Unit 1 - AP Psychology Vocab (midterm)

Genes, Hereditary, Human Diversity

• Twin Biology: study the effects of heredity and environment two sets of twins, identical and fraternal, have come in handy. Behavior geneticists study the effects of shared and unique environments on total or partial genetic makeup

• Separated Twins Similarities: Personality, intelligences, interests, fears, abilities, aptitudes, brain waves, and heart rates. 

• Nature vs Nurture: Some traits, like physical traits, are fixed for the most part. Psychological traits are impacted by the environment. Genes lay the foundation but are pliable

Neural Communication

• Neuron: Nerve cell, the body has billions of them, the main way our body communicates. 

• Dendrites: Branching extensions at the cell body. Receives messages from other neurons.

• Axon: Long single extension of a neuron, covered with myelin sheath to insulate and speed up messages through neurons.

• Terminals of axon (terminal buttons): Branched ending of axons. Transmit neurotransmitters to other neurons.

• Action potential: A neural impulse. A brief electrical charge that travels down an axon generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon’s membrane. 

• Threshold: When the depolarizing current (positive ions) minus the hyperpolarizing current (negative ions) exceed minimum intensity (threshold) the neuron fires an action potential.

• All-or-None Response: When depolarizing current exceeds the threshold a neuron will fire, and below threshold it will not.

• Neurotransmitters: chemicals released from the sending neuron, travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing it to generate an action potential. 

• Reuptake: Neurotransmitters in the synapse are reabsorbed into the sending neurons.

• Agonist: Chemical that mimics or excites a neurotransmitter. (Example: Taking an SSRI to block serotonin reuptake)

• Antagonist: Chemical that inhibits the action of a neurotransmitter. (Example: Taking a DRA to inhibit the overproduction of dopamine)

• Endorphins: Neurotransmitter that deals with the perception of pleasure and pain. The body’s natural painkiller. 

• Acetylcholine: Neurotransmitter that plays a role in muscle action, memory, and learning. Malfunctions include Alzhemier’s Disease. 

• Dopamine: Neurotransmitter that influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion. An oversupply is related to schizophrenia, an undersupply is related to Parkinson’s Disease. 

• Serotonin: Neurotransmitter that affects mood, hunger, and sleep. An undersupply is related to depression.

Nervous System and Endocrine System

• Central Nervous System (CNS): the brain and spinal cord.

• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): the sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body.

• Somatic Nervous System: The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles.  You have “some” control of this.

• Autonomic Nervous System: Part of the PNS that controls the glands and other muscles.  Functions automatically.

• Sympathetic Nervous System: division of the ANS that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations.  Gets you ready for fight or flight.

• Parasympathetic Nervous System: division of the ANS that calms the body, conserving its 

• energy.  Brings you back down after the threat is over.

• Endocrine System: the body’s “slow” chemical communication system. Communication is carried out by hormones synthesized by a set of glands.

• Hormones: chemicals synthesized by the endocrine glands and secreted in the bloodstream. Hormones affect the brain and many other tissues of the body.

Brian Imaging Techniques

• fMRI: produces images while performing a task (reciting alphabet) (shows structure and function)

Hindbrain and Midbrain

• Medulla [muh-DUL-uh]: base of the brainstem, controls heartbeat and breathing.

• Thalamus [THAL-uh-muss]: the brain’s sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem. It directs messages to the sensory areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.

• Cerebellum: The “little brain” attached to the rear of the brainstem. It helps coordinate voluntary movements and balance.  It also plays a role in the formation of procedural memories (implicit or procedural memories, EX. riding a bike)

• Limbic System: doughnut-shaped system of neural structures at the border of the brainstem and cerebrum, associated with emotions such as fear, aggression and drives for food and sex

• Amygdala [ah-MIG-dah-la]: two almond-shaped neural clusters linked to emotion of fear and anger.

• Hippocampus: a structure in the limbic system which is responsible for the formation of most new memories (explicit memories, EX. facts)

• Hypothalamus: lies below (hypo) the thalamus; directs several maintenance activities like eating, drinking, body temperature, and emotions. Helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland. 

Forebrain

• Frontal Lobe: Concerned with reasoning, planning, parts of speech and movement (motor cortex), emotions, and problem-solving.

• Temporal Lobe: Concerned with perception and recognition of auditory stimuli (hearing) and memory (hippocampus).

• Occipital Lobe: Located at the back of the brain, behind the parietal lobe and temporal lobe. Concerned with many aspects of vision.

• Parietal Lobe: Concerned with perception of stimuli related to touch, pressure, temperature and pain.

• Aphasia: an impairment of language

• Broca’s Area: controls the physical activity of speaking

• Wernicke’s Area: controls language comprehension

• Plasticity: refers to the brain’s ability to modify itself after some type of injury or illness.When we are young our brains are more plastic.

Substances

• Psychoactive drugs:  chemicals that change how you think and feel and usually produce a tolerance, later using larger doses to produce the same effect

• Depressants:  drugs that slow & calm neural activity 

  • Alcohol:  impairs judgment & inhibitions & prevents recent events to go into long-term memory.

• Stimulant drugs: excite neural activity and speed-up body functions

  • Caffeine and nicotine: increase heart and breathing rates, and other autonomic functions to provide energy

  • Cocaine: induces immediate euphoria followed by a crash. Blocks reuptake of dopamine, serotonin & norepinephrine.

• Hallucinogens: are psychedelic (mind-manifesting) drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input.

  • LSD: (lysergic acid diethylamide) powerful hallucinogenic drug (ergot fungus) also known as acid.

Levels of Consciousness

• Consciousness:  our subjective awareness of ourselves & our environment

• Parallel processing: processing multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem at the same time

Sleep, Sleep Disorders, Dreams

• Sleep: periodic, natural loss of consciousness - distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation

• Circadian rhythm: our biological clock; regular body rhythms (for example, of temperature & wakefulness) that occur on a 24-hour cycle

• NREM sleep: non-rapid eye movement sleep; encompasses all sleep stages except for REM sleep

• REM sleep: rapid eye movement; recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur; also known as paradoxical sleep, because muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active

• REM rebound: tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation

• Insomnia: Recurring problems falling or staying asleep

• Narcolepsy: Sudden sleep attacks where the afflicted lapses directly in REM sleep

• Dream: a sequences of images, emotions, & thoughts occurring in a sleeping person’s mind, occur during REM

• Activation-synthesis theory: the brain’s attempt to make sense of random neural activity spreading up from the brainstem; brain “weaves” stories around the random neural activity

Sensation Basics

• Sensation: process by which our sensory receptors & nervous system receive & represent stimulus energies from our environment

• Bottom-up processing: information processing that begins with the sensory receptors & works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information (also called feature detection)

• Top-down processing: information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience & expectations

• Transduction: conversion of one form of energy into another; in sensation, the transforming of physical energy, such as sights, sounds, & smells, into neural impulses the brain can interpret

• Absolute threshold: minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time 

• Signal detection theory: theory predicting how & when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise); assumes there is no single absolute threshold & that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, & alertness

• Difference threshold: minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time (also known as just noticeable difference [jnd])

• Sensory adaptation: diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Vision

• Pupil: adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters

• Accommodation: process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus images of near or far objects on the retina

• Retina: light-sensitive back inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods & cones plus layers of neurons that begin the process of visual information

• Rods: retinal receptors that detect black, white, & gray, & are sensitive to movement; rods are necessary for peripheral & twilight vision, when cones don’t respond, 120 million rods

• Cones: retinal receptors that are concentrated near the center of the retina & that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions; cones detect fine detail & give rise to color sensations, 6 million cones

• Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory: theory that the retina contains three different types of color receptors - one most sensitive to red, one to green, & one to blue - which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color (explains color blindness)

• Opponent-process theory: theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, blue-yellow, & black-white) enable color vision; for example, some cells are stimulated by green & inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red & inhibited by green (explains afterimages)

Hearing

• Cochlea: coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid tigger nerve impulses

• Basilar membrane: located in the cochlea, covered in hair cells (cilia), which bend with vibrations and trigger neural impulses to the auditory nerve

• Sensorineural hearing loss: most common form of hearing loss, caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerve; also called nerve deafness. Cannot be reversed, but hearing can be semi-restored with a cochlear implant 

• Conduction hearing loss: less common form of hearing loss, caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea (bones of the middle ear)

• Place theory: theory that links the pitch that we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated (also called place coding). Place theory explains how we hear high-pitched sounds but not low-pitched.

• Frequency theory: theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense pitch (also called temporal coding)

• Volley theory: neural cells can alternate firing, achieving a combined frequency above 1000 waves per second

Touch

• Gate-control theory: theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological “gate” that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain; the “gate” is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers, & is closed by activity in large fibers or by information coming from the brain

Taste

• Gustation: sense of taste (chemical sense); six taste sensations that have evolutionary benefits

  • Umami - tells us the food has protein to grow & repair tissues

  • Oleogustus - tells us the food has fats for energy, insulation, & cell growth

Smell

• Olfactory receptors: cells at the top of the nasal cavity, receive stimuli, activate axons traveling to the brain

  • Smell is the only sense to bypass the thalamus

• Sensory interaction: principle that one sense can influence another, as when smell of food influences taste

  • Smell + texture + taste = flavor

Other Senses

• Kinesthesis: our movement sense; our system for sensing the position & movement of individual body parts, millions of sensors in muscles, tendons, joints all over body called proprioceptors

• Vestibular sense: our balance sense; our sense of body movement & position that enables our sense of balance, controlled by semicircular canals and vestibular sacs