Biological Psychology and Human Development Lecture Notes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering Biological Psychology (neurons, brain structures, neurotransmitters), Consciousness (sleep, dreams, drugs), and Human Development (Piaget, Vygotsky, Kohlberg, Erikson).

Biological Psychology

The branch of science that connects biology with behavior, made possible by the discovery of neurons.

Dendrites

Parts of a neuron that receive messages and take them to the cell body.

Axon

The part of the neuron that takes messages from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands.

Myelin sheath

A fatty cover over the axon that makes messages move faster.

Action potential

An electrical charge fired down the axon triggered by chemical messages or sensory receptors.

All-or-none response

The principle that more excitatory signals do not increase the intensity of a neuron's firing.

Synapses

The gaps between the dendrites and terminals that separate neurons.

Neurotransmitters

Chemicals released from terminal branches of a sending neuron to receptor sites on a receiving neuron.

Acetylcholine (Ach)

A neurotransmitter that causes muscle contraction and is involved in attention, learning, and memory.

Endorphins

Neurotransmitters that work like morphine to act as painkillers; they are released during exercise and create feelings of pleasure.

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter associated with movement, learning, attention, emotion, and reward; a lack of it is linked to Parkinson's disease.

Serotonin

A neurotransmitter that influences mood, hunger, sleep, pain, and arousal; many antidepressants make use of it.

Glutamate

The "gas pedal" neurotransmitter that stimulates almost all neurons in the nervous system, causing them to fire.

GABA

The "brake pedal" neurotransmitter that inhibits neurons and prevents them from firing.

Antagonist

A drug that inhibits neurons by stopping the release of neurotransmitters or binding to receptor sites without activating the neuron.

Agonist

A drug that excites neurons by mimicking neurotransmitters or blocking reuptake.

Central Nervous System (CNS)

The system consisting of the brain and spinal cord where most neurons are located.

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

The system that connects the Central Nervous System (CNS) to the rest of the body.

Sensory neurons

Neurons that carry information from sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord.

Motor neurons

Neurons that carry messages from the brain and spinal cord to muscles and glands.

Somatic Nervous System

Part of the Peripheral Nervous System that controls sensory receptors, skeletal muscles, and voluntary movement.

Autonomic Nervous System

Part of the Peripheral Nervous System that controls glands and muscles of internal organs and involuntary movement.

Sympathetic Nervous System

The part of the Autonomic Nervous System that arouses the body for "fight or flight" during stressors.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

The part of the Autonomic Nervous System that calms the body after the sympathetic nervous system has taken effect.

Endocrine System

A communication system working alongside the nervous system that uses chemical messengers called hormones.

Adrenal gland

Located at the top of the kidneys, it releases epinephrine and norepinephrine to sustain the fight/flight response.

Pituitary gland

Controlled by the hypothalamus, it influences growth and causes other glands to release hormones.

Brainstem

The oldest, primitive part of the brain extending from the spine to the midbrain; it controls heartbeat and breathing.

Thalamus

Located at the top of the brainstem, it receives all sensory information except smell and sends it to other brain regions.

Cerebellum

Called the "little brain," it coordinates voluntary movement, modulates emotion, and handles implicit (muscle) memory.

Hippocampus

A limbric system part involved in spatial navigation and the formation of explicit memories.

Amygdala

A limbric system part associated with aggression, fear, and survival emotions.

Hypothalamus

A brain region responsible for bodily maintenance, homeostasis (hunger, thirst, body temp), and triggering the pituitary gland.

Cerebral Cortex

The wrinkled surface layer over the cerebrum where most processing occurs.

Frontal lobe

Brain lobe responsible for "executive functioning," impulse control, judgment, and planning.

Parietal lobe

Brain lobe responsible for spatial reasoning and the perception of sensory information like touch.

Occipital lobe

Brain lobe primarily responsible for processing vision.

Temporal lobe

Brain lobe responsible for facial recognition, language, and auditory processing.

Broca's area

Located in the frontal lobe, it allows for the expression of language; damage results in an inability to form words.

Wernick's area

Located in the temporal lobe, it allows for the understanding of words; damage results in meaningless speech.

Plasticity

The ability of brain tissue to modify itself or reorganize neurons after damage, which is best in childhood.

EEG (Electroencephalogram)

A tool where electrodes are placed on the scalp to measure electrical activity and brain waves.

fMRI

A continuous scanning technique used while a function is performed to see how activity moves around the brain.

Consciousness

An awareness of ourselves and our environment.

Selective Attention

Focusing conscious awareness on specific things at one time while the brain processes others outside of awareness.

Inattentional blindness

Failing to see visible objects when attention is focused elsewhere.

Circadian Rhythm

A $24$-hour biological clock that regulates body temperature and is influenced by light and melatonin levels.

REM (Rapid Eye Movement)

A sleep stage with rapid waves similar to Stage $1$, muscle paralysis, and vivid dreams.

Manifest content

According to Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the actual content of dreams.

Latent content

According to Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the underlying, censored meaning of dream content representing unconscious drives.

Activation-Synthesis theory

The theory that dreams occur to make sense of neural activity happening in the brain during REM sleep.

Hypnosis

A social interaction where a hypnotist suggests certain feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur to a subject.

Psychoactive Drug

A chemical substance that alters perceptions and mood by affecting consciousness.

Epigenetics

The study of how different genes are expressed without changing the actual DNA sequences.

Assimilation

Interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas.

Accommodation

Adapting current schemas to incorporate new information.

Object permanence

The awareness that objects still exist when no longer seen, which develops at about $8$ months.

Conservation

The realization that properties such as volume/mass remain the same regardless of the shape of the container.

Zone of Proximal Development

The difference between what children can do alone and what they can do with assistance.

Scaffolding

A method where teachers gauge the amount of assistance needed based on a child's current needs to avoid frustration.

Preconventional Level

Kohlberg's level of moral development based on self-interest and external motivation such as obedience.

Conventional Level

Kohlberg's level of moral development where laws and social rules are upheld because they are the rules.

Postconventional Level

Kohlberg's level of moral development where an individual develops their own internal moral code and abstract ethics.

Virtues

Good qualities developed in Erikson's psychosocial stages, such as hope, will, purpose, and wisdom.