Acetylcholine

Enables muscle action, learning, and memory

Acetylcholine Example

With Alzheimer’s disease, ACh neurons deteriorate

Dopamine

Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion

Dopamine Example

Oversupply linked to schizophrenia. Undersupply linked to tremors and decreased mobility in Parkinson’s disease.

Serotonin

Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal

Serotonin Example

Undersupply linked to depression. Some drugs

that raise serotonin levels are used to treat

depression.

Norepinephrine

Helps control alertness and arousal

Norepinephrine Example

Undersupply can depress mood.

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

A major inhibitory neurotransmitter

GABA Example

Undersupply linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia

Glutamate

A major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory

Glutamate

Oversupply can overstimulate the brain, producing

migraines or seizures (which is why some people

avoid MSG, monosodium glutamate, in food).

Endorphins

Neurotransmitters that influence

the perception of pain or pleasure

Endorphins Example

Oversupply with opiate drugs can suppress the body’s natural endorphin supply.

Broca’s Area

a small portion of the left frontal region of the brain, crucial for the production of language

Cerebral Cortex

the outer layer of brain tissue, which

forms the convoluted surface of the brain; the site of all

thoughts, perceptions, and complex behaviors

Occipital Lobe

at the back of the brain—important for

vision

Parietal Lobe

in front of the occipital lobes and behind the

frontal lobes—important for the sense of touch and for

attention to the environment- primary somatosensory

cortex

Temporal Lobes

below the parietal lobes and in front of the

occipital lobes—important for processing auditory

information, for memory, and for object and face

perception- fusiform face area

Frontal Lobe

at the front of the brain—important for

movement and higher-level psychological processes

associated with the prefrontal cortex- primary motor cortex

Thalamus

The gateway to the brain, It receives almost all incoming sensory

information before that information reaches the

cortex.

Hypothalamus

a brain structure that is involved in the regulation of bodily functions, including body temperature, body rhythms, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels .It also influences our basic motivated behaviors.

Amygdala

a brain structure that serves a vital role in

learning to associate things with emotional

responses and in processing emotional information

Cerebellum

a large, convoluted protuberance at the back of the brain stem; it is essential for coordinated movement and balance

Plasticity

a property of the brain that

allows it to change as a result of

experience or injury

Internal Validity

the degree to which the effects observed in an experiment are due to the independent variable and not confounds

– Random assignment to control vs. experimental grp to dec.

confounds.

External Validity

the degree to which the findings of a study can

be generalized to other people, settings, or situations

– UD = to all other universities?

Beneficence

Researchers cannot ask people to endure unreasonable amounts of pain or discomfort.

Anonymity

the researchers do not collect personal, identifying information

HARKing

hypothesizing after the

results are known

P-hacking

running many

different statistical analyses until

one is statistically significant