psya01h3 ch 3, 4

Nature

• The contributions of heredity to our physical structure and behaviour  

Nurture

• Contributions of environmental factors and experience to our physical structure and behaviours, result of our experience with the environment 

Franis Galton

• Charles Darwin cousin that believed that intelligence was the result of inheritance or that we inherit intelligence/ it’s passed down, First to use the phrase “nature over nurture”

Genotype

• personal set of instructions, Profile of alleles

Phenotype

• Your observable characteristics 

gene

• Smaller segment of dna located in a particular place on a chromosome, Area on a strand of dna that carries hereditary information 

gene expression

• is a process where genetic instruction is used to produce a living cell or protein

Allele

• Version of a gene as having blood a b or o type, one given by each parent 

Homozygous

• Having same alleles for a gene 

Heterozygous

• Having 2 different alleles for a gene

Recessive

• Produces phenotype only for homozygous for a particular gene 

Dominant

• Produces phenotype in homozygous or heterozygous condition

What is Relatedness?

the probability that 2 people share copies of the same allele from a common ancestor

What is Behavioral genetics

• Understand links of genetics and behavior

Heritability

• Likelihood that variations observed in a population are due to genetics

What is Concordonce?

• Statistical probability that a trait observed in one person will be seen in another 

What is a candidate gene?

• Gene with more impact on a trait of interest than other genes, ex. MAOA (monoamine oxidase A) gene, which has been implicated in antisocial behaviour

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS)

• Scan of complete sets of dna to look for variations associated with a specific phenotype, condition or disease

What is epigenetics?

• study of gene-environment interactions in the study of phenotypes, when factors other than genotype produces change in phenotype 

What is Evolution?

• Descent with modification from a common ancestor 

What is natural selection?

• Term coined by charles darwin, Process by which survival and reproduction pressures act to change the frequency of alleles in subsequent generations.

What is Mutation?

• Error when dna is replicated 

What is migration ?

• Organisms move from one location to the next

Genetic drift

• disappearance in specific genes or change in populations genes from one generation to the next because of chance or accident  

What is Fitness?

• The ability for one genotype to reproduce more successfully relative to other genotypes

What is adaptation?

• Change due to natural selection, Ex. english peppered moths were light grey, darker moths appeared in 1848 but were less capable of hiding from predators so only make up 1 percent of the population, peppered moth population successfully adapted to changing environmental circumstances, with colour playing the role of an adaptation. 

What is altruism?

• Behavior on behalf of another person that harms the person performing it 

• Basically sacrificing yourself for another person 

Reciprocated altruism

Helping someone who will return the favor in the future

What is sexual selection?

• Charles Darwin's term for development of traits that help an individual compete for mates 

What is a chromosome?

• Rodlike structure in the cells nucleus that has an individuals gene

• Humans have 23 chromosomes 

Who was Gregor Mendel?

• Conducted experiments in plant hybridization + the father of genetics 

Who was Charles Darwin?

• Established the idea of natural selection 

What is Biological Psychology?

• Studies how the brain and body affect behaviour and thoughts

What is the central nervous system? (CNS)

• Brain and spinal cord 

Spinal cord

• Neural tissue extending from the brain down the back of the body 

Peripheral nervous system (PNS)

• Nerves exiting the central nervous system that carry sensory and motor info to and from the rest of the body 

What are neurons? 

• Cell of the nervous system that sends and receives signals

• Human brain has about 100 billion neurons 

What is the cell body? 

• Large central mass of a neuron containing the nucleus 

Axons

Branch of neuron responsible for carrying info to other neurons

Dendrites

• receives input from neurons, Neurons have many dendrites but only one axon 

Glia

• Part of nervous system cells that performs support functions like formation of the blood brain barrier, and myelin 

Myelin

• Insulating material covering some axons 

What is action potential?

• Electrical signal in the neurons axon 

Resting potential 

measure of the electrical charge across a neural membrane when the neuron is not processing info

Snapsyse

• Point of communication in between two neurons 

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messenger that communicates through synapse

Receptors

• Special channel in the membrane that interacts with neurotransmitters 

Reuptake

• Process where neurotransmitter molecules return to axon terminal from where they were released 

neurogenesis

• Creation of new neurons 

Neuroplasticity

• Ability of neurons to change in structure and function throughout the lifespan 

brainstem

 is part of the brain that contains the midbrain pons and medulla

Medulla

• brainstem structure that Lies above the spinal cord

Pons

• a part of the brainstem between medulla and midbrain 

Cerebellum

• Attached to the brainstem that contributes to skilled movement and complex cognitive processing 

Midbrain

• sits above the pons and contains a number of structures involved in sensory reflexes, movement, and pain

Reticular formation

• Structures located on the midline of the brainstem that participates in mood, arousal and sleep

thalamus

• Subcortical structure involved with processing of sensory info, arousal, learning and memory 

Basal ganglia

• subcortical structure that's involved with the control of movement 

nucleus accumbens

subcortical structure that participates in reward and addiction

hypothalamus

• Subcortical structure that participates in the regulation of thirst, temperature, hunger, sexual behaviour, and aggression.

Hippocampus

• Participates in memory

Cingulate cortex

• A subcortical structure above the corpus callosum. Its anterior (forward) segment participates in decision making and emotion, and its posterior (rear) segment participates in memory and visual processing.

Amygdala

located in temporal lobe in charge of emotional processing 

corpus callosum?

wide band of nerve fibres connecting left and right hemispheres

cerebral cortex

• thin layer of neurons covering the outer surface of the cerebral hemispheres where high level perception of the world occurs, cerebral cortex is divided into 4 lobes

• where all our controlled interaction with the world occurs

Frontal lobe

• toward the front of the brain area responsible for some of the most complex cognitive processes like movement

Parietal lobe

• primary sensory function involves perception of the body, Behind the frontal lobe, location of the somatosensory cortex 

Occipital lobe

• Back of the brain, devoted to vision

Temporal lobe 

• most of this lobe is devoted to audition, curves around the side of each hemisphere apart of the frontal lobe - prefrontal cortex & executive functions

Prefrontal lobe

• most forward part of each frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex.

Executive functions

• set of basic and higher-level cognitive processes that enable self-regulation and cognitive control of behaviour (e.g., planning, decision making, and goal pursuit). 

Orbitofrontal cortex

• Part of the prefrontal located right behind the eyes that participates in impulse control

What is the somatic nervous system ?

It is a part of the peripheral nervous system that brings sensory information to the central nervous system and transmits commands to the muscles.

What is the autonomic nervous system?

• control of tissues other than the skeletal muscle our glands and organs

Sympathetic nervous system 

Division of the autonomic nervous system that coordinates arousal

Parasympathetic nervous system

• Directs the storage of energy 

Enteric nervous system

• consists of nerve cells embedded in the lining of the gastrointestinal system

What is the endocrine system?

• Release of hormone into bloodstream

Artificial selection

variation within a species created withy breeding like with like ex. if you produce a fast horse, you would want to breed more fast horses

behavioural genetics

study of the effects of heredity 

primary vs association cortex

primary - direct sensory (or motor connections)

association - interpretation via memory

contralateral organization 

the left side of our brain relates to the right side of the body, or space, and the right side of the brain relates to the left side of the body or space..

Laterlization

notion that the brain is composed of separate hemispheres creating left and right sides of all cortical tissue, and sometimes the left and right have different priorities 

what two parts of the brain compete to control behavior?

the frontal lobes and limbic system