritance

• Little segments of DNA

How do we study genetics in animals?

Having 2 animals mate & see the results of that, is easier to study due to ethical guidelines

1. Strain studies

2. Selection studies

What are strain studies?

Where you have two of the same species and attempt to look at the characteristics/behaviors of the parents and see if it got passed onto baby

What are selection studies?

Where you pick two animals and select them based on a certain trait

• Ex: picking 2 pigs who are high in aggression and wait for them to mate. If the child has extreme levels of aggression, then it can be said the trait of aggression got passed down

How do we study behavioral genetics in humans?

1. Identical twins

2. Fraternal twins

3. Separated twins

4. Adoption studies

5. Family studies

How do psychologists study behavioral genetics in identical twins?

• Identical twins that grow up in different environments and will have different experiences due to their environments → any differences that occur btwn the twins may be due to their environments

• Despite growing up in different environments, twins can still be very alike possibly due to genetics

How do psychologists study behavioral genetics in adoption studies?

Comparing the child to their adoptive mom to their biological mom → to what extent is the child more similar to their adoptive or biological mother? (nature vs. nurture)

How do psychologists study behavioral genetics in family studies?

Comparing the child to their siblings and/or parents

What is heritability?

The extent to which differences among organisms are caused by genes

• NOT talking about a singular person → when you’re comparing different organisms within a species

• When you look at the entirety of the species and determine to what extent a certain trait is passed down

Ex: in humans, highly heritable traits include hair/eye color (not all animals eye color is a highly heritable trait → sometimes eye color is based on their amounts of exposure to light)

Nature vs. nurture → breakdown: how can our genes dictate our behavior?

Our genes can change with our environment → in war torn countries, genes will mutate so that the person can be resilient to the environment (makes them deal w/ stress better and can be passed onto children)

• Genes dictate the experiences you have, people you choose to spend time w/, choices you make, etc

• Humans are the way they are b/c certain genes are needed for survival → those deemed “attractive” in society will mate w/ an “attractive” person b/c those genes are “superior”

• Those deemed unattractive won’t be able to mate meaning that their traits will eventually go away from the DNA pool

• Will select mate with traits that are beneficial to our species

What is evolutionary psychology?

Evolutionary psychologists focus on our similarities, as dictated by natural selection

• Varied organisms in a population compete to survive

• Certain biological and behavioral variations facilitate survival

• Surviving organisms may reproduce and pass on their genes

• This leads to overall changing characteristics in a population

What are the critiques of evolutionary psychology?

People say it’s just an excuse for bad behavior

• Ex: saying that a man can have multiple women due to evolutionary psychology standards

We have evolved beyond that → cannot behave like cave men and women

What are gender differences from a biological perspective?

X and Y chromosomes

• Y triggers sex differentiation during fetal development

• XY is genetically male, XX is genetically female (Y is the male chromosome and X is the female chromosome)

• Some aren’t XX or XY

Father will determine the sex of the child as they give either the X, Y, or no chromosomes

What are genetic abnormalities?

• Klinefelter syndrome: XXY → person has male genatalia BUT will have female characteristics (development of breast tissue, higher pitched voice, etc) → can be stressful during puberty as female changes are happening to them instead of male changes

• Turner syndrome: X0 → will appear female BUT will be shorter, born sterile, webbed neck, no period

• Down syndrome → extra copy of chromosome 21 (having 3 chromosomes from the dad) → person’s intellectual level is capped at an elementary school level