Psychology full review for exam 1

everything

Phrenology

the study of bumps on the skull in relation to personality

what are Biological Psychologists

scientist that link biological and psychological processes

What are Neurons

the nerve cells

what is the cell body

the part of a neuron that contains the nucleus

what is a Dendrite

a neurons often bushy, branching extensions that listen to messages and send to cell body

What is the Axon

the segmented neuron extension that speaks to other neurons

What is the Myelin Sheath

a fatty tissue layer that encases the axons

what results from a loss of myelin sheath

multiple sclerosis (diminished muscle control)

what are Glial Cells

Cells that support, nourish, and protect neurons (worker bees)

What is Action Potential

a neural impulse

how fast can action potential get

up to 3mill mph but slower than an electrical wire

What is Threshold

the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

What is the Refractory Period

the resting pause that occurs after a neuron has fired

What is the “All-or-None Response”

a neurons reaction of either firing or not firing

what is a Synapse

the junction between two communicating neurons

What are neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gap between neurons. 

What is reuptake

a neurotransmitters reabsorption by the sending neuron

what are the 7 main neurotransmitters

ACh, Dopamine, Seratonin, Noreprinephrine, GABA, Glutamate, and Endorphins

what is ACh

enables muscle action, learning and memory

What is Dopamine

influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion

what is Seratonin

affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal

What is Noreprinephrine

helps control alertness and arousal

what is GABA

inhibits neurotransmitters

What is Glutamate

excites memory

what are endorphins

influence perception of pain or pleasure (natural morphine)

What is an Agonist Molecule

a molecule that increases a neurotransmitters action (drugs)

What is an Antagonist molecule

a molecule that inhibits neurotransmitters (botulin)

What is the Central nervous system

the brain and spinal cord

What is the Peripheral nervous system

the sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body

What are sensory neurons

body’s reporters, detect sensory stuff and send it in to brain

What are Motor Neurons

carry outgoing information from brain to the body

What are interneurons

neurons within the brain and spinal cord

What are the two systems inside the PNS

Somatic nervous system and Autonomic system

What is the somatic nervous system

controls the body’s skeletal muscles

what is the Autonomic nervous system

controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs

What are reflexes a part of

the CNS

What is the Endocrine system

the body’s “slow” chemical communication system

what is the adrenal gland

sits just above kidneys and secretes hormones for stressful times

what is the pituitary gland

regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands

what is the “master gland”

the hypothalamus

what is the feedback system

brain—> pituitary —> other glands —> homrmones —> brain

what is an EEG

an amplified recording of the waves of activity pn the brain’s surface

What is an MEG

a brain-imaging technique that measures magnetic fields

What is a PET

a technique to measure the radioactive form of glucose

What is an fMRI

a technique for revealing blood flow by comparing successive MRI scans

What is an MRI

shows brain anatomy

What is the Medulla

the base of the brainstem; controls heart beat and breathing

What is the Pons

above the Medulla and dhelps coordinate movements and control

What is the Thalamus

The brain’s sensory control center, located on top of the brainstem

What is the Reticular Formation

a net-like nerve network that filters information and plays important role in controling arousal

what is the Cerebellum

the “little brain” at the rear of the brainstem

What is the Limbic System

“border” neural system associateed with emotions and drives

what are the 3 parts of the Limbic System

the Amygdala, Hypothalamus, and Hippocampus

What is the Amygdala

linked to stress and dear (2 lima beans)

What is the Hypothalamus

a neural structure that helps govern the endocrinesystem and emotion/reward system

What is the Hippocampus

helps process explicit memories (facts and events) for storage

What is the Cerebral Cortex

the body’s ultimate control and information-processing center

What is the frontal lobe

involved in speaking, muscle movements, plans and judgements

What are the parietal lobes

recieves sensory input for touch

what are the occipital lobes

areas that recieve information from visual fields

What are the Temporal lobes

includes the auditory areas

What is the motor cortex

controls voluntary movements

What is the Somatosensory cortex

registers and processes body touch and movement sensations

What are Association areas

areas that are not involved with primary motor or sensory functions. Helps with advanced thinking, speaking, learning, and remembering skills

What is constraint-induced therapy

force patients to use the “bad” body part to train it

what is Corpus Callosum

The large bond of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them.

What is split brains

A condition resulting from having the corpus callosum cut apart.

What is the right side of the brain in charge of

Perceptual tasks like art

What is the Left side of the brain in charge of

speaking or math

what is memory

learning that persists over time; information that has been acquired and stored and can be retrieved.

what are 2 extremes of memory

alzheimers (forget) and gold memory winners

how many faces does the average human remember

~5000 faces

what are the 3 retention measures

Recall, Recognition, and Relearning

what is recall

retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but was learned at an earlier time.

what is an example of recall

a fill-in-the-blank test

what is recognition

identifying items previously learned

what is an example of recognition

multiple choice question test

what is relearning

learning something more quickly when you learn it a second, later time.

what is an example of relearning

reviewing coursework for a final

what is the wechsler memory scale

includes a global assessment of memory functioning.  (you can recognize more than recall)

what is the information-processing model

to remember, we must encode, store, and retrieve the information. 

what does it mean to encode information

get info into our brain

what does it mean to store information

retain the information we have encoded

what does it mean to retrieve information

later get the information, encoded and stored, back out of the brain

what is the difference between computer systems and human brains

computers: process sequentially

humans: process simultaneously

what is parallel processing

multiple processors work simultaneously on different parts of a task to solve it faster.

what are the different processing models

connectionism and neuroplasticity

what is connectionism

Every time you learn new, your neural connections change. Your brain views memories as products of interconnected neural networks 

what is neuroplasticity 

forming and strengthening pathways that allow you to interact with and learn from your constantly changing enviornment

what is the first step to the memory-forming process

we first record to-be-remembered info as a fleeting sensory memory

what is the second step to the memory-forming process

second, we process info into short-term memory, where we encode it through rehearsal

what is the third step to the memory-forming process

finally, info moves into long-term emory for later retrieval. 

what is the working memory

our brain makes sense of new experiences and links them with long-term memories

(influenced by both nature and nurture)

what are explicit memories

the facts and experiences that we consciously know and “declare”.

what are implicit memories

include procedural memory for automatic skills (like riding a bike)

what is iconic memory (“eye”-conic)

a fleeting sensory memory of visual stimuli

what is echoic memory

a fleeting sensory memory of auditory stimuli

who was George Miller

said that we can store 7+-2 bits of info in short-term memory

what does semantic mean

facts and general knowledge

what does episodic mean

experienced events