Psych Unit 2 Test

cell body

houses the nucleus

dendrite

the neuron’s branching extensions that receives and integrates messages, conducting impulses toward the cell body

axon

the neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons, muscles, or glands.

myelin sheath

fatty tissue that surrounds and protects the axon and speeds up electrical impulses

Hindbrain

-L: located on top of our spinal cord: cerebellum, pons, and medulla

-F: controls basic biological structures

Brainstem

-L: base of the brain at the top of the spinal cord

-F: automatic, survival functions:

• sends and receives info

• severe damage to brainstem results in death

-oldest and innermost part

Spinal Cord

-L: starts at the base of brain and runs down the spine

-F: pathway for nerve fibers to carry info

• connects brain to rest of body

Medulla (oblongata)

-L: above spinal cord, below pons

-F: heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing

• reflexes (sneezing, coughing, vomiting, and swallowing)

pons

-L: above medulla on brainstem

-F: controls sleep, dreams, and facial expressions

• connects multiple brain areas (medulla and cerebellum)

• info processing

• involved in control of breathing

• coordinates movement

cerebellum

-”little brain”

-L: base of the brain, size of baseball

-F: balance of smooth and coordinated movements, fine motor movements

• procedural (implicit) memory

• judgements, emotions, discriminate, sounds/textures

Midbrain

-L: above the hindbrain, very small in humans

-F: coordinates simple movement with sensory info

Midbrain- Reticular Formation

-L: finger-line shape through the brain stem

-F: arousal/consciousness to stimuli (awake-sleep cycle, not sexual)

-damage will put you in coma

-reflexes, breathing, and pain perception

Forebrain

-L: all brain parts except for brainstem and cerebellum

-largest part of the brain-most of it

-F: allows for the complex thoughts and behaviors unique to humans

-Tip: foremost of importance

Cerebrum

-L: all brain parts except for brainstem and cerebellum (85% of the brain)

-F: all brain processes except for basic survival functions

• the internal layer of the cerebrum is made up of the axons of neurons and glial cells

• white matter

Cerebral Cortex

-L: ¼ inch wrinkled outer layer of the whole brain; 20-30 billion nerve cells are located here

-F: all higher mental functions (thought and planning)

• ultimate control and info processing

-made up of the cell bodies of neurons called gray matter

-like a helmet

Corpus Callosum

-L: rainbow shape, like a bridge from back and front of brain

-F: bundle of neurons (axons) connecting the two cerebral hemispheres for communication

Limbic system

a system of brain structures and neural networks involved in processing emotion and long term memory

Amygdala

• processes emotion especially fear and aggression

• triggers flight or fight in response to danger

• helps read other people’s emotions

• helps store memories from emotional situations

Hippocampus

• stores information into long-term memory

• stores spatial memory (navigation + location of objects)

Hypothalamus

• regulates autonomic nervous system

• monitors + regulates body temp, hunger, thirst, and sexual responses

• hormones alert hypothalamus of bodily states

• directs other glands to release hormones in response

Lateral Hypothalamus

• regulates feelings of hunger

  -damage can cause you to never feel hungry

Ventromedial hypothalamus

• regulates feelings of satiety (fulness)

  -damage can cause you to never feel full

prefrontal cortex

• judgement

• planning

• reasoning

• problem solving

• involved in personality

Motor cortex

L: in the rear of the frontal lobes

F: Controls voluntary movement

• areas with more precise movement occupy more cortical space

Broca’s area

-L: in the left frontal lobe next to motor cortex

-F: speech production

Parietal lobes

• processes somatosensory input (touch, pressure, temp, and pain)

• helps with spatial orientation (where you are and how you’re positioned)

Somatosensory cortex

L: behind motor cortex

F: processes body movement and sensations

Temporal lobe

-L: behind ears

-F: involved in hearing, language processing, and storage of long-term memory

• connects to the limbic system

Primary Auditory Cortex

-L: in the frontal lobe

-F: main site of auditory perception and processing

Wernicke’s area

-L: in temporal lobe

-F: involved in comprehension of written and spoken language

Right Fusiform gyrus

-L: temporal lobe

-F: allows us to recognize human faces

Occipital lobe

-L: back of brain

-F: processes visual info from eyes

norepinephrine

-Type: excitatory

-Function: helps control alertness and arousal, fight or flight

-Surplus: anxiety

-Deficit: depression

dopamine

-Type: inhibitory

-Function: influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion

-Surplus: schizophrenia

-Deficit: parkinson’s disease

endorphins

-Type: inhibitory

-Function: influences perceptions of pain and pleasure

-Surplus: artificial highs and inadequate responses to pain

-Deficit: depression, potential involvement in addiction

acetylcholine

-Type: Excitatory

-F: activates skeletal muscles and carries our voluntary movements

• involved in memory formation and learning.

-deficit: lead to alzheimer’s disease or paralysis- limited mobility

-surplus- violent muscle spasms and contractions

serotonin

-Type: inhibitory

-Function: regulates mood, sleep, digestion

-Surplus: seizures and hallucination

-deficit: depression, mood disorders

Glutamate

-Type: excitatory

-Function: main excitatory neurotransmitter and involved in memory

-Surplus: overstimulate the brain, migraines, or seizures

-Deficit: none

GABA

-Type: inhibitory

-Function: major inhibitory neurotransmitter, regulates sleep-wake cycle

-surplus: sleep and eating disorder

-Deficit: seizures, tremors, insomnia, and huntington’s disease

Endocrine system

-system of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream to help control body functioning

-slow

Hypothalamus

-controls the pituitary gland

-connects NS to endocrine system

Pituitary gland

-master gland

-regulates growth, breast milk production, childbirth and bonding, communicates to other glands to release hormones

-prolactin and oxytocin

-dysregulation=extremes in height

Pineal gland

-in brain above pituitary

-melatonin

-regulates seasonal and sleep cycles

-dysregulation=seasonal affective disorder

thyroid/parathyroid

-in throat

-thyroxine and calcitonin

-regulates metabolism or the rate at which glucose is converted into energy

-regulates calcium levels in blood

-dysregulation=hypothyroidism (underactive) and hyperthyroidism (overactive)

Adrenal gland

-located above kidneys

-cortisone, cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), and norepinephrine (noradrenaline)

-controlled by ANS, increases heart rate, blood pressure, and glucose levels

-fight or flight

-dysregulation= excessive activity can compromise immune system

Pancreas

-located by stomach

-insulin and glucagon

-regulates sugar metabolism

-dysregulation= diabetes, low blood pressure

Gonads

-the testes and ovaries

-androgens (testosterone), estrogen, and progesterone

-allows sexual reproduction

-dysregulation= reproductive difficulties, higher levels of testosterone are correlated with increased aggression

Nervous system

• body’s primary info system for voluntary and involuntary actions/thoughts

• Fast

• split into several major divisions (6 of them), neural cells, and the brain

• Central vs peripheral, autonomic vs. somatic, parasympathetic vs. sympathetic

Sensory (afferent) Neurons

• runs from sensory receptors (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin) TO the spinal cord and brain

• afferent=to go toward

• Keeps us constantly informed of events going on inside and outside of body

• cell bodies always found in a ganglion outside of CNS

• tells brain ouch

Motor (efferent) neurons

• runs from brain and spinal cord TO the muscles and glands of the body

• effects motor response

• carries impulses to effector organs; the muscles and glands

• cell body always located in CNS

• tells body to move

Interneurons (Association Neurons) google translate

• processes messages between sensory and motor neurons in neural pathways

• cell bodies always located in CNS (brain and spinal cord)

Central nervous system (CNS)

• neurons located in the brain and spinal cord

• interpret incoming sensory info and issue instructions based on past experiences and current conditions

• processing center, command center

Peripheral nervous system

• All outside of the brain and spinal cord

• All nerves that extend from brain (cranial nerves) and spinal cord (spinal nerves)

• serves as communication lines

• motor and sensory

Somatic NS

• branch of PNS

• voluntarily control skeletal muscles and our 5 senses

• sensory and motor neurons

Autonomic NS

• branch of PNS

• controls body activities that are automatic and involuntary

• heart, skin, blood vessels, eye, stomach, intestines, bladder

• homeostasis

Sympathetic

• a branch of autonomic NS

• arousing (flight or fight)

• provides best conditions to respond to a threat

• tends to use norepinephrine (accelerate)

• rapid heart beat, deep breathing, cold, sweaty skin, dilated eyes

• digestion slows!

Parasympathetic

• branch of autonomic NS

• calming (rest and digest)

• allows body to save and store energy

• tends to use acetylcholine (slow down)

• heart slows

• you digest, eliminate feces and urine, blood pressure and respiratory rates are low, skin is warm

Lesion

tissue destruction; brain lesion is a naturally or experimentally caused destruction of brain tissue

electroencephalogram (EEG)

-records brain’s electrical activity

-brain waves are measured by electrodes placed on scalp

-helps identify seizures and abnormalities in brain activity

PET scan

-examines brain functioning by observing the amount of metabolic activity in different brain regions

-measures glucose absorption after injection with radioactive isotope

-shows which brain regions are active at the time

CT scan

-examines brain structure by using X-rays

-shows exact shape + position of brain structures

-can diagnose tumors

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

-shows healthy tissue, tumors, tissue degeneration, and blood clots or leaks that signal strokes

-shows images of brain from exposure to magnetic fields and radio-waves

FMRI

-examines brain function by measuring blood flow and oxygen in the brain

-more precise than PET scans

-magnetic fields

plasticity

the brain’s ability to change and build new pathways as it adjusts to new experiences and damage

-makes human brain unique

-strongest during childhood

Psychoactive drugs

chemicals that change perception and mood through their actions at neural synapses

Depressants

-physical effect- slows down activity in CNS, increases GABA

-examples- alcohol, sleeping pills, tranquilizers

-psychological effects- mild euphoria, talkativeness, memory disruption, reduces self control, impairs judgements.

stimulants

-physical effect- speeds up activity of CNS, increases release of norepinephrine + dopamine

-examples- amphetamines, cocaine, caffeine, nicotine, and ecstasy

-psychological effects- increases mental alertness, reduce fatigue, produce stimulant induced psychosis, schizophrenia, and hallucinations

Opiate

-physical effect- sleepiness, relieves pain, agonist for endorphins

-examples- opium, morphine, and heroin

-psychological effects- intense rush of euphoria, contentment, and withdrawal symptoms

Hallucinogens

-physical effect- similar to serotonin, regulates mood and perceptions

-examples- LSD, ketamine, mescaline, marijuana

-psychological effect- loss of contact from reality, alters emotion, perception, and thought, produces hallucinations

Biological influences of drug use

-genetic predispositions

-variations in neurotransmitter systems

psychological influences

-lacking sense of purpose

-significant stress

-psychological disorders, like depression

socio-cultural influences

-urban environment

-cultural attitude toward drug use

-peer influences

Circadian rhythms

A 24-26 hr biological clock related to the sleep + wake cycle involving changes in hormones, blood pressure, and internal temperature

sleep functions

-protection: safety and energy conservation

-recovery: repair cells and strengthen immune system

-memory consolidation: key role in learning especially REM

-Growth: pituitary releases growth hormone during deep sleep

Sleep cycle

approximately 90 min and repeats pattern of REM and NREM stages

REM

-sleep stage characterized by rapid eye movements where dreams take place

-awake-like brain activity

NREM

-non-rapid eye movement and dreaming is less common

-stages 1, 2, and 3 of sleep.

• during stage 2: sleep spindles- bursts of rapid rhythmic brain-wave activity

heritability

-the proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes

-heritability of a trait varies depending on the range of populations and environments studied

epigenetics

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

Association areas

areas of the cerebral cortex that are involved in mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking.

hypnagogic sensations

bizarre experiences, such as the feeling of falling or floating weightlessly while transitioning to sleep

melatonin

sleep inducing hormone

Suprachiasmatic nucleus

-a pair of cell clusters in the hypothalamus that controls circadian rhythm

-causes pineal gland to adjust melatonin production based on light (no light-melatonin, light-no melatonin)

how lack of sleep effects physical health

suppresses immune cells that battle viral infections and cancer

insomnia

ongoing difficulty falling or staying alseep

narcolepsy

sudden attacks of overwhelming sleepiness

sleep apnea

breathing stops repeatedly while sleeping

dreams

sequence of images, emotions and thoughts

manifest content

according to freud, the symbolic, remembered storyline of a dream

latent content

according to freud, the underlying meaning of a dream

information-processing dream theory

dreams help sort out our day’s events and consolidate our memories

physiological function dream theory

regular brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways

activation-synthesis dream theory

REM sleep triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories, which our sleeping brain turns into stories

glial cells

-work to support, nourish, and protect neurons

-plays a role in learning, thinking, and memory

action potential

a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon

threshold

the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

Beta waves

awake and alert

Alpha waves

awake and relaxed

Theta waves

slow regular waves of light sleep

Delta waves

deep stage 3 sleep