Chapter 2 Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

W
e all tend to think about things in ways that
have been ingrained in us by our

A

Zeitgeist (pronounced ZYTE-gyste ), the general intellectual
climate of our culture. That is why this is a particularly important chapter for you. You see, you are the intellectual
product of a Zeitgeist that promotes ways of thinking
about the biological bases of behavior that are inconsistent
with the facts. The primary purpose of this chapter is to
help you bring your thinking about the biology of behavior in line with modern biopsychological science

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

The tendency to think about behavior in terms of dichotomies is illustrated by two kinds of questions that
people commonly ask about behavior: (1) Is it physiological, or is it psychological? or

A

(2) Is it inherited, or is it
learned? Both questions have proved to be misguided; yet
they are among the most common kinds of questions
asked in biopsychology classrooms.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Cartesian dualism,

A

, as Descartes s philosophy became
known, was sanctioned by the Roman Church, and so the
idea that the human brain and the mind are separate entities became even more widely accepted. It has survived
to this day, despite the intervening centuries of scientific
progress. Most people now understand that human behavior has a physiological basis, but many still cling to the
dualistic assumption that there is a category of human activity that somehow transcends the human brain

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Is It Inherited, or Is It Learned?

A

The tendency to think in terms of dichotomies extends to
the way people think about the development of behavioral capacities. For centuries, scholars have debated
whether humans and other
animals inherit their behavioral capacities or acquire them through learning. This debate is commonly referred to as the nature nurture issue

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

At the same time that experimental psychology was
taking root in North America, ethology (the study of animal behavior in the wild) was becoming the dominant
approach to the study of behavior in Europe. European
ethology,

A

in contrast to North American experimental
psychology, focused on the study of instinctive behaviors
(behaviors that occur in all like members of a species, even when there seems to have been no opportunity for
them to have been learned), and it emphasized the role of
nature, or inherited factors, in behavioral development

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

The first case is Oliver Sacks s (1985) account of the

man who fell out of bed. This patient was suffering from

A

asomatognosia, a deficiency in the awareness of parts of
one s own body. Asomatognosia typically involves the left
side of the body and usually results from damage to the
right parietal lobe

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

A Model of the Biology of Behavior So far in this
section, you have learned why people
tend to think about the biology of behavior in terms of dichotomies, and
you have learned some of the reasons why this way of
thinking is inappropriate. Now, let s look at the way of
thinking about the biology of behavior that has been
adopted by many biopsychologists (see Kimble, 1989). It
is illustrated in Figure 2.3. Like other powerful ideas, it
is simple and logical. This model boils down to the single premise that all behavior is the product of interactions among three factors: (1) the organism s genetic
endowment, which is a product of its evolution;

A

(2) its

experience; and (3) its perception of the current situation.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Darwin presented three kinds of evidence to support
his assertion that species evolve: (1) He documented
the evolution of fossil records through progressively
more recent geological layers. (2) and (3)?

A

(2) He described striking
structural similarities among living species (e.g., a
human s hand, a bird s wing, and a cat s paw), which
suggested that they had evolved from common ancestors. (3) He pointed to the major changes that had been brought
about in domestic plants and animals by programs of
selective breeding. However, the most convincing evidence of evolution comes from direct observations of
rapid evolution in progress (see Orr, 2009). For example, Grant (1991) observed evolution of the finches of the
Galápagos Islands a population studied by Darwin
himself after only a single season of drought.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Now, let s look at the way of
thinking about the biology of behavior that has been
adopted by many biopsychologists. Like other powerful ideas, it
is simple and logical. This model boils down to the single premise that all behavior is the product of interactions among three factors: (1) the organism s genetic
endowment, which is a product of its evolution;

A

(2) its

experience; and (3) its perception of the current situation.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Darwin was not the first to suggest that species

A

evolve

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q
The development of each 
 individual s nervous system 
depends on its interactions with 
its environment (i.e., on its 
experience).
4
 Each individual s genes
initiate a unique program 
of neural development.
3
 Experience modifies the 
 expression of an individual s
genetic program.
2
 Evolution influences the
pool of behavior-influencing
genes available to the members
of each species. 
1
A
The success of each
individual s behavior 
influences the likelihood that
its genes will be passed on to 
future generations.
7
 Each individual s current 
 behavior arises out of 
interactions among its ongoing 
patterns of neural activity and its 
perception of the current situation
6
 Each individual s current 
 behavioral capacities and 
tendencies are determined 
by its unique patterns of 
neural activity, some of which 
are experienced as thoughts, 
feelings, memories, etc.
5
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

______, in the
Darwinian sense, is the ability of an organism to survive and contribute its genes to
the next generation.

A

Fitness

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Why is social dominance an important

factor in evolution?

A
One reason is that in
some  species  dominant  males  copulate
more than nondominant males and thus
are  more  effective  in  passing  on  their
characteristics to future generations.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

The males of many species establish a stable hierarchy of _____ ______ through combative encounters with other males. In some species,
these encounters often involve physical damage; in others, they involve mainly posturing and threatening until one of the two combatants
backs down. The dominant male usually
wins encounters with all other males of
the group; the number 2 male usually
wins encounters with all males except the
dominant male; and so on down the line.
Once a hierarchy is established, hostilities
diminish because the low-ranking males
learn to avoid or quickly submit to the
dominant males.

A

social dominance

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

An intricate series of _____ _____ precedes copulation in many species. The male approaches the female and signals his interest. His signal
(which may be olfactory, visual, auditory, or tactual) may elicit a signal in the female, which may elicit another re
sponse in the male, and so on until copulation ensues.

A

courtship displays

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

A ______ is a
group of organisms that is reproductively isolated from
other organisms; that is, the members of a species can
produce fertile offspring only by mating with members
of the same species

A

species

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

______ are
animals with dorsal nerve cords (large nerves that run along
the center of the back, or dorsum); they are 1 of the 20 or so
large categories, or phyla (pronounced FY-la ), into which
zoologists group animal species.

A

Chordates (pronounced KOR-dates ) The spinal bones are called
vertebrae (pronounced VERT-eh-bray ), and the chordates
that possess them are called vertebrates.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

The advantages of life on land were so great that natural selection transformed the fins and gills of bony fishes to legs
and lungs, respectively and so it was that the first
_______ evolved about 400 million years ago.

A

amphibians

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

About ___ million years ago,
reptiles (e.g., lizards, snakes, and turtles) evolved from a
branch of amphibians. Reptiles were the first vertebrates to
lay shell-covered eggs and to be covered by dry scales.

A

300 million

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

About ___ million years ago,
during the height of the age of dinosaurs, a new class of
vertebrates evolved from one line of small reptiles. The females of this new class fed their young with secretions
from special glands called mammary glands, and the
members of the class are called mammals after these
glands.

A

180 million

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Primates of the family that
includes humans are the ______. According to the simplest view, this family is composed of two genera (the plural of genus): Australopithecus and Homo. Homo is thought
to be composed of two species: Homo erectus, which is extinct, and Homo sapiens (humans), which is not.

A

hominins

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

The first Homo species are thought to have evolved
from one species of Australopithecus about _ million years
ago

A

2 million

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Not all existing adaptive characteristics evolved to
perform their current function. Some characteristics,
called _______, evolved to perform one function
and were later co-opted to perform another. For example, bird wings are exaptations they are limbs
that first evolved for the purpose of walking.

A

exaptations

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Similarities among species do not necessarily mean that
the species have common evolutionary origins. Structures that are similar because they have a common evolutionary origin are termed _______;

A

homologous

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

structures

that are similar but do not have a common evolutionary origin are termed _______.

A

analogous

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

The similarities between analogous structures result from ______ _______, the evolution in unrelated species of similar
solutions to the same environmental demands.

A

convergent

evolution

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

A more reasonable approach to the study of brain
evolution has been to compare the evolution of different
brain regions (Finlay & Darlington, 1995; Killacky,
1995). For example, it has been informative to consider
the evolution of the ____ _____ separately from the evolution of the _______

A

brain stem, cerebrum

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

In general, the brain stem regulates reflex activities that are
critical for survival (e.g.,

A

heart rate, respiration, and

blood glucose level)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

whereas the cerebrum is involved in

more complex adaptive processes such as

A

learning, perception, and motivation.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

An increase in the number of _______ folds on
the cerebral surface has greatly increased the volume of the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer of cerebral tissue

A

convolutions

31
Q

The pattern of mate bonding that is most prevalent in
mammals is __________, an
arrangement in which one male forms mating bonds with
more than one female.

A

polygyny (pronounced pol-IG-in-ee )

32
Q

The strongest evidence in support of the theory that
polygyny evolves when females make a far greater contribution to reproduction and parenting than males do
comes from the studies of _____. ______ is a mating arrangement
in which one female forms mating bonds with more than
one male. _______ does not occur in mammals; it occurs only in species in which the contributions of the
males to reproduction are greater than those of the females.

A

polyandry (pronounced pol-ee-AN-dree ). Polyandry

33
Q

_______ is a mate-bonding pattern in which enduring

bonds are formed between one male and one female.

A

Monogamy

34
Q

________ traits are traits that occur in one

form or the other, never in combination.

A

Dichotomous

35
Q

________
lines are breeding lines in which interbred members
always produce offspring with the same trait (e.g., brown
seeds), generation after generation.

A

True-breeding

36
Q

One
trait, which Mendel called the ______ trait, appeared
in all of the first-generation offspring

A

dominant

37
Q

the other trait,
which he called the ______ trait, appeared in about
one-quarter of the second-generation offspring.

A

recessive

38
Q

An organism s observable traits are referred to as its
________;

A

phenotype

39
Q

the traits that it can pass on to its offspring

through its genetic material are referred to as its _______.

A

genotype

40
Q

First, Mendel proposed that there are two
kinds of inherited factors for each dichotomous trait for
example, that a brown-seed factor and a white-seed factor
control seed color. Today, we call each inherited factor a ____

A

gene.

41
Q

Second, Mendel proposed that each organism possesses two genes for each of its dichotomous traits; for example, each pea plant possesses either two brown-seed
genes, two white-seed genes, or one of each. The two genes
that control the same trait are called

A

alleles (pronounced

a-LEELZ )

42
Q

Organisms that possess two identical genes

for a trait are said to be ________ for that trait;

A

homozygous

43
Q

those
that possess two different genes for a trait are said to be
_______ for that trait.

A

heterozygous

44
Q

It was not until the early 20th century that genes were found
to be located on ________ the threadlike structures
in the nucleus of each cell.

A

chromosomes

45
Q

The process of cell division that produces _______ (egg

cells and sperm cells) is called ______

A

gametes, meiosis (pronounced myOH-sis )

46
Q

As a result, each gamete has only half the
usual number of chromosomes (23 in humans); and when
a sperm cell and an egg cell combine during fertilization
(see Figure 2.16), a ______ (a fertilized egg cell) with the
full complement of chromosomes is produced.

A

zygote

47
Q

As a result of this ______ _______, each of the gametes that formed the zygote that
developed into you contained chromosomes that were
unique, spliced-together recombinations of chromosomes from your mother and father.

A

genetic recombination

48
Q

In contrast to the meiotic creation of the gametes, all

other cell division in the body occurs by _____

A

mitosis (pronounced my-TOE-sis ).

49
Q

Each chromosome is a double-stranded molecule of

________

A

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

50
Q

Each strand is a sequence
of _____ _____ attached to a chain of phosphate and
deoxyribose; there are four nucleotide bases: adenine,
thymine, guanine, and cytosine.

A

nucleotide bases

51
Q

______ is a critical process of the DNA molecule.

Without it, mitotic cell division would not be possible.

A

Replication

52
Q

But more commonly, errors in duplication take the form of ______ accidental alterations
in individual genes.

A

mutations

53
Q

______ are long chains
of ______; they control the physiological activities of
cells and are important components of cellular structure.
All the cells in the body (e.g., brain cells, hair cells, and bone
cells) contain exactly the same genes.

A

Proteins, amino acids

54
Q

_______ are stretches of
DNA whose function is to determine whether particular
structural genes initiate the synthesis of proteins and at
what rate. The control of _____ ______ by enhancers is
an important process, because it determines how a cell will
develop and how it will function once it reaches maturity.

A

Enhancers, gene expression

55
Q

Proteins that bind to DNA and influence

the extent to which genes are expressed are called

A

transcription factors.

56
Q

First, the small section of the chromosome that contains the gene unravels, and the unraveled section of one of the DNA strands serves as a template for
the transcription of a short strand of ______ ______

A

ribonucleic acid

RNA

57
Q

The strand of transcribed RNA is called
_____ ____ because it carries the genetic code out of
the nucleus of the cell. Once it has left the nucleus, the messenger RNA attaches itself to one of the many ______ in
the cell s cytoplasm (the clear fluid within the cell).

A

messenger RNA , ribosomes

58
Q

Each group of three consecutive nucleotide bases along

the messenger RNA strand is called a ____.

A

codon

59
Q

Each kind of
amino acid is carried to the ribosome by molecules of
_____ ____;

A

Transfer RNA

60
Q

______ are the energy-generating
structures located in the cytoplasm of
every cell, including neurons (see Chapter
3). Human _______ genes are inherited solely from one s mother.

A

Mitochondria, mitochondrial

61
Q

Arguably, the most ambitious scientific project of all time
began in 1990. Known as the _____ _____ _____, it was
a loosely knit collaboration of major research institutions
and individual research teams in several countries.

A

human genome project

62
Q

_______ focuses on mechanisms that influence the expression of genes without changing the
genes themselves

A

Epigenetics

63
Q

Active Nongene DNA

A

It had long been assumed that
the primary, if not only, function of DNA was the synthesis of proteins. Consequently, those portions of DNA that
did not directly participate in the synthesis of proteins
were thought to be nonfunctioning evolutionary remnants and were often referred to as pseudogenes or junk
DNA. Today, many areas of active nongene DNA are being
discovered. Many of these areas control structural gene
expression, thus their ability to influence human development and behavior is immense (Gerstein & Zheng, 2006)

64
Q

MicroRNAs

A

MicroNRAs are short single strands of
RNA. Until recently, their function was a mystery, and they were largely ignored by researchers. However, it has been established that there are hundreds of types of microRNAs
and that they have major effects on gene expression through
their actions on enhancers and messenger RNA. In so
doing, they influence brain development (Coolen & BallyCuif, 2009; Kosik, 2009) and synapse function (Schratt,
2009), and their disruption has been associated with neurodegenerative disorders (Eaker, Dawson, & Dawson, 2009;
Hébert & De Strooper, 2009).

65
Q

Alternative Splicing

A

It had been a law in genetics that
one gene encodes one protein. However, the discovery of
alternative splicing necessitated revision of this law.
Alternative splicing occurs when some strands of messenger RNA are broken apart and the pieces are spliced to
new segments. This allows a single gene to encode more
than one protein (Li, Lee, & Black, 2007). Alternative
splicing is particularly prevalent in neural tissue.

66
Q

Monoallelic Expression

A

As you have learned, body
cells normally have two copies (alleles) of each gene (except
for genes on the Y chromosome), and which of the two is
expressed depends on their dominance and recessiveness.
Recently, it has become apparent that there are many exceptions to this generalization, particularly in the nervous
system. In some cases, one of the two alleles is inactivated
by as yet unidentified epigenetic mechanisms, and the
other is expressed a phenomenon called monoallelic
expression (Gimelbrant et al., 2007; Ohlsson, 2007;
Wilkinson, Davies, & Isles, 2007).

67
Q

The reason is that many genes influence the development of a normal
behavioral trait, but it sometimes takes
only one abnormal gene to screw it up. A good example of
this point is the neurological disorder ______

A

phenylketonuria
(PKU). He correctly assumed that the odor was related to their disorder, and he
had their urine analyzed. High levels of phenylpyruvic
acid were found in both samples.

68
Q

The period, usually early in life, during which a particular experience must
occur to have a major effect on the development of a trait
is the ______ period for that trait.

A

sensitive

69
Q

Studies of the ontogenetic development of birdsong
suggest that this behavior develops in two phases. The first
phase, called the _____ phase, begins several days after
hatching.

A

sensory

70
Q

The second phase of birdsong development, the
________ phase, begins when the juvenile males begin
to twitter subsongs (the immature songs of young birds),
usually when they are several months old.

A

sensorimotor

71
Q

To assess the relative contributions of genes and experience to the development of differences in psychological
attributes, behavioral geneticists study individuals of
known genetic similarity. For example, they often compare ______ twins (identical twins), who developed from the same zygote and thus are genetically
identical, with ______ twins (fraternal twins), who developed from two zygotes and thus are no more similar
than any pair of siblings.

A

monozygotic, dizygotic

72
Q

A _______ estimate is not about individual
development; it is a numerical estimate of the proportion of
variability that occurred in a particular trait in a particular
study as a result of the genetic variation in that study

A

heritability

73
Q

For example, individuals whose genetic
endowments promote aggression are likely to become involved in aggressive activities (e.g., football or competitive
fighting), and these experiences are likely to further promote the development of aggressive tendencies. When a
particular gene encourages a developing individual to select experiences that increase the behavioral effects of the
gene, the gene is said to have a

A

multiplier effect.