Pg. 51-57 reading quiz Flashcards
What is the most central principle in today psychology?
Everything psychological is simultaneously biological
Which part of your body is the symbol of love? Which part actually falls in love?
The heart is the symbol of love, your brain falls in love
What is phrenology and who invented it?
Franz Gall invented it, it is a theory from the 1800s that claimed the bumps on our skull could reveal our mental abilities and character traits
Which part of phrenology was actually correct?
the fact that they believed different parts of the brain have different functions
What is biological psychology?
a branch of psychology concerned with links between biology and behavior
What is a neuron?
a nerve cell: the basic building block of the nervous system
What are sensory neurons?
Neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord
What are motor neurons?
Neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands
What are interneurons?
neurons within the brain and spinal cord that communicate internally and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs
What is a dendrite?
The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that recieve messages and conduct impulses toward to cell body
What is an axon?
The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands
What is the relationship between axons and dendrites?
Axons speak. Dendrites listen
What is a myelin sheath?
A layer of fatty tissue encasing the fibers if many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses
What us action potential?
a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down and axon
How do neurons generate electricity? what is special about their surface?
The fluid interior of ions are negatively charged, while fluid exterior has positively charged ions. This is called resting potential, in which the surface of a neuron is selectively permeable, on letting certain thing in and out. The exchange of ions generates electricity
What happens when a neuron fires?
The first bit of the axon opens its gates, letting the positively charged ions in and depolarizing the atom, then the next channel of the axon opens, depolarizing others, like a domino effect
What happens after a neuron fires? what is this period called?
The refractory period. The neuron pumps the positive ions back outside, then it can fire again
What is a threshold?
The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse
What is a synapse? What is the gap called?
The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the recieving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap
What are neurotransmitters? How do they work?
chemical messangers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, they travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the recieving neuron, influencing whether or not that neuron will generate a neural impulse
What is reuptake?
A neurotransmitters reabsorbtion by the sending neuron
What are endorphins?
natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain and control and pleasure
