Unit 2: Biological Bases of Behavior (personal edit)

Dopamine

• Affects alertness and movement.

• stimulates hypothalamus to synthesize horomones

Serotonin

Associated with sexual activity, concentration and attention, moods, and emotions

Albinism

Failure to synthesize or store pigment

• abnormal nerve pathways to the brain

• quivering eyes and the inability to perceive depth

• three-dimensionality with both eyes

Paul Broca

________ (1861) performed an autopsy on the brain of a patient, nicknamed Tan, who had lost the capacity to speak, although his mouth and his vocal cords werent damaged and he could still understand language.

Insomnia

The inability to fall asleep and/or stay asleep.

Dependence

When the person has an intense desire to achieve the drugged state in spite of adverse effects

Electroencephalograms (EEGs)

• Recorded with electrodes on the surface of the skull

• can determine changes in brain activity

• function

Positron emission tomography (PET)

Produces color computer graphics that depend on the amount of metabolic activity in the imaged brain region

Pons

“bridge” that connects the brain to the spinal cord

• handles all unconscious movements and processes (sleeping, breathing, etc.)

Cyton

contains cytoplasm and the nucleus, which directs synthesis of such substances as neurotransmitters.

Glutamate

A major excitatory neurotransmitter involved in information processing throughout the cortex, and especially memory formation in the hippocampus.

Unconscious

Level of consciousness devoted to processes completely inaccessible to conscious awareness

• blood flow, blood filtering by kidneys, secretion of hormones, and lower-level processing of sensations, such as detecting edges, estimating size and distance of objects, recognizing patterns, etc.

Psychoactive drugs

Chemicals that can pass through the blood-brain barrier into the brain to alter perception, thinking, behavior, and mood

• wide range of effects from mild relaxation or increased alertness to vivid hallucinations.

Glial cells

Guide the growth of developing neurons, help provide nutrition for and get rid of wastes of neurons, and form an insulating sheath around neurons that speeds conduction.

Functional MRI (fMRI)

Shows the brain at work at a higher resolution than the PET scanner

• function and structure

Circadian rhythm

A natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours.

Tay Sachs syndrome

________ produces progressive loss of nervous function and death in a baby.

Stimulants

Psychoactive drugs that activate motivational centers and reduce activity in inhibitory centers of the CNS

• increases activity of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine neurotransmitter systems

Unconsciousness

Characterized by loss of responsiveness to the environment, resulting from disease, trauma, or anesthesia.

Cerebral cortex

Higher-order processes such as thinking, planning, judgment

• receives and processes sensory information and directs movement

endocrine system

consists of glands that secrete chemical messengers called hormones into your blood

Hypothalamus

regulates changes in your body temperature, BP, blood sugar, and hormonal levels during the day

Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA)

neurotransmitter that inhibits firing of neurons

Lucid dreaming

the ability to be aware of and direct one’s dreams,

• has been used to help people make recurrent nightmares less frightening.

Hypnosis

An altered state of consciousness characterized by deep relaxation and heightened suggestibility.

dissociation theory

hypnotized individuals experience two or more streams of consciousness cut off from each other.

Antagonists

________ block a receptor site, inhibiting the effect of the neurotransmitter or agonist.

Tolerance

decreasing responsitivity to a drug

Endocrine glands

• include the pineal gland, hypothalamus, and pituitary gland in your brain

• the thyroid and parathyroids in your neck

• the adrenal glands atop your kidneys

• pancreas near your stomach

• testes or ovaries

Withdrawal symptoms

________ include intense craving for the drug and effects opposite to those the drug usually induces.

Heritability

The proportion of variation among individuals in a population that is due to genetic causes. (0 to 1)

Agonists

Mimic a neurotransmitter and bind to its receptor site to produce the effect of the neurotransmitter.

Reflex

Impulse conduction over a few (perhaps three) neurons.

Narcotics

Analgesics (pain reducers) that work by depressing the CNS

Preconscious

Level of consciousness that is outside of awareness but contains feelings and memories that you can easily bring into conscious awareness.

Depressants

Psychoactive drugs that reduce the activity of the central nervous system and induce relaxation.

Central nervous system

consists of your brain and your spinal cord

Somatic nervous system

has motor neurons that stimulate skeletal (voluntary) muscle

Autonomic nervous system

has motor neurons that stimulate involuntary muscles (including heart)

Plasticity

the brain's ability to change, reorganize, or grow neural networks

Pineal Gland

endocrine gland in the brain that produces melatonin and helps regulate circadian rhythms

• is associated with seasonal affective disorder

Pituitary Gland

endocrine gland in brain that produces stimulating hormones, which promote secretion by other glands

• TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone)

• ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone), which stimulates the adrenal glands

• FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), which stimulates egg or sperm production

• ADH (antidiuretic hormone) to help retain water in your body

• HGH (human growth hormone)

Thyroid Gland

endocrine gland in neck that produces thyroxine, which stimulates and maintains metabolic activities

Parathyroids

endocrine glands in neck that produce parathyroid hormone, which helps maintain calcium ion level in blood necessary for normal functioning of neurons

Adrenal Glands

endocrine glands atop kidneys

Pancreas

gland near stomach that secretes the hormones insulin and glucagon, which regulate blood sugar that fuels all behavioral processes

Ovaries and Testes

gonads in females and males that produce hormones necessary for reproduction and development of secondary sex characteristics