CHAPTER 2 Vocab (N-Z) Flashcards
The branch of the autonomic nervous system that generally conserves bodily resources
Parasympathetic division
What each sex invests - in terms of time, energy, survival risk, and forgone opportunities - to produce and nurture offspring
Parental investment
Left-right imbalances between the cerebral hemispheres in the speed of visual or auditory processing
Perceptual asymmetries
All those nerves that lie outside the brain and spinal cord
Peripheral nervous system
The ways in which a person’s genotype is manifested in observable characteristics
Phenotype
The “master gland” of the endocrine system; it releases a great variety of hormones that fan out through the body, stimulating actions in the other endocrine glands
Pituitary gland
A mating system in which each female seeks to mate with multiple males, while each male mates with only one female
Polyandry
Characteristics that are influenced by more than one pair of genes
Polygenic traits
A mating system in which each males seeks to mate with multiple females, while each female mates with only one male
Polygeny
The larger collection of animals or people from which a sample is drawn and that researchers want to generalize about
Population
A voltage change at the receptor site on a postsynaptic cell membrane
Postsynaptic potential (PSP)
The sexual structures necessary for reproduction
Primary sex characteristics
The period of early adolescence marked by rapid physicl growth and the development of of sexual (reproductive) maturity
Puberty
A gene whose influence is masked when paired genes are different
Recessive gene
A time following orgasm during which males are largely unresponsive to further stimulation
Refractory period
The stable negative charge of a neuron when it is inactive
Resting potential
A process in which neurotransmitters are sponged up from the synaptic cleft by the presynaptic neuron
Reuptake
Physical features that are associated with gender but are not directly involved in reproduction
Secondary sex characteristics
The cell body of a neuron; contains the nucleus and much of the chemical machinery common to most cells
Soma
The system of nerves that connect to voluntary skeletal muscles and to sensory receptors
Somatic nervous system
A procedure in which the bundle of fibers that connects the cerebral hemispheres (the corupus callosum) is cut to reduce the severity of epileptic seizures
Split-brain surgery
The branch of the autonomic nervous system that mobilizes the body’s resources for emergencies
Sympathetic division
A junction where information is transmitted from one neuron to the next
Synapse
A microscopic gap between the terminal button of a neuron and the cell membrane of another neuron
Synaptic cleft
Small knobs at the end of axons that secrete chemicals
Terminal buttons
A structure in the forebrain through which all sensory information (except small) must pass to get to the cerebral cortex
Thalamus
A research design in which hereditary influence is assessed by comparing the resemblance of identical twin and fraternal twins with respect to a trait
Twin studies
A one-celled organism formed by the union of a sperm and an egg
Zygote
