Module 4

Question 1

A branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior.

Answer 1

Biological psychology

Question 2

A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.

Answer 2

Neuron

Question 3

The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.

Answer 3

Dendrite

Question 4

The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands.

Answer 4

Axon

Question 5

A layer of fatty tissue sentimentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next

Answer 5

Myelin sheath

Question 6

A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge the travels down an axon. The action potential is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon’s membrane.

Answer 6

Action potential

Question 7

The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.

Answer 7

Threshold

Question 8

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.

Answer 8

Synapse

Question 9

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

Answer 9

Neurotransmitter

Question 10

In neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and also triggers muscle contraction

Answer 10

Acetylcholine

Question 11

“Morphine within” -natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.

Answer 11

Endorphins

Question 12

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

Answer 12

Nervous system

Question 13

The brain and spinal cord.

Answer 13

Central nervous system

Question 14

The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body.

Answer 14

Peripheral nervous system

Question 15

Neural “cables” containing many axons. These bundled axons, which are part of the peripheral nervous system, connect the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs.

Answer 15

Nerves

Question 16

Neurons that carry incoming information form the sense receptors to the central nervousness system.

Answer 16

Sensory neurons

Question 17

Neurons that carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands.

Answer 17

Motor neurons

Question 18

Central nervous system neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.

Answer 18

Interneurons

Question 19

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

Answer 19

Somatic nervous system

Question 20

The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). It’s sympathetic division arouses it’s parasympathetic division calms.

Answer 20

Autonomic nervous system

Question 21

The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations.

Answer 21

Sympathetic nervous system

Question 22

The division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving it’s energy

Answer 22

Parasympathetic nervous system

Question 23

A simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response.

Answer 23

Reflex

Question 24

Interconnected neural cells. With experience, networks can learn, as feedback strengthens or inhibits connections that produce certain result. Computer simulations of neural networks show analogous learning.

Answer 24

Neural networks

Question 25

The body’s “slow” chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream

Answer 25

Endocrine system

Question 26

Chemical messengers, mostly those manufactured by the endocrine glands, that are produced in one tissue and affect another.

Answer 26

Hormones

Question 27

A pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys. The adrenals secrete hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine which help to arouse the body in times of stress.

Answer 27

Adrenal glands

Question 28

The endocrine system’s most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands

Answer 28

Pituitary gland