Key Terms

Question 1

Define the autonomic nervous system

Answer 1

Governs the brains involuntary actions and is self regulating. It is divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches

Question 2

Define the brain

Answer 2

The part of the central nervous system that is responsible for coordination of senses, intellectual and nervous activity

Question 3

Define the Central nervous system

Answer 3

Compromised of the brain and the spinal cord. Receives info from the senses and controls the bodies response

Question 4

Define peripheral nervous system

Answer 4

The he part is the nervous system that is outside the brain and the spinal cord

Question 5

Define the somatic nervous system

Answer 5

The part of the peripheral nervous system responsible for carrying sensory and motor information to and from the central nervous system.

Question 6

Define motor neurons

Answer 6

Form synapses with muscles and control their contractions

Question 7

Define neurotransmitter

Answer 7

Chemical substances that play an important part in the workings of the nervous system by transmitting nerve impulses across a synapse

Question 8

Define relay neurons

Answer 8

These neurons are the most common type of neuron in the cns. They allow sensory and motor neurons to communicate

Question 9

Define sensory neurons

Answer 9

Carry nerve impulses for the sensory receptors to the spinal cord and the brain

Question 10

Define synapse

Answer 10

The conjunction of the end of an axon of one neuron and the dendrite or cell body of another

Question 11

Define synaptic transmission

Answer 11

The process by which a nerve impulse passes across the synaptic cleft from one neuron to another

Question 12

Define endocrine glands

Answer 12

Special group of cells within the endocrine system whose function is to produce and secrete hormones

Question 13

Define endocrine system

Answer 13

A network or glands throughout the. Hey that manufacture and secrete hormones

Question 14

Define hormones

Answer 14

Chemical messengers that travel through the bloodstream, influencing different processes

Question 15

Define the pituitary gland

Answer 15

The gland that’s main function is to influence the release of hormones from other glands

Question 16

Define the flight or flight response

Answer 16

A sequence of activity within the body that is triggered when the body prepares itself for defending or attacking or running away. This involves changes in the nervous system and the secretion of hormones that are necessary to sustain arousal

Question 17

Define the HPA axis

Answer 17

A sequence of bodily activity in response to stress that involves the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal cortex

Question 18

define Broca’s area

Answer 18

An area in the frontal lobe in the left hemisphere of the brain that is responsible for speech production

Question 19

Define localisation of function

Answer 19

The idea that specific areas of the brain are associated with specific cognitive processes

Question 20

Define the motor cortex

Answer 20

A region of the brain responsible for the generation of voluntary motor movements

Question 21

Define the somatosensory cortex

Answer 21

A region is the brain that process input from sensory receptors in the body that are sensitive to touch

Question 22

Define wernicks area

Answer 22

An area in the temporal lobe of the brain important to the understanding of speech

Question 23

Define hemispheric lateralisation

Answer 23

Refers to the fact that some mental processes in the brain are mainly specialised to either the left or the right hemisphere

Question 24

Define split-brain research

Answer 24

Research that studies individuals with who have been subjected to the surgical separation of the two hemispheres if the brain by severing the corpus callosum

Question 25

Define brain plasticity

Answer 25

Refers to the Brains ability to modify its own structure and function as a result of experience

Question 26

Define functional recovery

Answer 26

refers to the recovery of abilities and mental processes that have been compromised as a result of brain injury or disease

Question 27

Define electoencephalogram

Answer 27

A method of recording changes in the electrical activity of the brain using electrodes attached to the scalp

Question 28

Define event related potential

Answer 28

Same equipment as ECG and uses that data to investigate the cognitive processing from a specific event. It achieves this by taking multiple readings and averaging them in order to filter out all the brain activity that is not related to the stimulus

Question 29

Define Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Answer 29

A technique used to measure brain activity by detecting changes in the blood oxygenation and flow that indicate increased neural activity

Question 30

Define post mortem examinations

Answer 30

Examining the brains of people who have shown particular psychological abnormalities prior to their death.

Question 31

Define a circadian rhythm

Answer 31

A rhythms that lasts approximately 24 hours.

Question 32

Define infradian rhythms

Answer 32

Rhythms that last over 24 hours

Question 33

Define ultradian rhythms

Answer 33

Rhythms that last less than 24 hours

Question 34

Define endogenous pacemakers

Answer 34

Internal mechanisms that govern the internal, biological bodily rhythms

Question 35

Define exogenous zeitgebers

Answer 35

Social or environmental cues that help regulate the biological clock in an organism