Neurotransmitters, Glands, parts of the brain, and Hormones

Insulin

Lowers blood sugar levels

Cortisol

Stress hormone, tries to calm you down

Testosterone

controls male secondary physical development, reproductive health, and overall body maintenance

Estrogen

Aids in sexual reporduction and regulating the female cycle

Melatonin

regulates your body's circadian rhythm and sleep-wake cycle

Oxytocin

love hormone, helps prompt social conenction, helps with uterine contractions and lactation

Adrenaline

Facillitates fight or flight

Growth Hormone

helps the body grow and repair

Seritonin

Mood, sleep, and digestion

Dopamine

Mood, motivation, and reward

Glutamate

Main excitation, learning, memory, metabolism 

GABA

Main inhibition,  brain function, sleep calm/excitation balance 

Acetylcholine

Muscle contraction (action), learning, memory 

Norepinephrine

Heart, intestines, alertness, arousal, mood, stress, blood pressure 

Endorphines

Pain inhibition, stress modulation, pleasure 

Substance P

Pain perception, inflammation, neuroendocrine modulation 

Pituitary Gland

Controls all other glands; Produces: Growth Hormone, oxytocin, endorphines

Thyroid Gland

Regulates metabolism, growth, and appetite; Produces T3 and T4

Adrenal Gland

Emergency response gland; produces: epinephrin, norepinephrine, cortisol

Testes

Male gonads, sexual reproduction, sexual motivation and behavior; Produces: testosterone

Ovaries

Female gonads, sexual reproduction, sexual motivation and behavior; Produces: estrogen and progesterone

Pancreas

Aids digestion and maintains blood sugar levels; Produces insulin and glucagon

Pineal Gland

regulates sleep-wake cycle and responds to light; Produces melatonin

Glucagon

raises blood sugar levels

cerebellum

effects balance and coordination

medulla

unconcious movement (breathing, hearbeat)

pons

helps regulate sleep/wake cycle; connects to the rest of the brain

reticular formation

takes sensory info and works with pons (ex: needing to pee), alertness

substentia nigra

produces dopamine, motivation, pleasure center

ventral trigmental area

produces dopamine, motivation and pleasure center (3 words)

limbic system

emotion center

thalamus

sensory relay station

amygdala

emotional responses (fear and aggression), sense of smell

hippocampus

memory formation and learning

hypothalamus

helps maintain homeostasis

Right brain

Spatial relations, arousal, pitch, negative emotions

Left brain

language, associations in memory, selective attention, positive emotions

frontal lobe

matures last, involved in reasoning

motor cortex (frontal lobe)

conscious movement

prefrontal cortex (frontal lobe)

executive functions

brocas area (frontal lobe)

language production

somatosensory cortex (paratiel lobe)

processes sensory info from the body

auditory cortex (temporal lobe)

processes what we hear

Wernicke’s area (temporal lobe)

understanding language

visual cortex (Occipital lobe)

processes what we see

chromosomes

long strands of DNA

genes

basic physical and functional unit of heredity made up of a specific segment of DNA

alleles

alternative forms of a gene

range of reaction

genes set the boundaries within which we can operate, the environment interacts with the genes to determine where in the range we fall

genetic environmental correlation

our genes influence our environment, and our environment influences the expression of our traits; bidirectional

epigenics

how the same genotype can lead to very different pheotypes

glial cells

neuron support, protection, and maintenance

neurons

info processing cells

aganist

psychotropic medication that mimics neurotransmitters

antagonist

psychotropic medication that blocks normal neurotransmitter activity

lateralization

right brain controls left body, left brain controls right body

neuroplacticity

the ablility of the brain to adapt

central nervous system

brain and spinal cord

peripherial nervous system

broken down into two parts: somatic and autonomic

somatic nervous system

voluntary movement

autonomic nervous system

2 parts (sympathetic and parasympathetic) involuntary movement

sympathetic

fight or flight, stress response

parasympathetic

rest and digest

HPA-axis

feedback network that regulates cortisol

Primary appraisals

is it a threat to me now

Secondary appraisals

how we cope

acute stressors

temporary stress

chronic stressors

lasting stess

episodic stressors

longer, specific periods of stress, reoccuring

Eustress

good stress, benefits you, aids productivity

Distress

bad stress, detrimental to well being