The brain vocab Flashcards
Biological Psychology
concerned primarily with the relationship between psychological processes and the underlying physiological events
Nervous system
nervous system is your body’s command center
Spinal cord
an automatic response controlled solely by neural circuits in the spinal cord, often relating to posture or locomotion.
Plasticity
Plasticity is the capacity to be shaped, molded, or altered
ex: The brain’s ability to recover after an injury
peripheral nervous system (PNS)
part of your nervous system that lies outside your brain and spinal cord
Central nervous system (CNS)
The central nervous system is made up of the brain and spinal cord
somatic nervous system
a subdivision of your peripheral nervous system that stretches throughout nearly every part of your body
sensory neurons/ Afferent Nerves
the nerve fibers responsible for bringing sensory information from the outside world into the brain.
Motor Neurons/ Efferent Nerves
the nerves responsible for carrying signals away from the central nervous system in order to initiate an action
autonomic nervous system
The part of the nervous system that controls muscles of internal organs (such as the heart, blood vessels, lungs, stomach, and intestines) and glands (such as salivary glands and sweat glands).
Sympathetic nervous system
a network of nerves that helps your body activate its “fight-or-flight” response.
parasympathetic nervous system
a network of nerves that relaxes your body after periods of stress or danger.
Neurons
the basic cellular unit of the nervous system
Nerves
a bundle of axons outside the central nervous system (CNS), enclosed in a sheath of connective tissue to form a cordlike structure
Glial cells (glia)
nonneuronal tissue in the nervous system that provides structural, nutritional, and other kinds of support to neurons.
cell body
nonneuronal tissue in the nervous system that provides structural, nutritional, and other kinds of support to neurons.
Dendrites
treelike fibers projecting from a neuron, which receives information and orient it toward the neuron’s cell body
Axon
part of the neuron that carries information away from the cell body toward other cells
Myelin sheath
a layer of fat cells that encase and insulates most axons
Resting Potential:
in an inactive neuron, the voltage between the
inside and outside of the axon wall (-70 millivolts)
threshold
Once the electrical impulse reaches a certain level of intensity called its threshold it “Fires”
Action Potential
the brief wave of positive electrical charge that
sweeps down the axon
All-or-Nothing-Principle
The impulse occurs completely or not at all and it moves all the way down the axon without losing any of its intensity
axon terminals
The very end of a branch of a nerve’s axon, a long slender nerve fiber that conducts electrical signals to a nerve synapse
The axonal terminals are specialized to release the neurotransmitters of the presynaptic cell. Synaptic end bulbs.
