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Neuroscience and Behavior - AP Psychology, Chapter 2

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