Intro to Psychology - SG2 #2

Building blocks of human psychological abilities, Brains, Neurons, and Nervous Systems

Neurons

Interconnected information processors essential for all the tasks of the nervous system. Responsible for transmission of nerve impulses.

Glial Cells

Surround neurons, providing support and insulating them. Offer homeostasis and protection.

Action Potential

Neuron becomes positively charged, then goes back to resting state.

Myelin Sheath

Allows for quick “jumping” from one neuron to the next.

Soma

Contains the nucleus within a neuron.

Dendrites

Part of the neuron that contains receptors that receive neurotransmitters from other neurons.

Axon

Part of the neuron that passes electrical signals (action potentials) from the soma down the axon terminal.

Axon Terminal

Contains vesicles that send neurotransmitters to other neurons.

Neurotransmitters

Chemicals released when electrical action potentials trigger chemical release; either excitatory or inhibitory.

Excitatory Neurotransmitters

Decrease negative charge in a neuron, making firing more likely.

Inhibitory Neurotransmitters

Increase negative charge in a neuron, making firing less likely.

Afferent Neurons

Sensory neurons in the spinal cord.

Efferent Neurons

Motor neurons in the spinal cord.

Frontal Lobe

Involved in reasoning, motor control, emotion, and language.

Motor Cortex

Part of the frontal lobe involved in planning and coordinating movement.

Prefrontal Cortex

Part of the frontal lobe involved in higher-level cognitive functioning.

Broca’s Area

Part of the frontal lobe involved in language production.

Parietal Lobe

Located behind the frontal lobe, processes sensory information from across the body, such as touch, temperature, and pain.

Somatosensory Cortex

Processes sensory information from across the body, such as touch, temperature, and pain.

Temporal Lobe

Located on the side of the head, associated with hearing, memory, emotion, some aspects of language.

Auditory Cortex

Part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information.

Wernicke’s Area

Part of the temporal lobe involved in speech comprehension.

Occipital Lobe

Located at the very back of the brain; the primary visual cortex interprets incoming visual information.

Primary Visual Cortex

Interprets incoming visual information.

Thalamus

Sensory relay.

Limbic System

Processes emotion and memory.

Hippocampus

Deals with learning and memory.

Amygdala

Deals with emotion, especially fear.

Hypothalamus

Regulates homeostatic processes (temperature, appetite, blood pressure, endocrine system, sexual motivation).

Photoreceptors

Pick up light and convert it into a neurological signal, located in the retina.

Rods

Photoreceptors 1000x more sensitive to light than cones; responsible for light/dark vision; located in periphery of retina.

Cones

Photoreceptors responsible for color vision; located in center of retina and more tightly packed.

Ossicles

Three tiny bones in the ear involved in hearing.

Cochlea

Fluid filled, snail-shell shaped structure that contains receptor cells for hearing.

Papillae

Bumps on the tongue that contain taste buds, which contain the taste receptor cells.

Mucous Membrane

Has hairlike extensions in the nose; odor molecules dissolve in mucus and bind with chemic receptors.

Pressure

One of the five senses contained in touch.

Pain (Nociception)

One of the five senses contained in touch.

Temperature (Thermosetting)

One of the five senses contained in touch.

Stretch

One of the five senses contained in touch.

Texture

One of the five senses contained in touch.

Selective Inattention

The ability to ignore “sensation” of certain things over others in order to prioritize certain attention.

Bottom-Up Processing

Sensory info from the stimulus is integrated into awareness. EX hearing a loud bang.

Top-Down Processing

Knowledge, beliefs, expectations influence what we register in awareness. EX looking for your friend who is wearing a purple scarf in a crowd.

Affect Heuristic

You constantly see everyone at school wear a certain brand of shoe. The next time you go shoe shopping; you immediately associate that shoe brand as more positive despite the other brands also having similar quality.

Availability Heuristic

If you were to constantly see the news about shark attacks, the next time you go to the ocean, you have a fear of being bitten by one despite shark attacks being very rare.

Framing Effect

A doctor might say that your surgery has a 90% success rate rather than a 10% mortality rate. By framing the more positive spectrum (which is a higher percentage) rather than the scarier lower percentage, it provides the framing effect despite both situations being technically the same.

Hindsight Bias

If one were to have a dream about an explosion, then the next day they see on the news about a huge car crash, they could say "I predicted that would happen" despite the dream and the crash having no correlation to one another beforehand.

Confirmation Bias

Choosing news stations, articles, etc, that only strongly align with your political belief system.

Primacy Bias

Growing up, your family listened to a certain genre of songs. As you grow older, you still might associate those genre of songs as they left a longer lasting impression on you.

Recency Bias

You buy a soda brand based off the most recent commercial that you saw. Since that commercial is still fresh in your mind, your brain would immediately place emphasis on that specific brand of soda.