Psych110 Chapter 3

Everything psychological is ultimately ______.

Biological

Thoughts, feelings, and desires can be reduced to the “behind the scenes” biological processes controlling them, such as what?

Electro-chemical events

The _____ is what the brain gives rise to.

Mind

The _____ is a result of electro-chemical events.

Mind

What we percieve is out brain’s _____ of the outside world.

Construction

Gilia

Structural support and insulation

Neurons

Used for communication

What are the parts of a neuron?

The dendrites, soma, axon, and terminal buttons.

What does the dendrite do? Where is it?

On a neuron; it recieves information.

What is the soma?

The cell body of the neuron.

What is the axon of a neuron?

It transmits information away.

What do the terminal buttons do?

They secrete neurotransmitters.

What are action potentials?

Neural impulses or brief electrical charges.

Neurons generate _______ from _______.

Electricity from chemical events.

Resting potential is _____ on the inside and _____ on the outside.

Negative on the inside and positive on the outside.

Depolarization

The neuron becomes less negatively charged.

Hyperpolarization

Neuron becomes more negatively charged.

Neurotransmitters open appropraite “locks” that allow what to occur?

Positive sodium ions travel into the neuron (depolarization)

To stop action potential, what may occur?

Neurotransmitters may be sucked back up into the original neuron or they may be destroyed.

Myelin Sheath

Speeds up transmittion of neurons

Terminal Buttons

At the end of the axon; secrete neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers

Synapse

The point which neurons interconnect

the space between the terminal button and recieving neuron is called the what?

Synaptic cleft

The voltage change at a receptor site is a what?

Postsynaptic potential

What does the postsynaptic potential do?

It is NOT all or none; it changes the porbability of the postsynaptic neuron firing.

For a positive voltage shift, ____ ions flow in, creating an _______ PSP.

positive ions flow in, creating an excitatory PSP.

For a negative voltage shift, ____ ions flow in, creating an _______ PSP.

negative, creating a inhibatory PSP

When a neurotransmitter and a receptor molecule combine, what occurs?

The voltage change at a receptor site makes a voltage shift or reuptake occurs.

Reuptake

The process by which a neuron reabsorbs a neurotransmitter after it has been released into the synapse to transmit a nerve impulse.

Acetylcholine (AcH)

Involved in muscle movement and in learning and memory. Low levels are associated with Alzheimers.

What are the Monoamines?

1. Dopamine

2. Serotinin

3. Norepinephrine

Dopamine

Involved in movement and reward centers. Too much is linked with schitzophrenia, too little is linked with Parkinsons.

Serotonin

Involved with mood, appetite, and sleep induction. Too little is linked with depression.

Norepinephrine

Involved in mood and arousal.

SSRIs

Stop the reuptake of neurotransmitters; prolongs how long serotinin is in the synapse.

Agonists

Enhance the operations of neurotransmitters by mimicking them or by blocking their reuptake and degeneration.W

What are some examples of agonists?

Nicotine, opiates

Antagonists

Hinder neurotransmitters by blocking them or by diminishing their release.

What are some examples of antagonists?

Botulin and curare

What parts are in the central nervous system (CNS)?

• Brain

  • Spinal cord

What parts are in the peripheral nervous system (PNS)?

• nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord

• Links with the CNS with the body’s sense receptors, muscles, and glands.

What is the oldest part of the brain?

The hind brain

Medulla

Regulates the autonomic responses such as breathing, swallowing, and blood circulation; part of the hindbrain in the CNS.

Pons

Connects the two halves of the brain at the hindbrain level; sleep and arousal (in the hindbrain in the CNS)

Cerebellum (“little brain”)

Coordinates voluntary movement and balance. (in the hindbrain of the CNS)

Reticular Formation

Nerve fibers pass through the midbrain and control arousal.

Forebrain

Includes the cerebreal cortex and subcortical structures.

Cerebral Cortex

• The outer covering of the brain.

• The ultimate information processing center.

• What makes us distinctly human!!

• Can be divided into four lobes.

• In the CNS

What increases the brain’s surface area?

Folds or fissures in the forebrain

Why won’t human’s craniums get larger even though it would make us smarter?

Labor and delivery would be too hard.

Subcortical structures

• The Limbic system and thalamus

Limbic System

Regulates emotions and motivated behaviors such as hunger, thirst, and agression.

Thalamus

The brain’s sensory switchboard that integrates incoming information and routes it to the cerebreal cortex.

What does the limbic system include?

The amygdala and the hippocampus

Amygdala

Involved with agression and fear; part of the limbic system in the CNS.

Hippocampus

Involved in memory storage; in the limbic system in the CNS.

There are ____ specialized halves of the brain connected by the _____.

Two; corpus collosum

What does the left hemisphere of the brain control?

Verbal processing; reading, writing, language, and speech.

What does the right hemisphere of the brain control?

Nonverbal processing such as spatial, musical, and visual recognition.

Corpus Collosum

200 million mylenated axons that connect the brain’s hemispheres that provide a pathway for communication.

_______ eyes send information to _____ hemispheres of the brain.

Both

The right half of the visual field goes to the ____ hemisphere.

Left

The left half of the visual feild goes to the _____ hemisphere.

Right

Split brain subjects could not name objects shown only to their ______ hemisphere. If asked to select the objects with their ____ hand, they could.

Right; left

Who experimented with the split brain?

Roger Sperry

Not only genetics, but ______ can dictate behaviors.

Environment

Family studies

Researchers assess hereditary influence by examining blood relatives to see how much they resemble one another on a specific trait.

Twin studies

Researchers assess hereditary influence by comparing the resemblance of identical twins and fraternal twins with respect to a trait.

Adoption studies

Assess hereditary influence by examining the resemblance between adopted children and both their biological and their adoptive parents.

There is a _____ component to intelligence, but that the ____ shapes intellegence in important ways shown by studies with twins and adoption.

Genetic ; environment