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AP Psych Ch. 2 Vocab
Neuroscience and Behavior - AP Psychology, Chapter 2
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Frontal lobe | Controls reasoning, speaking, movement, emotions, decision-making, and problem-solving |
| Parietal lobe | Controls movement and orientation as well as deals with the reception of stimuli like touch, pressure, temperature, and pain. |
| Temporal lobe | Controls auditory, memory, and speech functions |
| Occipital lobe | Controls vision |
| Right and left hemispheres | Left - more logical Right - more artistic and better at perceiving emotion |
| Cerebral cortex | The outer layer of the cerebrum, includes sensory and motor areas |
| Amygdala | Influences aggression and fear |
| Corpus callosum | Joins the hemispheres and helps in communication |
| Hippocampus | Processes memories and helps with learning |
| Hypothalamus | Chief autonomic nervous system center - directs maintenance activities such as eating/drinking/body temperature, helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, linked to emotion |
| Lateral hypothalamus | Causes hunger when stimulated |
| Ventromedial hypothalamus | Causes you to feel full when stimulated |
| Thalamus | The brain's relay station - receives messages from all senses except smell and routes them to the appropriate brain regions |
| Limbic system | Controls basic drives such as those for food and sex (the hypothalamus), fear/agression (the amygdala), and memory (the hippocampus) |
| Gyrus cinguli | Part of the limbic system that lies in the cortex |
| Medulla oblongada | Controls visceral actions like heart/breathing rate and coughing |
| Pons | Relays information between the cerebrum and cerebellum, helps control breathing |
| Brainstem | Includes midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongada, connects the brain to the spinal cord |
| Reticular formation (RAS) | Filters incoming stimuli and relays important information - also deals with arousal |
| Cerebellum | Controls balance, posture, and smooth/coordinated motion |
| Motor cortex | Arched region that causes movement |
| Sensory cortex | Region that receives sensory information |
| Association areas | Integrate information and associate input with memories - don't produce any observable response when stimulated |
| Broca's area | Controls speech muscles |
| Wernicke's area | Controls language reception |
| Aphasia | Language impairment, usually caused by damage to Broca's area or Wernicke's area |
| Plasticity | The ability of the brain to make new connections/modify itself after damage |
| Neurogenesis | The process through which neurons are generated, mostly during pre-natal development |
| Angular gyrus | Transforms written words into an auditory code that is received and understood in Wernicke's area |
| EEG | Reads the brain's electric waves of activity |
| CT/CAT scan | Produces a cross-sectional image of the body using x-rays |
| PET scan | Depicts brain activity by showing different areas' consumption of glucose |
| MRI | Images soft tissue through magnetic fields |
| fMRI | Uses MRI technology to show brain functions by depicting blood flow to the brain |
| Neurons | Nerve cells that transmit impulses |
| Glial cells | Cells that nourish, support, and protect neurons |
| Sensory/afferent neurons | Pick up sensory information |
| Motor/efferent neurons | Control muscle contractions, tell the body how to respond to sensory input |
| Interneurons | Carry information between sensory and motor neurons |
| Dendrites | Small branches off the cell body that receive messages and send them to the cell body |
| Axon | The "tail" that generates and transmits a nerve impulse |
| Myelin sheath | Protects and insulated the axon, speeds up messages |
| Terminal buttons | Structures at the end of terminal branches that contain neurotransmitters to carry messages |
| Action potential | An impulse/electrical charge that travels down the axon |
| Threshold/neural firing | When excitatory signals "outvote" inhibitory signals, the threshold is crossed and the neuron fires |
| Synapse/synaptic gap | The space between neurons, where neurotransmitters are exchanged |
| Inhibitory vs. excitatory neurotransmitters | Excitatory signals are like accelerators; inhibitory are like brakes |
| Reuptake | The re-absorption of neurotransmitters by the neuron that secreted them |
| All or none response | A neuron either doesn't fire at all or fires down the complete length of a cell |
| Acetylcholine | Sends motion messages to skeletal muscles and helps in memory (neurons that produce it degenerate in Alzheimer's) |
| Dopamine | Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion (excessive levels are linked to schizophrenia) |
| Endorphins | Natural opiates released in response to exercise and pain |
| GABA | Major inhibitory neurotransmitter |
| Serotonin and SSRI | Affect mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal |
| Long-term potentiation | Neurons strengthen connections after repeated firing |
| Neural network | An artificial, mathematical model for processing information based on the human brain |
| Agonist vs. antagonist | Agonist - a chemical that intensifies the actions of a neurotransmitter Antagonist - a chemical that opposes/blocks the actions of a neurotransmitter |
| Adrenal gland | Releases hormones to increase heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar to increase energy |
| Cortisol | Hormone produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress |
| Hormones | Chemical messengers that travel through the blood stream until they reach certain tissues |
| Insulin | Lowers blood glucose, causing hunger signals |
| Pituitary gland | Releases hormones to influence growth and to trigger other endocrine glands to release hormones |
| Thyroid gland | Affects metabolism |
| Central nervous system | Consists of the brain and spinal cord |
| Peripheral nervous system | Consists of cranial and spinal nerves |
| Somatic nervous system | Transmits messages for voluntary motion |
| Autonomic nervous system | Transmits messages to involuntary muscles and glands |
| Sympathetic nervous system | Part of the autonomic nervous system, fight-or-flight response |
| Parasympathetic nervous system | Part of the autonomic nervous system, calms you down |
| Opposing tendencies | Many systems have two parts that do opposite things (ex: opponent process theory of color vision, two parts of the autonomic nervous system) |
| Reflex | A message sent from the spinal cord rather than the brain |
| Dual processing | Information in simultaneously processed consciously and subconsciously |
| Phineas Gage | Rod ran through this frontal lobe, he retained his abilities but lost his personality |
| Franz Gall | Founded phrenology, pseudoscience that claimed to be able to determine your intelligence and abilities based on the size and shape of different parts of your skull |
| Egas Moniz | Developed the lobotomy, the removal of the brain's frontal lobe |
Created by:
emilyjane1221
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