9/30 AP PSYCH U1A TEST STUDY!

Adoption Studies:

Research method used to compare adopted children to their biological parents (comparing genetic influence) and their adoptive parents (measuring environmental influence)

Family Studies:

Research method used to determine whether specific traits/behaviors cluster within biological families (measure influence by heredity)

Twin Studies:

Research method used to compare both identical and fraternal twins, measuring the influence of genetics vs. environment on a trait/behavior

Nature: From U0:

Genetic/biological/hereditary factors that an individual inherits from their biological parents influencing one’s behavior/personality/mental processes

Nurture: From U0:

All of the environmental/external/non-genetic influences that shapes one's behavior, personality, and mental processes

Eugenics:

Practice of selective breeding or sterilization to create ideal species; considered outdated and discriminatory

Evolutionary Perspective:

Human behaviors, thoughts, and psychological traits are adaptations shaped from natural selection (Charles Darwin!)

Genetic Predisposition:

Inherited increased likelihood to develop a physical trait, behavior, or psychological disorder - the outcome is influenced by genetics

Heredity:

Genetic transmission of physical, behavioral, and mental characteristics and predispositions from biological parents to their offspring

Natural Selection:

Evolutionary process where an organism inherits traits to better survive and reproduce- these traits get passed on to future generations and become more common over time.

Nature-Nurture Issue:

Ongoing debate into how much biological inheritance (nature) vs. experiences (nurture) shape our behavior, mental processes, and development

Central Nervous System:

Core processor of the body controlling thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and physical movements

Nervous System:

Complex network of cells, tissues, and organs, coordinating all thoughts, behaviors, and bodily actions by transmitting electrochemical signals throughout the body

Peripheral Nervous System:

Network of all nerves and ganglia that lie outside the brain and spinal cord

Somatic Nervous System:

Controls voluntary movements of your skeletal muscles, carrying sensory information to the central nervous system

Autonomic Nervous System:

Controls involuntary, unconscious body functions (heart rate, digestion, breathing)

Parasympathetic Nervous System:

Conserves energy and returns the body to a relaxed, balanced state

Sympathetic Nervous System:

Arouses the body and mobilizes its energy in stressful/high-arousal situations

Action Potential:

Brief electrical charge travelling down a neuron’s axon when the neuron fires

All/nothing Principle:

Principal stating that a neuron either fires a complete action potential or does not fire at all

Axon:

The long part of a neuron that carries electrical messages away from the cell body towards other neurons/muscles/glands

Dendrites:

Branches of a neuron that receives incoming chemical/electrical messages from other neurons

Depolarization:

Process where a neuron’s internal charge becomes less negative, triggering an action potential when it reaches the required threshold

Glial Cells:

Supporting cells in the nervous system that nourish, protect, and insulate neurons

Interneurons:

Neurons in the central nervous system that communicate internally and intervene b/w sensory inputs and motor outputs

Motor Neurons:

Nerve cell that carries outgoing commands and info from the central nervous system to the body’s muscles and glands

Myelin Sheath:

Layer of fatty tissue encasing the fibers of many neurons → acts as an insulator to increase the speed of neural impulses

Multiple Sclerosis:

Chronic disease -- immune system attacks and damages the myelin sheath → leads to electrical signal slowdowns, disruptions, or blockage.

Myasthenia Gravis:

Chronic autoimmune disorder -- immune system mistakenly attacks acetylcholine receptors → disrupts nerve-muscle communication → causes severe muscle weakness

Nerves:

Bundles of axons that connect the central nervous system to muscles/glands/sense organs in the peripheral nervous system

Neural Transmission:

Process where neurons communicate with one another using a combination of electrical impulses and chemical messengers

Neuron:

Specialized nerve cell -- basic building block of the nervous system -- receives, processes, and transmits information to other cells/muscles/glands

Reflex:

Automatic, involuntary, unlearned response to sensory stimulus

Reflex Arc:

Automatic neural pathway that produces a rapid response to a stimulus, without any routing to the brain first

Refractory Period:

Recovery time after a neuron fires an action potential → during this time, the neuron is resetting its ion balance and returning to its resting potential

Resting Potential:

Electrical state of a neuron when it is not actively firing a neural signal -- maintains a negative charge inside the cell

Reuptake:

Process where a presynaptic neuron (a sending neuron) reabsorbs excess neurotransmitter molecules from the synaptic gap after transmission

Sensory Neurons:

Nerve cells carrying information from the body’s sensory receptors into the central nervous system

Spinal Cord:

Long bundle of nerve tissue -- runs from base of the brain down the back → main information highway between the brain and the rest of the body

Synapse:

Gap between the axon terminal of a sending neuron and the dendrite OR cell body of a receiving neuron

Threshold:

Boundary that a person requires to detect physical stimulus 50% of the time

Acetylcholine:

Chemical messenger → enables muscle action, learning, memory

Adrenaline/Epinephrine:

Released by adrenal glands → activates sympathetic nervous system’s fight/flight response

Dopamine:

Chemical messenger → helps control voluntary movement, attention, learning, and the brain’s reward system

Endocrine System:

Body’s slow chemical communication network -- consists of glands which secrete hormones directly into the bloodstream

Endorphins:

Neurotransmitters released by the brain and nervous system → blocks pain signals and boosts feelings of pleasure

Excitatory Neurotransmitters:

Chemical messenger → makes the receiving neuron more likely to generate an action potential + fire

GABA:

Primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system → slows down neural activity + stops receiving neuron from firing action potentials

Glutamate:

Primary excitatory neurotransmitter → stimulates neurons to fire + plays important role in learning/memory

Ghrelin:

Hormone produced by the stomach → stimulates hunger + signals the brain to eat food

Hormones:

Chemical messenger produced by the glands of the endocrine system, travelling through bloodstream → influences body tissues/organs/behaviors

Inhibitory Neurotransmitters:

Chemical messengers → decrease the likelihood that a receiving neuron will fire an action potential

Leptin:

Hormone released by fat cells → signals hypothalamus to reduce hunger + maintain a stable body weight

Melatonin:

A hormone that helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle.

Norepinephrine:

A neurotransmitter involved in alertness, attention, and the stress response.

Neurotransmitter:

A chemical messenger that carries signals between nerve cells.

Oxytocin:

A hormone and neurotransmitter involved in social bonding, trust, and childbirth.

Serotonin:

A neurotransmitter involved in mood, sleep, appetite, and other functions.

Substance P:

A neurotransmitter involved mainly in transmitting pain signals.

Addiction:

Compulsive use of a substance or behavior despite harmful consequences.

Agonist:

A substance that increases or mimics a neurotransmitter’s effects.

Antagonist:

A substance that blocks or reduces a neurotransmitter’s effects.

Depressants:

Drugs that slow activity in the central nervous system.

Hallucinogens:

Drugs that alter perception, thoughts, and sensory experiences.

Opioids:

Drugs that reduce pain and can produce relaxation or euphoria.

Psychoactive Drugs:

Chemicals that affect the brain and change mood, perception, thinking, or behavior.

Reuptake Inhibitors:

Substances that prevent neurotransmitters from being reabsorbed, increasing their activity.

Stimulants:

Drugs that increase central nervous system activity, alertness, and energy.

Tolerance:

Needing more of a substance over time to produce the same effect.

Withdrawal:

Unpleasant physical or psychological symptoms that can occur when regular substance use stops.

Alcohol:

A depressant that slows brain activity and can impair judgment, coordination, and reaction time.

Caffeine:

A stimulant that increases alertness and reduces feelings of tiredness.

Cocaine:

A powerful stimulant that increases dopamine activity in the brain.

Heroin:

An opioid drug that strongly affects the brain’s pain and reward systems.

Marijuana:

A psychoactive drug containing THC that can affect mood, memory, coordination, and perception.

Brain stem:

Located at the base of the skull above the spinal cord. Controls automatic survival functions and includes structures such as the medulla and pons.

Cerebellum:

Located at the rear of the brainstem. Coordinates movement, balance, sensory input, timing, and some forms of learning and memory.

Medulla:

Located at the base of the brainstem, just above the spinal cord. Controls automatic survival functions such as breathing and heartbeat.

Pons:

Located in the brainstem above the medulla. Helps connect brain regions and is involved in breathing, REM sleep, and communication between parts of the brain.

Reticular Formation:

Located as a nerve network running through the brainstem into the thalamus. Controls arousal, alertness, and attention.

Amygdala:

Located in the limbic system below the cerebral hemispheres. Processes survival-related emotions, especially fear and aggression.

Hippocampus:

Located in the limbic system below the cerebral hemispheres. Processes and stores explicit memories of facts and events.

Hypothalamus:

Located below the thalamus. Regulates homeostasis, including hunger, thirst, body temperature, emotion, reward, and endocrine activity through the pituitary gland.

Limbic System:

Brain structures involved in emotion, motivation, memory, and reward.

Pituitary Gland:

Located below the hypothalamus. The “master gland” that releases hormones and helps control other endocrine glands.

Reward Center:

Brain areas involved in pleasure, motivation, and reinforcement.

Thalamus:

Located at the top of the brainstem. Acts as a sensory “switchboard” by directing sensory information to the appropriate areas of the cortex; receives information from all senses except smell.

Association Areas:

Parts of the cerebral cortex that combine information and support thinking, memory, language, and judgment.

Broca’s Area:

Located in the frontal lobe. Controls the muscles involved in producing speech.

Cerebral Cortex:

Located on the outer surface of the cerebral hemispheres. Responsible for higher-level processing such as thinking, memory, attention, perception, speaking, and consciousness.

Cerebrum:

Largest part of the brain - controls higher level cognitive functions, sensory processing, and voluntary muscle movements

Executive functioning:

Coordinating goal-directed behavior/impulse control/problem solving

Frontal lobes:

Located behind the forehead. Involved in planning, judgment, decision-making, abstract thinking, personality, speech production, and voluntary movement.

Motor cortex:

Located in the frontal lobe. Sends signals that control voluntary muscle movements.

Occipital lobes:

Located at the back of the head above the cerebellum. Primarily responsible for processing vision.

Parietal lobes:

Located near the top of the head. Processes touch, pain, pressure, temperature, and body position.

Prefrontal cortex:

Front part of the brain’s frontal lobe → controls high level functions (planning, decision making, impulse control)

Sensory cortex:

Located in the parietal lobe. Receives and processes sensory information from different parts of the body, especially touch-related sensations.

Temporal lobes:

Located above the ears. Processes hearing and is involved in memory and language comprehension.

Wernicke’s Area:

Located in the temporal lobe. Responsible for language comprehension and understanding the meaning of speech.