Chapter 2a Flashcards
The scientific study of the links between biological (genetic, neuronal, hormonal) and psychological processes. Some biological psychologists call themselves behavioral neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, behavior geneticists, physiological psychologists, or biopsychologists.
biological psychology
The brain’s ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.
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Plasticity
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.
Neuron
The part of a neuron that contains the nucleus; the cell’s life support center.
Cell Body
A neuron’s often bushy, branching extensions that receive and integrate messages, conducting impulses toward the cell body.
dendrites
The neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands.
Axon
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.
Myelin Sheath
Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons; they also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory.
Glial Cells (Glia)
A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down the axon.
Action Potential
The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.
Threshold
In neural processing, a brief resting pause that occurs after a neuron has fired; subsequent action potentials cannot occur until the axon returns to its resting state.
Refractory Period
A neuron’s reaction of either firing (with a full-strength response) or not firing.
All-or-none response
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.
Synapse
Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, _____________ travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.
Neurotransmitters
A neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron.
Ruptake
Natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.
Endorphins
A molecule that increases a neurotransmitter’s action.
Agonist
A molecule that inhibits or blocks a neurotransmitter’s action.
Antagonist
The body’s speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.
Nervous System
The brain and spinal cord.
Central Nervous SYstem
The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body.
Peripheral Nervous System
Bundled axons that form the neural cables connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs.
Nerves
Neurons that carry incoming information from the body’s tissues and sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord.
Sensory Afferent Neurons
Neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands.
Motor Efferent Neurons
Neurons within the brain and spinal cord; they communicate internally and process information between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.
Interneurons
The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles. Also called the skeletal nervous system.
Somatic Nervous System
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.
Autonomic Nervous System
The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body; mobilizing its energy.
Sympathetic Nervous System
The division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy.
Parasympahetic Nervous System
A simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response.
Reflex
The body’s “slow” chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.
Endocrine System
Chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues.
Hormones
A pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine) that help arouse the body in times of stress.
Adrenal Glands
The endocrine system’s most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the _________ regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands.
Pituitary Gland
