Unit 1 (Sub 1) Review

What is psychology?

The science of behavior and mental processes

Nature

The genetic transfer of characteristics from parent to offspring

Nurture

Every non-genetic influence, from pre-natal nutrition to the people and things around us

Evolutionary Psychology 

The study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection

Enjoying the tastes of sweets and fats because that what our ancestors used to use to survive is an example of what?

Evolutionary Psychology

Mutations

Random errors in gene replication that lead to a change in the sequence of nucleotides

What experiment had to do with breeding foxes to see if they could become domesticated

Belyaev and Trut

What do behavior geneticists’ study?

The relative power and limits of heredity and environmental influences on behavior

Chromosomes

Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes

How many total chromosomes do you have?

46

How many chromosomes do you get from mom and dad?

23 from mom (egg) and 23 from dad (sperm)

DNA

Complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes

Genes

Biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes 

Genome

The complete instructions for making an organism

What type of twins develops from a single fertilized egg that splits into two?

Identical (monozygotic) twins

What type of twins develops from separate eggs?

Fraternal (dizygotic) twins

True or False: Fraternal twins are genetically no similar than ordinary sibling

True

Where does “nurture” begin?

The womb

True or False: Even identical twins can receive different prenatal nurture 

True

About how many identical twins share the same placenta?

2/3

What study researched that when one identical twin gets divorced, it’s more likely the other twin will also get divorced

Matt McGue and David Lykken

What study did Thomas Bouchard conduct?

Separated twins still grow up to be very similar

Are adoptees more similar to their biological parents or the adoptee parents?

Biological parents

What do adoptee parents influence on their adoptee child?

Attitudes, values, politics, manners, faith, etc.

Interaction

The dependence of the effect of factor (such as the environment) on another factor (such as heredity)

Evocative interactions

How people react and influence us

What is epigenetics? 

The study of environmental influences of gene expression that occur without DNA a change 

Your health and well-being could be affected by stressors or pollutants that your parent or even grandparent experienced is an example of what

Epigenetics

Nervous system

The body’s speedy, electrochemical communication system 

The brain and the spinal cord are located in the…

Central nervous system (CNS)

Peripheral Nervous System 

The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system (CNS) to the rest of the body 

What body system controls the body’s skeletal muscles?

Somatic nervous system

What systems operate automatically and control the glands and muscles of the internal organs?

Autonomic nervous system 

Arouses the body and mobilizes its energy in stressful situations

Sympathetic nervous system 

Calms the body, conserving its energy

Parasympathetic nervous system

When the sympathetic nervous system is being activated, does the stomach slow or increase activity

Slow activity

What are nerves?

Bundled axons of many neurons that form neural cables connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs 

What type of neurons carries incoming information from the brain to the spinal cord?

Sensory (afferent) neurons

Interneurons 

CNS neurons internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs

What type of neurons carries outgoing information from the CNS to muscles and glands?

Motor (efferent) neurons 

How many sensory and motor neurons do we have in the body

millions

How many interneurons do we have in the body

Billions

Reflex

A simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus

Jerking your hand away from a hot flame is an example of what?

reflex

Interconnected clusters of neurons in the CNS are what?

Neural Networks

What part of the neuron is bushy, branching extensions that help the neuron receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body

Dendrite

Axon

The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers

Myelin Sheath

A layer of fatty cells segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons

What part of the neuron enables greater transmission speed of neural impulses

Myelin Sheath

What health condition has to do with the depletion of the myelin sheath?

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

When somebody has multiple sclerosis (MS) how does it affect them?

It causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of the body

Cell Body

The cell’s life support center

What are the terminal branches (presynaptic membrane)

The ends of the axon containing terminal buttons which hold synaptic vesicles that store neurotransmitters

What is the speed of a neural impulse?

Range from 2 to 200 mph

What unit are neural impulses measured in?

Milliseconds

How is a neural impulse generated? (the “gates” starting to open)

The neuron has to meet its minimum threshold which then transmits the electrical impulse (the action potential)

“Like a gas pedal to a car” is an example of what?

Excitatory signal

An Excitatory signal...

Triggers action

“Like the brake pedal to a car” is an example of what?

Inhibitory signal 

An Inhibitory signal…

Depresses action

When the excitatory signals outnumber the inhibitory impulses and threshold has been reached when then occurs?

Action potential 

True or False: More stimulation produces a more intense neural transmission

False

All or none response 

The neural firing happens at full response or not at all 

Squeezing a gun’s trigger harder won't make the bullet go faster is an example of what?

All or none response

When the “gate” of the neuron opens when the threshold is reached, what enters the gate?

Positively charged Sodium (Na^+) 

What happens when the first gate opens and receives sodium

The next gate opens and follows the same thing causing a chain reaction

What does the “gate” of the neuron want to push out once it has been opened?

Potassium (K)

After the neuron has sent out sodium from all its gates it is said to be what?

Resting state or polarized 

What does it mean that an axon membrane is selectively permeable?

The membrane contains voltage gated ion channels that either open to allow ion exchange (depolarization) or close to prevent ion exchange (polarization)

Subsequent action potentials cannot occur during the…

Refractory period (the neuron needs time to get back to its original state)

How do neurons communicate with each other?

The sending neuron releases neurotransmitters across a synapse to the receiving neuron 

The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron is what?

Synapse

Neurotransmitters

The chemical messengers that traverse the synaptic gaps between neurons

What influences whether or not a neuron will generate a neural impulse 

Neurotransmitters

Reuptake

A neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron

Acetylcholine (ACh) plays a role in _________ and _________

learning and memory 

If ______ transmission is blocked, the muscles cannot contract, and we are paralyzed 

Acetylcholine (ACh)

ACh is the neurotransmitter that is the messenger between the ________ and ________

Motor neurons and skeletal muscles

What is Myasthenia Gravis (MG)

A chronic neuromuscular disease where the immune system attacks the ACh receptors where the nerves and muscles communicate resulting in weakness in the skeletal muscles

What can be released when partaking in vigorous exercise

endorphins

What is substance P associated with

Pain

Agonists _______ neuron firing

Excites

Antagonists _______ neuron firing

Inhibits

What system “slows” the chemical communication system

The endocrine system

What does the endocrine system consist of?

A set of glands and fat tissue that secrete hormones into the bloodstream

Hormones

The chemical messengers, mostly manufactured by the endocrine glands

What is the pair of endocrine glands that are just above the kidneys?

Adrenal glands

What hormones do the adrenal glands secrete?

Epinephrine (adrenalin) and norepinephrine (noradrenalin)

True or False: Epinephrine and norepinephrine are both a hormone and a neurotransmitter

True

What does the pituitary gland do?

Secretes many different hormones, some of which affect other glands (the endocrine system mastermind)

Hypothalamus

Brain region that controls the pituitary gland

The Hypothalamus is part both the ____ and the _______ system

CNS and endocrine system

Growth hormone

Regulates growth and metabolism

Oxytocin

Stimulates the uterine contractions of childbirth and milk secretion during breastfeeding