PSYCH 104: chapter 3 and 4

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115 Terms

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neuron

basic building blocks of the nervous system - send signals to each other and this signalling is what allows us to perceive, think and feel emotions

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axon

conducts electrical impulses away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles or glands

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soma/cell body

contains the structures needed to keep the neuron alive

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dendrites

receive messages from neighbouring neurons and send them on to the cell body - branchlike fibres at the end of the cell body

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myelin sheath

a fatty insulation layer that covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed nerve impulses

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resting potential

neuron is at -70 millivolts, filled with negatively charged ions while the positively charged sodium ions are mostly outside of the neuron

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threshold

when an impulse passes the threshold level of -55mV a signal is sent

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action potential

all of the sodium channels open up and positive sodium ions come into the cell, the neuron becomes positively charged and that positive charge runs up the axon where it causes neurotransmitters to be sent across the synapse

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refractory period

recovery period where until neuron is back at its resting potential another signal cannot be sent

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all or none law

neuron either fires or doesn’t, there is no such thing as a strong or weak signal

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synapse

space between the dendrite of one neuron and the terminal branches of another

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neurotransmitters

chemicals that carry messages across the synapse to either excite or inhibit the activity of the next cell

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excitatory neurotransmitters

increase the chance that the next neuron will have an action potential

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inhibitory neurotransmitters

decrease the chance that the next neuron will have an action potential

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reuptake

if a neurotransmitter does not bind to a receptor, the axon that they came from takes them back and recycles them

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glutamate

main excitatory - involved in the control of all behaviours, especially learning and memory

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GABA

inhibitory transmitter - involved in controlling all behaviours, especially anxiety and motor control - sleep and released when you consume alcohol - huntington’s disease

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acetylcholine

excitatory at synapses involved in muscular movement and memory - alzheimers

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norepinephrine

excitatory and inhibitory - involved in neural circuits controlling learning, memory, wakefulness, and eating - chemically similar to adrenaline, involved in alertness and arousal

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serotonin

inhibitory - involved in sleep, mood, eating, and arousal - depression is thought to be caused by low serotonin

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dopamine

inhibitory or excitatory - involved in voluntary movement and the experience of pleasure and reward - parkinsons, depression, schizophrenia

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endorphins

inhibit transmission of pain impulses

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sensory neurons

carry input messages from the sense organs to the spinal cord and brain

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motor neurons

transmit output messages from the brain and spinal cord to the body’s muscles and organs

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interneurons

perform connective and associative functions within the nervous system - process info and form plan - make up the vast majority

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central nervous system

all of the neurons in the brain and spinal cord

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peripheral nervous system

all of the neurons that connect the central nervous system with the muscles, glands and sensory neurons - nerves and bundles of neurons

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somatic nervous sytem

controls movement - motor neurons send signals to this part of the system - voluntary

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autonomic nervous system

operates outside of conscious and voluntary control - automatic

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sympathetic nervous system

fight or flight response - no digestion, increased heart rate and breathing rate, dilated eyes - activated when under situations of threat

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parasympathetic nervous system

rest and digest - heal wounds, digest food, fight off disease - default system

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reflex

movement is initiated without the brain - spinal cord initiates a quick response before brain can process the pain from the stimulus

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transcranial magnetic stimulation

uses a magnetic coil placed in different parts of the brain to turn off or interfere with those areas

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eeg

video technique that uses a cap with electrodes that measure electrical activity at the scalp - excellent time precision, poor spatial precision

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cat/ct scan

picture technique that uses a x-ray machine for your brain

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mri

picture technique that uses a giant magnet that activates different molecules in the brain to measure the amount of activation in the different parts of the brain

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fmri

video technique that measures blood flow in the brain with radioactivity - poor time precision, good spatial information

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pet scan

video technique that injects radioactive dye to measure blood flow in the brain

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hindbrain

cerebellum and brain stem (pons and medulla)

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medulla

regulates vital functions like breathing and circulation

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pons

serves as a bridge carrying nerve impulses between higher and lower levels of the nervous system - regulates sleep and arousal - contains motor neurons that control face and neck movement

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cerebellum

muscular movement coordination - ensures that habitual/well practiced bodily movements are coordinated and well executed

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midbrain

very basic visual and auditory processing and guides automatic reactions

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reticular formation

either turns arousal up to make you conscious and awake or down to make you sleep like a dimmer switch - group of fibres that carries information related to sleep and arousal through the brain stem

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forebrain

consists of two large cerebral hemispheres, left and right, that wrap around the brain stem

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cerebral cortex

outside, bumpy looking layer - split into 4 lobes

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occipital lobe

vision processing

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parietal lobe

sensory strip, spatial processing and tasks, later stage of visual processing (figuring out where an object is)

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sensory cortex

responsible for touch perception

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temporal lobe

hearing and later stage of visual processing (figuring out what an object is)

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wernicke’s area

involved in language comprehension (understanding what someone else is saying)

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frontal lobe

long term planning, rationality, self control

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motor cortex

initiates voluntary movement

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broca’s area

involved in language production (speaking and writing)

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phineas gage

rod went through his frontal lobe, personality changed - lost impulse control

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limbic system

deeper structures involved in emotion and instict

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thalamus

takes signals from all the senses (except smell) and directs them to the cortex

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basal ganglia

helps to make sure that motor movement is well executed - voluntary and conscious movement

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hypothalamus

the boss of the hormone system - involved in the 4 f’s of survival (feeding, fleeing, fighting and sexual functioning)

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henry molaison

had his hippocampus removed and could not make new long-term memories

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hippocampus

important for the creation of new long term memories

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amygdala

important for emotional experience, especially fear and aggression

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nucleus accumbens

important for pleasurable/rewarding experience - sends dopamine throughout the brain

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hemispheric lateralization

difference between left and right hemispheres

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left hemisphere

gets information from the right visual field, controls the right side of the body, and controls language

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right hemisphere

gets information from the left visual field, controls the left side of the body

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corpus callosum

allows the two hemispheres to communicate

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split brain patients

to treat epilepsy we used to cut the corpus callosum - prevents the seizure from travelling to the other side of the brain - patients seem to have two separate spheres of consciousness, if you show something to the right (non-talking) hemisphere they cannot talk about it

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neural plasiticity

the brains ability to adapt in response to damage or change - very high in young people

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dna

chemical structure inside your cells that contains the instructions for building your body

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gene

a segment of dna that codes for a trait

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chromosome

a larger segment of dna (defined in terms of how tightly coiled it is)

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genotype

all of an organism’s dna

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phenotype

all of an organism’s traits

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dominant vs recessive genes

if a dominant and recessive gene disagree, the dominant gene wins - only need one dominant trait for it to be expressed

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epigenetics

when the environment causes a change in gene expression that gets passed on, without changing the actual genes/dna code

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mutation

actual dna code is changed

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recombinant dna procedures

researchers use specific enzymes to cut the long threadlike molecules of genetic dna into pieces, combine them with dna from another organism and insert the new strands into a host organism

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knockout procedure

alter a specific gene in a way that prevents it from carrying out its normal function

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heritability

our dna - one way to measure the contribution of genes, how similar are identical twins raised apart (share genes, not environment)

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shared environment

the environment that is shared by siblings - one way to measure the contribution of the shared environment, how similar are adoptive siblings (share environment, not genes)

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non-shared environment

the environment that is not shared by siblings - one way to measure the contribution of the non-shared environment, how different are identical twins raised together (share their genes and environment)

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adoption studies

a person who was adopted early in life is compared on some characteristic both with the biological parents (share genes) and the adoptive parents (share environment)

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twin studies

compares behavioural similarity in samples of identical and fraternal twins - if the identical twins are more similar than the fraternal, a genetic factor is involved

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monozygotic twins

identical - develop from the same fertilized egg so they share virtually all of their genes

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dizygotic twins

fraternal - develop from two fertilized eggs so they share 50% of their genetic endowment

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reaction range

the range of possibilities that the genetic code allows for a genetically influenced trait - the environment influences where on that range you will fall

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laws of behaviour genetics

everything is heritable (40-50%), the effect of the shared environment is smaller than genes (0-20%), the effect of the non-shared environment is large (40-50%), everything is polygenic (caused by many genes)

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caveats about heritability

how much genetics explains variation in a trait, estimates are about differences between individuals within any defined group, can change depending on the environment

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big five personality traits

openness to experience (trying new things, open mind), conscientiousness (hard working, detail orientation), extraversion (outgoing, positivity), agreeableness (politeness, niceness), neuroticism (sensitivity to negative emotions) - 40-50% heritable

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behaviour psychology

about human differences

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evolutionary psychology

about human universals - the ways in which we are the same because of our evolutionary past

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basics of evolution

inheritance of traits (traits get passed on via genes), variation in traits (traits are different bc of random mutation), differences in reproductive success (some traits get passed on more than others) - results in natural selection

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natural selection

some genetically caused traits will increase in frequency over time because they are more suited to the environment

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adaptation

a trait that was selected by natural selection because it increased the probability of survival and reproduction - umbilical cord

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byproduct

a side effect of an adaptation that does not itself have survival value - belly button

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domain general adaptation

a capacity that is designed to deal with many different types of incoming information - reward and punishment

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domain specific adaptation

a capacity that is designed to deal with one particular type of incoming information - color vision

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proximate explanation

explaining something in terms of the immediate physiology and environment

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ultimate explanation

explaining something in terms of evolution