AP Psychology Unit 1

Temperament

Biological behavior styles, how you see and interact

Evolutionary psychology

Natural selection creates survival of genes. How genes and environment shape people

Natural selection

Individual survival and reproduction based on traits and changes

Receptor sites

Protein molecules receive and bind to messages

Dendrites

Receives signals from other cells

Soma (cell body)

Organizes and keeps cell functional

Axon

Transfers signals to cells and organs

Myelin sheath

Covers connection (axon) and increases speed of signal

Nodes of Ranvier

Allow diffusion of ions

Terminal buttons

Form junctions with other cells

Vesicles

Sac with liquid or cytoplasm inside a cell, stores, secretes, transfers

Synapse

Junction point where electrical impulses (action potential) meet after traveling down axon

Semipermeable

Small ions pass, larger or more complex don’t

Membrane Glial cells

Support and nourish neurons, cognitive processes

Schwann Cells

Produces myelin sheath

Acetylcholine

Thought, learning, memory. Activates muscles, attention, waking, Alzheimer’s

Epinephrine

Adrenaline, fight or flight, EpiPen

Norepinephrine

Concentration, affects attention and response, depression

Glutamate

Excitatory, memory, development, migraines or seizures

Dopamine

Pleasure, addiction, movement and motivation, awards, Schizophrenia, tremors, Parkinson’s

Serotonin

Mood, hunger, sleep, depression, exercise, light

GABA

Calming, central nervous system, motor, vision, focus or anxiety

Repolarization

Opens, Potassium ions leave, returning to negative

Resting potential

Membrane is selectively permeable, ready for signal

Refractory period

Pumps out Na, can’t fire again until resting potential

All-or-none response

Neuron either fires or doesn’t, no in between

Threshold

Level of stimulation to trigger an action potential

Charles Darwin

Evolutionary method, emotions based on survival and reproduction

Paul Broca

Broca’s area, frontal lobe speech, lesions and damage research

Carl Wernicke

Wernicke’s area, understanding language, specialized regions

Roger Sperry

Split-brain research, Corpus Callosum for seizures, left vs. right brain, dual consciousness

Michael Gazzaniga

Split-brain research, left brain interprets sensory and info from right

William James (consciousness)

Stream of consciousness, unified, flows, changes all the time

Sigmund Freud (consciousness)

Three levels of consciousness, conscious mind aware of, preconscious mind not aware of memories can recall, unconscious mind inaccessible fears and traumas

Sleep cycles

90-120 minutes 3-6 times a night

NREM 1-3 (w/wave patterns)

Transition period 5 to 10 minutes, Body temp and heart rate drop sleep spindles 20 minutes, muscles relax blood pressure and blood drop deepest sleep

REM cycle

Active brain body immobilized and relaxed dreams rapid eye movement

Sleep spindles

Bursts of brain activity

K-Complexes

Large wave on EEG before spindles

Wish fulfillment

Fulfilling a want through a dream

Manifest content

Storyline of the dream

Latent content

Interpreted meaning of dream

Activation synthesis

Brain is trying to make sense of random neural activity limbic system is active

Information processing

Store memories during REM and get rid of the junk of the day

Endocrine system

Slow chemical messenger that releases hormones into the blood

Hormones

Chemical messengers from endocrine glands, regulate body functions

Adrenal glands

On top of kidneys, fight-or-flight response, Cortisol

Pituitary gland

Directs all other glands, growth and reproductive hormones, Oxytocin

Central nervous system

Brain and spinal coord, processing center

Peripheral nervous system

Outside of spinal coord, nerve system, connects central nervous system to the rest of the body

Somatic nervous system

Muscle movements and external sensory information

Autonomic nervous system

Involuntary processes such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion and body temp

Sympathetic nervous system

Network of nerves responsible for th fight-or-flight response

Parasympathetic nervous system

Controls involuntary functions during states of rest, helps conserve energy, digests, and controls stress

Sensory/afferent neurons

Takes sensory information from the environment to the brain

Motor/efferent neurons

Take motor information from the brain to the body to make muscles move

Interneurons

Enable communication between afferent and efferent neurons in the spinal cord

Glial cells

Cells that support and nourish neurons, learning thinking memory (cognitive)

Brainstem: medulla and pons

Medulla: basic life functions like heartbeat and breathing

Pons: Coordinates movement and controls sleep

Reticular formation

Controls alertness, directs some stimuli alongside thalamus

Thalamus

Sensory center receives info from all sense but smell, transfers info including from cortex to the medulla and cerebellum

Cerebellum

Coordination, skill memory, nonverbal learning, judge time, regulate emotions, FINE MOTOR MOVEMENT

Amygdala

Linked two emotion, anger, fear, aggression, can cause us to be LESS fearful

Hypothalamus

Directs homeostasis, fahrenheit, feeding, flight, fight, funny business

Hippocampus

Processes conscious memories and events

Frontal lobes

Speaking, muscle movements, planning, judgement, emotional regulation, advanced thought processes, decision-making, predicting consequences

Parietal lobes

Sensory input for touch and body position

Temporal lobes

Auditory processing, speech/language

Occipital lobes

Visual processing

Motor cortex

Controls voluntary movements, back of frontal lobe

Somatosensory cortex

Register and processes body touch and movement sensations

Association areas

Thinking learning, remembering, and speaking, found in many places

Corpus callosum

Connects left and right sides of the brain

Polarization

Difference in charge between inside and outside

Depolarization

Loss of the negative/positive difference in charge

Action potential

Shift from negative to positive, signal, when neuron fires

Reuptake

Reabsorbs extra neurotransmitters

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Records electrical waves that move across the brain’s surface by utilizing electrodes placed externally on the head

PET (position remission tomography)

Visual based and are done using radioactive glucose to see what parts of the brain are used during certain tasks

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging

Uses magnetic fields and waves to create an image of the brain’s tissues and anatomy

fMRI (functional MRI)

Slightly different in that it tracks changes in blood flow to the brain

Neuroplasticity

The brain’s ability to constantly change and adapt to new information, events, or injuries

Neurogenesis

The process of how new neurons are formed in the brain

Blindsight

Can physically see, but the area that allows the brain to intellectually process that information is damaged, so the person doesn’t know they’re actually seeing

Selective attention

Focusing conscious awareness on only one stimuli

Inattentional blindness

Failure to see visual objects when your attention is directed elsewhere

Change blindness

Failure to notice changes in environment, type of inattentional blindness

Circadian rhythm

24 hour biological clock, melatonin release, deals with regulating all processes throughout the day

Addiction

Craving the drug despite bad effects, need to use more of it

Withdrawal

Unpleasant psychological effects when stopping use of a substance you are addicted to

Physical dependence

The body physically adapts to a substance, coffee, medicine

Psychological dependence

Feels the need to continue use because of the emotional/mental relief it provides

Depressants

Reduce neural activity and slow body functions

Stimulants

Excite/speed up neural activity and body function

Barbiturates

Tranquilizers, induce sleep, reduce anxiety

Opiates

Opiates: ADDICTING, narcotics, heroin, fentanol, stops endorphin production

Agonist

Increase NTs actions, increase production and release, mimic NT and bind to receptor site

Antagonist

Decrease NTs actions, can occupy receptor sites to block the actual NT from getting in

Insomnia

Persistent problems falling or staying asleep, over/underestimate time, can lead to depression, caused by stress, anxiety, drug/alcohol use

Narcolepsy

Uncontrollable sleep attacks, fall into REM sleep immediately at inopportune times, overly aroused, or experiencing intense emotions