Psychology Unit 3 AoS 1

Central Nervous System: made up of brain and spinal cord, processes and coordinates responses to sensory stimuli

Brain: receives and processes sensory stimuli from the body and coordinates responses

Spinal Cord: a dense bundle of nerves that carries sensory information from the body to the brain and vice versa

Peripheral Nervous System: all the nerves outside the central nervous system which carries messages between the central nervous system and the body

Somatic Nervous System: carries sensory information to the CNS and motor information to the body

Autonomic Nervous System: controls the bodies internal environment in a self-regulated matter

Sympathetic Nervous System: increases arousal, readying the body for a quick response when we perceive a threat

Parasympathetic Nervous System: controls the bodies internal environment and also returns environment to normal after a threatening or stressful situation

Enteric Nervous System: embedded within the walls of the gastrointestinal tract and is dedicated to its functioning

Neuron: information is collected by dendrites, travels along the axon, travels to the next neuron via axon terminals

Sensory Neuron: a nerve cell that carries sensory signals throughout the nervous system

Motor Neuron: a nerve cell that transmits motor impulses from the spinal cord to the skeletal system

Interneuron: a nerve cell in the spinal cord that connects motor and sensory neurons by relaying information between the two

Afferent: sensory

Efferent: motor

Skeletal Muscles: muscles that connect to your bones and allow you to perform a wide range of voluntary movements

Unconscious Response: any response of our nervous system that does not require awareness, it is involuntary, unintentional and we cannot ordinarily control its occurrence

Spinal reflex: an unconscious, involuntary and automatically occurring response without involvement of the brain

Conscious Response: any response of the nervous system that requires awareness, usually a response will be voluntary, ‘intentional’ reaction

Neural Transmission: an electrical impulse that occurs when a neuron is activated or fires

Neurotransmitters: when neurons communicate with one another, they do so by sending neurotransmitters across the space between the two neurons, it is a chemical substance

Synapse: the point of communication between two neurons or between a neuron and  a target call such as a muscle or gland

Excitatory Neurotransmitters: they increase the likelihood that the post-synaptic neuron will fire an action potential or neural impulse

Glutamate: involved with learning and memory, enhances information transmission with it’s excitatory effect, is released when a neural pathway associated with an experience is activated

Inhibitory Neurotransmitters: they decrease the likelihood that the post-synaptic neuron will fire and action potential or neural impulse

GABA: (Gamma-aminobutyric acid) associated with anxiety, specific phobias and Parkinson’s disease, inhibitory effect, without GABA postsynaptic neuron activation might get out of control

Agonists: mimic the affect of a neurotransmitter

Antagonists: slow down the effects of a neurotransmitter

Neuromodulator: a subclass of neurotransmitter that alter the strength of neural transmission by increasing  or decreasing the responsiveness of neurons to neurotransmitter signals

Dopamine: a neuromodulator with both excitatory and inhibitory effects, that is involved in many CNS functions such as movement, pleasure, attention, mood, cognition and motivation

Reward Pathway: a group of structures in the brain that are activated by rewarding or reinforcing stimuli

Serotonin: an inhibitory neuromodulator that influences a variety of brain activities such as modulating almost all human behavioural processes (mood, hunger, perception etc)

Serotonin Pathway: originates in the brainstem and extends almost all areas of the cerebrum including that cerebral cortex

Presynaptic Neuron: releases neurochemicals into the neural synapse

Postsynaptic Neuron: receives neurochemicals

Synaptic Plasticity: specific changes that occur within the synapse, between neurons

Long Term Potentiation (LTP): the relatively permanent strengthening of synaptic connections because of repeated activation of a neural pathway

Long Term Depression (LTD): The relatively permanent weakening of synaptic connections because of repeated low-level activation

Rerouting: the formation of new connections between neurons to stablish alternative pathways

Sprouting: when existing neurons form new axon terminals and dendrites to allow new connections to be made

Synaptic Pruning: the elimination of weak, ineffective or unused synapses

Synaptogenesis: the formation for new synapses

Psychological Response: feelings such as fear and thoughts

Biological Response: increased heartrate and increased muscle tension

Stressor: any event that causes stress

Internal Stressors: originate within the individual (Psychological or biological)

External Stressors: originate outside the individual (Environmental or Sociocultural)

Acute Stress: sudden or short term, intense and severe, can help us to deal with challengers more effectively

Fight and Flight Responses: increased heart rate, sweaty palms; sympathetic nervous system dominant

Freeze Responses: prepares us for fight or flight responses; parasympathetic nervous system dominant

Chronic Stress: ongoing or long term, less intense and less severe, generally more detrimental to our health

Cortisol: when stress persists cortisol is released, it heightens alertness and boosts energy levels however also supresses the immune system

Vagus Nerve: one of the bodies biggest nerves, connecting the brain to the organs in the autonomic nervous system, bidirectional

Gut Microbiota: microbe species on our gut, help with the production of neurotransmitters

General Adaptation Syndrome: our biological response to stress

·       Stage 1: Alarm Reaction: when we first become aware of the stressor

Shock: an acute response to stress, body drops is stress resistance

Countershock: body attempts to compensate for the acute stress response, release of adrenaline and fight-flight-freeze, sympathetic nervous system, coping rises above normal levels

·       Stage 2: Resistance: when the stressor persists for a long period of time, bodies ability to deal with stressor rises above normal levels, body will release cortisol

·       Stage 3: Exhaustion: due to the prolonged stress and the cortisol in the body the person can no longer fight the stressor, extreme fatigue, bedridden etc due to the extended immunosuppression, no longer dealing with the stressor

Appraisal: the process of categorising an event on the basis of its perceived significance and how it may affect our wellbeing

Lazarus and Folkman’s Transactional Model of Stress and Coping: our psychological response to stress

·       Primary Appraisal: the individual determines whether the situation or event is significant to them

Irrelevant: the situation or event has no implications for the individuals wellbeing

Benign/Positive: the outcome of the situation or event is perceived as it either maintains or enhances positive wellbeing

Threat: (fear) anticipated harm/loss in the future because of the event

Harm/Loss: (sadness/angry) damage to the individual has already occurred

Challenge: (excitement) perceived to have the potential for personal gain or growth

·       Secondary Appraisal: occurs when an event has been deemed as stressful and so something has to be done to manage the situation, individual assesses the available resources and coping strategies

Coping: all the things we do to manage and reduce the stress we experience

Coping Strategy: a method that we use to manage or reduce the stress produced by a stressor

Approach Strategies: involve confronting the stressor directly (e.g seeking advice from an expert or developing a plan to take back your sense of control)

Avoidance Strategies: involve avoiding a stressor and dealing with it indirectly (e.g procrastination or napping)

Coping Flexibility: the ability to adjust ones coping strategies according to the demands of different stressful situations

Context Specific Effectiveness: when here is a match between the coping strategy that is used and the stressful situation