AP PSYCH UNIT 1

  1. Difference between nature and nurture? Nature is a person’s genetic makeup. Nurture is the environmental factors that influence a person’s development

  2. Heredity  -passing on of different physical and mental traits from one generation to another

  3. Eugenics - belief in improving the genetic quality of the human population by selectively breeding

  4. Difference between epigenetics and brain plasticity? Epigenetics focuses on how the environment and how a person’s behavior affect a person’s genes and how they work. Blain plasticity is the changes that happen with the structure of the brain on a cellular level.

  5. Difference between CNS and PNS? CNS is made up of the brain and spinal cord, it sends out orders to the body. PNS consists of the different nerves that branch off from the brain and spine

  6. How do afferent (sensory) neurons different from efferent (motor) neurons? Afferent neurons send impulses to the brain from the body and outside stimuli. (sends from sensory receptors to CNS) Efferent neurons send impulses from the brain to the rest of the body to control movement and more. (sends from CNS to PNS)

  7. Difference between somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system? Somatic nervous system includes voluntary movements aka skeletal movements and 5 senses. Autonomic controls involuntary actions (i.e heart beating)

  8. Functions of the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions. Sympathetic mobilizes our body and gets it ready for action.(i.e makes it faster) Parasympathetic relaxes our body (i.e slows your heart rate)

  9. Glial cell- building blocks of all behavior and mental processes. Provide structure, insulation, communication, and waste transportation. Provides neurons with nutrients. 

  10. Reflex arc - neural pathway that control an autonomic response to a stimulus

  11. Action potential - when a neuron fires an electrical impulse down the axon

  12. What must happen for an action potential to occur An outside stimulus must cause an neutron to cross a specific threshold which causes the neuron to depolarize as positive ions enter the neuron which causes an electrical signal to be sent downward

  13. Permeability - ability for some ions to cross the membrane more easily than others

  14. Depolarization - when a outside stimulus is strong enough to meet the threshold 

  15. All or nothing principle - neuron will only fire if the threshold is met

  16. Repolarization - brings the neuron back to resting potential

  17. Refractory period - when the cell cannot fire and needs to wait until repolarization occurs

  18.  Resting potential - channels will be open to try and rebalance the charges by letting more positive ions back outside the cell membrane

  19. Synapse - small pocket of space between the zon terminal of 1 neuron and the dendrite of another neuron

  20. Chemical synapses use neurotransmitters. Electrical synapses are for messages that need to be sent quickly

  21. Neurotransmitters - chemical messengers that send messages through the nervous system

  22. Synaptic gap - narrow space between presynaptic terminal of one neuron and postsynaptic terminal of another neuron

  23. Excitatory neurotransmitter increases the likelihood that a neuron will fire an action potential. Inhibitory decrease the likelihood that a neuron will fire an action potential

  24. Multiple sclerosis  - occurs when the myelin sheath is damaged. Symptoms: muscle weakness, coordination problems, and fatigue

  25. Myasthenia gravis - autoimmune neuromuscular disorder that affects the communication between nerves and muscles. Immune system produces antibodies that attack Ach receptors. Symptoms: muscle contraction is prevented, muscle weakness, and neural transmission

  26. Acetylcholine (Ach) - Enables muscle action, learning, and helps with memory. Connected with movement

  27. Substance P - Body’s pain reception + transmission of pain signals to the brain

  28. Dopamine - low dopamine  = addictive behaviors. Extreme lack is Parkinson’s disease or loss of motor skills. 

  29. Serotonin - Impacts an individual’s hunger, sleep, arousal, and mood

  30. Endorphins - helps w/ pain control and impact on individual’s pain tolerance

  31. Epinephrine - helps with the body’s response to high emotional situations and helps form memories

  32. Norepinephrine - active in sympathetic nervous system response to danger. Increases blood pressure, heart rate, and altertness

  33. Glutamate - involved w/ excitatory messages w/long term memories and learning

  34. GABA - calms CNS; natural tranquilizer. Involved with excitatory messages, helps with long term memory/ learning

  35. Endocrine system uses glands to create hormones, these messages are slower moving and target larger broad areas of the body

  36. Agonists increase the effectiveness of a neurotransmitter. Antagonists decrease it

  37.  How do agonist drugs impact receptors in the synapse? Agonists bind to the receptors that are in the synapse to crease the effectiveness by mimicking the neurotransmitters or blocking reuptake that absorb extra

  38. Stimulants -  Promote/ excite neural activity (i.e. caffeine, nicotine, cocaine)

  39. Depressants  - reduces neural activity, resulting in drowsiness, muscle relaxation (i.e. alcohol, sleeping pills)

  40. Hallucinogens - cause a person to sense something that isn;t really there, can also 

  41. reduce motivation and cause a person to panic (i.e .Marijuana, LSD)

  42. Opioids - function as depressant, but are addictive, provide pain relief (i.e. morphine, heroin, oxycodone)

  43. Spinal Cord - Connects brain to the rest of your body

  44. Brain stem - On top of the spinal cord

  45. Medulla - controls breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure

  46. Pon - works with cerebellum to coordinate movement and sleep

  47. Reticular activating system - part of the reticular formation that is specifically for arousal, alertness and sleep-wake cycles

    1. Reticular formation - network of nerves that extend into the thalamus that carry messages between parts of the brain stem

  48. Cerebellum - enables smooth muscle mvmts, maintains equilibrium

  49. Cerebrum - describes the brain

  50. Cerebral cortex - thin layer of gray matter that covers the entire brain

  51. Corpus callosum - tract of nerve fibers that run longitudinally down the center of the brain and connects the 2 hemispheres

  52. Frontal lobe - involved in higher thinking and motor function

  53. Prefrontal cortex - front part of the cerebral cortex where planning, emotional expression & though occurs

  54. Motor cortex -allows control of voluntary mvmt

  55. Broca’s area - controls the muscles needed to speak

    1. Broca’s aphasia - people have difficulty in producing speech

  56. Parietal lobe - processes sensory stimuli

  57. Somatosensory cortex - touch sensations

  58. Temporal lobe - processes auditory info and important in memory formation

  59. Hippocampus - controls the autonomic functions of the body and works with the pituitary gland to control hormones

  60. Amygdala - important for emotion, threat/fear perception, and memory. Located in temporal lobe

  61. Werneike’s area - ability to comprehend speech and create meaningful speech

    1. Wernicke’s aphasia - results in someone losing the ability to make meaningful speech

  62. Occipital lobe - processes visual info

  63. Thalamus - on top of brain stem. Serves as relay station for impulses from the body to areas of cerebral cortex

  64. Limbic system - brain structures involved in emotion, learning, memory, and some basic drives

  65. Hypothalamus - controls autonomic functions of the body and works with the pituitary gland to control hormones

  66. Pituitary gland - located at base of brain. Connects the nervous system and endocrine system. Helps regulate all other glands in the body

  67. Brain lateralization - differing functions between left and right hemisphere

  68. What happens when the corpus callosum is cut - right and left hemisphere can’t communicate

  69. Circadian rhythm - body’s biological clock that involves changing blood pressure, internal temp, hormones, and regulates the sleep-wake cycle

  70. Alpha waves vs beta waves - alpha waves are high in amplitude and slower, occur when feeling relaxed. Beta are low in amplitude and are the fastest brain waves

  71. Activation synthesis theory - dreams are our brain is trying to make sense of random neural activity that is happening

  72. Consolidation theory - dreams help process and strengthen our memories and experiences

  73. Restoration theory - sleep occurs because we get tired from daily activities

  74. Sleep apnea - an individual struggles with their breathing while sleeping

  75. REM sleep behavior disorder -what a person acts out their dreams during REM sleep

  76. Sensation - raw data. Info that we receive from our senses

  77. Sensory transduction - sensory receptors convert external stimuli into electrical signals that can be interpreted by nervous system

  78. Absolute threshold - smallest amount of stimulation needed for you to notice a sensation at least 50% of the time

  79. Sensory adaptation vs habituation - sensory adaptation happens when a stimulus is constant, over time you stop noticing it. Habituation is a decrease in a behavior response to a repeated stimulus

  80. Difference threshold (JND)- minimum change between 2 stimuli that causes an individual to detect the change

  81. Weber fechner law - states that just noticeable difference between 2 stimuli is a constant proportion

  82. Synesthesia - condition where one sense iis experienced in another sense

  83. Rods vs cones - cones ware what help you see fine details. Rods are visual receptors that allow you to see in dim light

  84. Trichromatic theory - individuals are able to see color because different wavelengths of light stimulate combos of 3 color receptors

  85. Opponent processing theory - info is received from the cones is sent to ganglion cells

  86. Achromatism - can see only black, white, and gray

  87. Dichromatism - can see only 2 of 3 contes

  88. Monochromatism - cannot see different colors, see diff shades of one color

  89. Trichromatism - see all colors

  90. Accommodation - the eye’s lens changes shape to focus on objects at different distances

  91. Prosopagnosia - result from damage to occipital and temporal lobes. AKA face blindness. Individuals will struggle to recognize familiar faces

  92. Place theory - certain hair cells respond to certain frequencies

  93.   Frequency theory - frequency of auditory nerve’s impulses corresponds directly to the freq of the sound wave

  94. Volley theory - suggests that neurons work together to fire in staggered manner

  95. Sensorineural - when a person’s clairty, loudness, and range of sounds are no longer to be heard as they once were

  96. Conductive - when sound waves cannot move through the outer ear to the middle ear and inner ear

  97. Pheromones - chemical signals released by an individual that affect the behavior or other physiology of other individuals

  98. Gustation - tsdte

  99. Papillae - taste buds

  100. Epidermis - outside layer of skin. Created barrier to project a person. Skin color

  101. Dermis - 2 lsters, connective tissu that is where blood vessel and neverendings are located. Sense of touch and pina

  102. Gate control theory - the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that can either block pain signals or allow them to pass to the brain

  103. Vestibular sense - ability to maintain balance

  104. Kinesthesis - perception of position and mvmt of individual body parts