Psychology 2 Flashcards
What is the central nervous system?
consists of nerves within brain and spinal cord- information superhighway
Peripheral nervous system?
all the nerves that radiate for the CNS to the rest of the body. consists of somatic and autonomic system.
Somatic Nervous System (voluntary)
Branch of the peripheral nervous system.Transmit signals ( sights, sounds, pain) from sensory organs to CNS and from CNS to skeletal muscles. VOLUNTARY MOVEMENTS
Autonomic nervous system (involuntary)
branch of peripheral nervous system connects CNS to smooth involuntary muscles and glands and organs. Regulates heartbeat, blood pressure.body temp
Sympathetic nervous system(arousing)
branch of autonomic system.heightens arousal and energizes body for action. when stressed tells adrenal glands to secrete more adrenaline, increased heart rate, pupils dilate, breathing speeds up.
Parasympathetic system(calming)
after stress restores body to pre energized state. breathing slows, body relaxes, cools down.
What is a neuron?
nerve cells that serve as the building blocks of the nervous system. send and receive info throughout body in electrochemical signals.
What are sensory neurons?
sends signals from senses, skin, muscles, internal organs to CNS
motor neurons?
transmit commands from the CNS to the muscles, glands and organs.
interneurons?
CNS neurons that link sensory inputs and motor outputs
Brain stem
inner core of brain. connects to the spinal cord. contains medulla, pons, reticular formation.
Medulla
brainstem structure that controls involuntary functions. swallowing, breathing, heart rate.
pons
play a tole in sleep and arousal connects higher and lower regions of brain. brainstem
Reticular formation
group of nerve cells in brainstem controls sleep arousal and attention.
Cerebellum (little brain)
little brain. plays a role in balance and coordination and complex voluntary movements.
basal ganglia
gray matter in brain. helps initiate and coordinate deliberate movements. (turning head/ reaching for something)
Limbic System
thalamus, amygdala, hippocampus and hypothalamus. loosely connected structures in brain that help to regulate emotion and memory.
thalamus
limbic structure, relays neural messages between the senses and areas of cerebral cortex.
amygdala(anger)
limbic, controls fear, anger and aggression.
hippocampus
limbic. plays role in memory the largest
hypothalamus
kidney bean size limbic, helps regulate the autonomic nervous system, endocrine, emotions and drives like hunger and sex
Cerebral cortex
the outermost covering of brain responsible for higher order mental processes more wrinkles=more complex.
Frontal lobes
behind forehead
temporal lobes(temples)
at the temples above ear
parietal lobes
in the back at top of skull
occipital lobes
in the back at the base of the skull
Somatosensory cortex
are that receives sensory information from the touch receptors in skin
motor cortex
area that sends impulses to voluntary muscles
association cortex
communicates with the sensory and motor areas and house the brain’s higher mental processes. damage result in changed spatial awareness
Broca’s area (speech)
region of left hemisphere that directs the muscle movements in production of soeech and comprehension
Wernike’s area (comprehension)
Region involved in comprehension of language. found that damage to temporal lobes loss of comprehension of language.
neurotransmitter: Acetylcholine
links motor neurons and muscles. walk, talk, dance ACh released. lacking: alzheimers
neurotransmitter:Dopamine
voluntary movements linked to muscle activity. rewarding behavior like drugs and food. parkinson’s disease- hand tremors
neurotransmitter: endorphines
“runners high” trigger by pain natural opiates relieve pain by injury/labor pains
corpus callosum
a bundle of nerve fibers that connects the right and left hemisphere
Split brain
a surgically produced condition in which corpus callosum is severed. worked for epilepsy treatment. most input to one hemisphere gets trapped
describe how each hemisphere processes sensory info
left hemisphere get sensory info and sends motor commands to right side of body. right hemisphere gets info from the left side of body.
cerebral lateralization
tendency for each hemisphere of the brain to specialize in different functions
left hemisphere
largely controls verbal activities reading, writing, speaking.
right hemisphere
plays a role in non verbal activities. visual spatial, music, recognition of faces
structure of neuron:soma
cell body
structure of neuron: dendrites
extensions from the cell body of a neuron that receive incoming impulses.
axon
extension of cell body of a neuron send impulses to other neurons
myelin sheath
layer of fatty cells tightly wrapped around axon to insulate it and speed up electrical impulses.
neurogenesis
the production of new brain cells. happens beyond infancy. billions of cells between birth and age 6. adult brain spawns new cells in hippocampus.
resting potential
When a neuron is at rest, the inside of the cell has a negative
charge relative to the outside, making it a store of potential
energy.
plasticity
a capacity to change based on experience. can recover from injury
phantom pain
amputees often feel excruciating pain in area of lost limb. brains capacity for reorganization and growth.
action potential
an electrical impulse that surges along an axon, caused by influx of positive ions. certain threshold must be reached for this to happen. signals must exceed a certain intensity.
what are receptors
specialized neural cells that receive neurotransmitters. on dendrites.
synaptic gap. synapse
junction between axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrite of another
neurotransmitters
Ex: dopamine chemical messengers that send messages across synaptic gap. when impulse reaches axon causes release of these. some neurotransmitters will fire an action potential in others and others with stop firing of others.
norepinephrine
increases arousal
GABA
lowers arousal
