Chapter 2: The Biology of Mind

Question 1

Biological Perspective

Answer 1

Concerned with the links between biology and behavior. Includes psychologists working in neuroscience, behavioral genetics, and evolutionary psychology. these researchers may call themselves behavioral neuroscience, neuropsychologist, behavior genetics, physiological psychologists, or biopsychologists.

Question 2

Neuron

Answer 2

A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous systems

Question 3

Dendrites

Answer 3

A neuron’s bushy, branching extensions receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body

Question 4

Axon

Answer 4

The neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands

Question 5

Myelin (MY-uh-lin)

Answer 5

A fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons of some neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed as neural impulses hop from one node to the next

Question 6

Glial Cells (glia)

Answer 6

Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons; may also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory

Question 7

Action Potential

Answer 7

A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an exon

Question 8

Refractory Period

Answer 8

A period of inactivity after neuron has fired

Question 9

Threshold

Answer 9

The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

Question 10

All-or-one Response

Answer 10

A neuron’s reaction of either firing or not firing

Question 11

Synapse

Answer 11

The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap or synaptic cleft.

Question 12

Neurotransmitters

Answer 12

Chemical messengers cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, therapy influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse

Question 13

Reuptake

Answer 13

A neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron

Question 14

Endorphins

Answer 14

“the morphine within” natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure

Question 15

Agonists

Answer 15

A molecule that increases a neurotransmitter’s action

Question 16

Antagonist

Answer 16

A molecule that inhibits or blocks a neurotransmitter’s action

Question 17

Nervous System

Answer 17

The body’s speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems

Question 18

Central Nervous System (CNS)

Answer 18

The brain and spinal cord

Question 19

Peripheral Nervous Systems (PNS)

Answer 19

The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system (CNS) to the rest of the body

Question 20

Nerves

Answer 20

Bundles axons that form neural cables connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs

Question 21

Sensory (Afferent) Neurons

Answer 21

Neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord

Question 22

Motor (Afferent) Neurons

Answer 22

Neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands

Question 23

Interneurons

Answer 23

Neurons withing the brain and spinal cord; communicate internally and process information between the sensory inputs and motor inputs

Question 24

Somatic Nervous Systems

Answer 24

The division of the peripheral nervous system controls the body’s skeletal muscles. Also called the skeletal nervous system.

Question 25

Atomic Nervous System (ANS)

Answer 25

The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms.