UNIT 1 Flashcards
Psychology
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Science
The use of systematic methods to observe the natural world, including human behavior, and to draw conclusions.
Mental Processes
The thoughts, feelings, and motives that people experience privately but cannot be observed directly.
Behavior
Everything we do that can be directly observed.
Critical Thinking
The process of thinking deeply and actively, asking questions, and evaluating the evidence.
Empirical Method
Gaining knowledge through the observation of events, the collection of data, and logical reasoning.
Wilhelm Wundt
Funded the first psychology laboratory in 1879 at the University of Leipzig in Germany
Ideas that mental processes could be measured.
Concentrated on discovering the basic elements of mental processes.
William James
First American psychologist
Structuralism
Wundt’s approach to discovering basic elements, or structures, of mental processes.
Functionalism
Emphasizing the functions and purposes of the mind and behavior in the individual’s adaptation to the environment.
Natural Selection
Darwin’s principle of an evolutionary process in which organisms that are best adapted to their environment will survive and produce offspring.
Biological Approach
Focusing on the body, especially the brain and nervous system.
Neuroscience
The scientific study of the structure, function, development, genetics, and biochemistry of the nervous system.
Behavioral Approach
An approach to psychology emphasizing the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants.
Skinner emphasized that psychology should be about what people do. And should not concern itself with things that cannot be seen.
Psychodynamic Approach
Unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives, societal demands, and early childhood family experiences.
Humanistic Approach
Emphasizing a person’s positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth, and the freedom to choose.
Cognitive Approach
Emphasizing the mental processes involved.
Evolutionary Approach
Centered on evolutionary ideas such as adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection as the basis for explaining specific human behaviors.
Sociocultural Approach
An approach to psychology that examines the ways in which social and cultural environments influence behavior.
Biopsychosocial Approach
A perspective on human behavior that asserts that biological, psychological, and social factors are all significant ingredients in producing behavior.
Variable
Anything that can change
Theory
A broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempts to explain observations and to make predictions about future observations.
Hypothesis
A testable prediction that derives logically from a theory.
Operational Definition
A definition that provides an objective description of how a variable is going to be measured and observed in a particular study.
Replication
The process in which a scientist attempts to reproduce a study to see if the same results emerge.
Descriptive Research
involves finding out about the basic dimensions of some variable.
Case Study
An in-depth look at a single individual
Correlational Research
Examines the relationships between variables, whose purpose is to examine whether and how two variables change together.
Third Variable Problem
The circumstance where a variable that has not been measured accounts for the relationship between two other variables.
Longitudinal Design
A special kind of systematic observation, used by correlational researchers, that involves obtaining measures of the variables of interest in multiple waves over time.
Experiment
A carefully regulated procedure in which the researcher manipulates one or more variables that are believed to influence some other variable.
Random Assignment
Researchers assign participants to grounds by chance, to reduce the likelihood that an experiment’s results will be due to preexisting differences between the groups.
Independent Variable
The manipulated variable.
Confederate
A person who is given a role to play in a study so that the social context can be manipulated.
Dependent Variable
The outcome; the factor that can change in an experiment in response to changes in the independent variable.
Experimental Group
The participants in an experiment who receive the drug or other treatment under study, that is, those who are exposed to the change that the independent variable presents.
Control Group
The basis for the experimental group.
Within-Participant Design
Rather than relying on random assignment to produce equivalent groups, a researcher has the same group of participants experience the various conditions in the study.
Between-Participant Design
When the participants who are in the experimental and control group are different people.
Quasi-Experiemental Design
Does not include random assignment of participants to a condition, because such assignment is either impossible or unethical.
Validity
The soundness of the conclusions that a researcher draws from an experiment.
External Validity
The degree to which an experimental design actually reflects the real world issues it is supposed to address.
Internal Validity
The degree to which changes in the dependent variable are due to the manipulation of the independent variable.
Demand Characteristics
Any aspects of a study that communicate to the participants how the experimenter wants them to behave.
Experimenter Bias
The influence of the experimenter’s expectations on the outcome of research.
Researcher Participant Bias
In an experiment, the influence of participant’s expectations, and of their thoughts on how they should behave, on their behavior.
Placebo Effect
The situation where participants’ expectations, rather than the experimental treatment, produce an experimental outcome.
Placebo
In a drug study, a harmless substance that has no physiological effect, given to participants in a control group so that they are treated identically to the experimental group except for the active agent.
Double Blind Experiment
An experimental design in which neither the experimental or the participants are aware of who is in the experimental or control group.
Population
The entire group about which the researcher wants to draw conclusions.
Sample
The subset of the population chosen by the investigator for study.
Random Sample
A sample that gives every member of the population an equal chance of being selected.
Naturalistic Observation
The observation of behavior in a real world setting.
Informed Consent
All participants must know what their participation will involve and what risks might develop.
Confidentiality
Researchers are responsible for keeping all data completely confidential.
Debriefing
After the study has been completed, researchers should inform the participants of its purpose and the methods they used.
Deception
Psychologists ensure that deception will not harm the participants and that they will be informed after the study.
Adaptability, adaptation, adapt
Psychologists use these terms when referring to the ability to function in a changing world.
Plasticity
The brain’s special capacity for change.
Afferent Nerves
Also called sensory nerves. Nerves that carry information about the external environment to the brain and spinal cord via sensory receptors.
Efferent Nerves
Also called motor nerves; nerves that carry information out of the brain and spinal cord to other areas of the body.
Neural Networks
Networks of nerve cells that integrate sensory input and motor output.
Central Nervous System
The brain and spinal cord.
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
The network of nerves that connects the brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body.
Somatic Nervous System
The body system consisting of the sensory nerves. Whose function is to convey information from the skin and muscles to the central nervous system about conditions such as pain and temperature, and the motor nerves, whose function is to tell muscles what to do.
Sensory Nerves
Function is to convey information from the skin and muscles to the CNS about conditions such as pain and temperature.
Motor Nerves
Function is to tell muscles what to do.
Autonomic Nervous System
The body system that takes messages to and from the body’s internal organs, monitoring such processes as breathing, heart rate, and digestion.
Sympathetic Nervous System
The part of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body to mobilize it for action and thus is involved in the experience of stress.
Parasympathetic Nervous System
The part of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body.
Stress
The responses of individuals to environmental stressors.
Stressors
Circumstances and events that threaten individuals and tax their coping abilities and that cause physiological changes to ready the body to handle the assault of stress.
Corticosteroids
Stress hormones, allow us to focus our attention on what needs to be done now.
Acute Stress
Momentary stress that occurs in response to life experiences.
Chronic Stress
Stress that goes on continuously, may lead to persistent autonomic nervous system arousal.
Neurons
One of two types of cells in the nervous system. The nerve cells that handle the information processing function.
Mirror Neurons
seem to play a role in imitation and are activated when we perform an action but also when we watch someone else perform that same task.
Glial Cells
One of two types of cells in the nervous system. Provide support, nutritional benefits, and other functions and keep neurons running smoothly.
Cell Body
The part of the neuron that contains the nucleus, which directs the manufacturer of substances that the neuron needs for growth and maintenance.
Dendrites
Treelike fibers projecting from a neuron, which receive information and orient it toward the neuron’s cell body.
Axon
The part of the neuron that carries information away from the cell body toward other cells.
Myelin Sheath
A layer of fat cells that encases and insulates most axons.
Semipermeable Membrane
Fluids can flow in and out.
Ions
Electrically charged particles
Ion Channels
Open and close to let the ions pass into and out of the cell.
Resting
Not transmitting information.
Resting Potential
The stable, negative charge of an inactive neuron.
Depolarizing The Membrane
Decreasing the charge difference between the fluids inside and outside the neuron.
Action Potential
The brief wave of positive electrical charge that sweeps down the axon.
All or Nothing Principle
The principle that once the electrical impulse reaches a certain level of intensity, it fires and moves all the way down the axon without losing any intensity.
Threshold
Once the electrical impulse reaches a certain level of intensity.
Synapses
Tiny spaces between neurons; the gaps between neurons are referred to as synaptic gaps.
Neurotransmitters
Chemical substances that are stored in very tiny sacs within the neuron’s terminal buttons and involved in transmitting information across a synaptic gap to the next neuron.
Reuptake
Reabsorption of the neurotransmitter by the axon and released to await the next neural impulse.
Acetylcholine
usually stimulates the firing of neurons and is involved in the action of muscles, learning, and memory.
GABA
Keeps neurons from firing.
Glutamate
Exciting many neurons to fire and is especially involved in learning and memory.
Norepinephrine
Inhibits the firing of neurons in the central nervous system, but it excites the heart muscle, intestines, and urogenital tract, & stimulates stress.
Dopamine
Helps control voluntary movement and affects sleep, mood, attention, learning, and the ability to recognize rewards and other important signals in the environment.
Serotonin
Involved in the regulation of sleep, mood, attention, and learning.
Endorphins
Natural opiates that mainly stimulate the during neurons. Shelf the body from pain and elevate feelings of pleasure.
Oxytocin
A hormone and neurotransmitter that plays an important role in the experience of love and social bonding.
Agonist
A drug that mimics or increases a neurotransmitter’s effects.
Antagonist
A drug that blocks a neurotransmitter’s effects.
Brain Lesioning
An abnormal disruption in the tissue of the brain resulting from injury and disease.
Electroencephalograph (EEG)
records the brain’s electrical activity.
Prefrontal Asymmetry
Individuals who have relatively more left than right prefrontal activity.
Single Unit Recording
Provides information about a single neuron’s electrical activity.
Computer Axial Tomography (CAT/CT)
Produces a three dimensional image obtained from X-Rays of the head that are assembled into a composite image, providing information about the location and extent of damage.
Positron-Emission Tomography (PET)
Based on metabolic changes in the brain related to activity, measure the amount of glucose in various areas of the brain.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Creating a magnetic field around a person’s body and using radio waves to construct images of the person’s tissues and biomechanical activities.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI)
Allows scientists to see what is happening in the brain while it is working, exploits changes in blood oxygen that occur in association with brain activity.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Combined with brain imaging techniques to establish causal links between brain activity and behavior.
Hindbrain
Located at the skull’s rear. The lowest portion of the brain, consisting of the medulla, cerebellum, and pons.
Medulla
Begins where the spinal cord enters the skull, controls vital functions (Breathing and heart rate), regulates our reflexes.
Cerebellum
Extends just above the medulla. Consists of two rounded structors thought to play important roles in motor coordination.
Pons
Bridge in the hindbrain that connects the cerebellum and the brainstem. Contains several clusters of fibers involved in sleep and arousal.
Brain Stem
The stemlike brain area that includes much of the hindbrain and the midbrain. Connects with the spinal cord at its lower end and then extends upward to encase the reticular formation in the midbrain.
Midbrain
Located between the hindbrain and the forebrain. An area in which many nerve-fiber systems ascend and descend to connect the higher and lower portions of the brain. In particular, the midbrain relays information between the brain and the eyes and ears.
Reticular Formation
A system in the midbrain comprising a diffuse collection of neurons involved in stereotype patterns of behavior such as walking, sleeping, and turning to attend to a sudden noise.
Forebrain
The brain’s largest division and its most forward part.
The Limbic System
A set of subcortical brain structures central to emotion, memory, and reward processing.
Amygdala
An almond shaped structure within the base of the temporal lobe that is involved in the discrimination of objects that are necessary for the organism’s survival, such as appropriate food, mates, and social rivals.
Hippocampus
The structure in the limbic system that has a special role in the storage of memories.
Thalamus
The forebrain structure that sits at the top of the brain stem in the brain’s central core and serves as an important relay station.
Basal Ganglia
Large neuron clusters located above the thalamus and under the cerebral cortex that work with the cerebellum and the cerebral cortex to control and coordinate voluntary movements.
Hypothalamus
A small forebrain structure, located just below the thalamus, that monitors three pleasurable activities. Eating, drinking, and sexual behavior. As well as emotion, stress, and reward.
Cerebral Cortex
Part of the forebrain, the outer layer of the brain, responsible for the most complex mental functions, such as thinking and planning.
Neocortex
The outermost part of the cerebral cortex making up 80 percent of the human brain’s cortex
Hemispheres
halves of the brain
Lobes
Each hemisphere is divided into four regions.
Occipital Lobes
Structures located at the back of the head that respond to visual stimuli.
Temporal Lobes
Structures in the cerebral cortex that are located just above the ears and are involved in hearing, language processing, and memory.
Frontal Lobes
The portion of the cerebral cortex behind the forehead, involved in the personality, intelligence, and the control of voluntary muscles.
Prefrontal Cortex
An important part of the frontal lobes that is involved in higher cognitive functions, such as planning, reasoning, and self control.
Motor Cortex
A region in the cerebral cortex, located just behind the frontal lobes, that processes information about voluntary movement.
Parietal Lobes
Structures at the top and toward the rear of the head that are involved in registering spatial location, attention, and motor control.
Somatosensory Cortex
A region in the cerebral cortex that processes information about body sensations, located at the front of the parietal lobes.
Association Cortex
The region of the cerebral cortex that is the site of the highest intellectual functions, such as thinking and problem solving.
Executive Functions
planning and problem solving
Broca’s Area
Left hemisphere, plays a role in the production of speech.
Aphasia
a language disorder associated with brain damage.
Wernicke’s Area
Left hemisphere, if damaged, causes problems in language comprehension.
Corpus Callosum
The large bundle of axons that connects the brain’s two hemispheres, responsible for relaying information between the two sides.
Lateralization
People with intact brains, specialization of function.
Left Hemisphere
Speech and grammar
Left Brained
Logical and rational
Right Brained
Meaning creative or artistic.
Right Hemisphere
Processing nonverbal information such as spatial perception, visual recognition, and emotion.
Endocrine System
The body system consists of a set of glands that regulate the activities of certain organs by releasing their chemical products into the blood-stream.
Glands
Organs or tissues in the body that creates chemicals that control many bodily functions.
Hormones
Chemical messengers that are produced by the endocrine glands and carried by the bloodstream to all the parts of the body.
Pituitary Gland
A pea sized gland just beneath
Master Gland
The anterior part of the pituitary.
Adrenal Gland
Glands at the top of each kidney that are responsible for regulating moods, energy level, and the ability to cope with stress.
Pancreas
A dual-purpose gland under the stomach that performs both digestive and endocrine functions.
Ovaries
Sex-related endocrine glands that produce hormones involved in sexual development and reproduction.
Testes
Sex-related endocrine glands in the scrotum that produce hormones involved in sexual development and reproduction.
Collateral sprouting
In which the axons of some healthy neurons adjacent to damaged cells grow new branches.
Substitution of Function
Damaged regions function is taken over by another area or areas of the brain.
Neurogenesis
The process by which new neurons are generated.
Brain Grafts
Implants of healthy tissue from the fetal stage.
Stem Cells
Unique primitive cells that have the capacity to develop into most types of human cells.
Chromosomes
In the human cell, threadlike structures that come in 23 pairs, one member of each pair originating from each parent, and that contain DNA.
Blastocyst Stage
Occurs 5 days after conception. At this stage the embryo has not attached to the uterus.
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
A complex molecule in the cell’s chromosomes that carries genetic information.
Gene
The units of hereditary information, consisting of short segments of chromosomes composed of DNA.
Genome
Refers to an organism’s complete genetic material.
Dominant Recessive Genes Principle:
The principle that if one gene of a pair is dominant and one is recessive, the dominant gene overrides the recessive gene. A recessive gene exerts its influence only if both genes of a pair are recessive.
Polygenic Inheritance
Describes influenced by many different genes.
Gene-Gene Interaction
used to describe the ways two or more genes combine to influence characteristics, behavior, diseases, and development.
Selective Breeding
A genetic method in which organisms are chosen for reproduction based on how much of a particular trait they displayed.
Molecular Genetics
Involves the manipulation of genes using technology to determine their effect on behavior.
Genome-Wide Association Method
Means that researchers take all of the information they can from peoples genes and probe for genetic variations linked to a particular disease.
Linkage Analysis
Genes that are close to one another in our DNA are more likely to be inherited together.
Behavior Genetics
The study of the degree and nature of heredity’s influence on behavior.
Genotype
An individual’s genetic heritage; their actual genetic material.
Phenotype
An individual’s observable characteristics.
Genetic Expression
Whether a gene is turned on or not.
Gene X Environment (G x E)
The interaction of a specific measured variation in DNA and a specific measured aspect of the environment.
Sensation
The process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energy.
Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense.
Bottom-Up Processing
The operation in sensation and perception in which sensory receptors register information about the external environment and send it up to the brain for interpretation.
Top-Down Processing
The operation in sensation and perception, launched by cognitive processing at the brain’s higher levels, that allows the organism to sense what is happening and to apply that framework to information from the world.
Sensory Receptors
Specialized cells that detect stimulus information and transmit it to sensory nerves and the brain.
Photoreception
Detection of light, perceived as sight.
Mechanoreception
Detection of pressure, vibration, and movement, perceived as touch, hearing, and equilibrium.
Chemoreception
Detection of chemical stimuli, perceived as smell and taste.
Synaesthesia
an experience in which one sense induces an experience in another sense. (ex. Seeing sight or tasting color)
Extrasensory Perception
A person can detect information from the world without receiving concrete sensory input.
Telepathy
Read another person’s mind.
Precognition
Sense a future event.
Absolute Threshold
The minimum amount of stimulus energy that a person can detect.
Difference Threshold
The degree of difference that must exist between two stimuli before the difference is detected.
Noise
Irrelevant and competing stimuli. Not only sounds but also any distracting stimuli for the senses.
Weber’s Law
The principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage, to be perceived as different.
Subliminal Perception
The detection of information below the level of conscious awareness.
Signal Detection Theory
An approach to perception that focuses on decision making about stimuli in the presence of uncertainty.
Selective Attention
The act of focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others.
Cocktail Party Effect
the ability to focus on one voice out of many.
Novel Stimuli
Those that are new, different, or unusual.
Inattentional Blindness
Failure to detect unexpected events when attention is engaged by a task.
Focal Objects
Objects in the foreground
Change Blindness
The tendency to miss changes that have occurred in a scene.
Perpetual Set
A predisposition or readiness to perceive something in a particular way.
Sensory Adaptation
A change in the responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimulation.
Light
form of electromagnetic energy that can be described in terms of wavelengths.
Wavelength
the distance from the peak of one wave to the peak of the next.
Amplitude
Determines the brightness of the stimulus.
Purity
Whether they are all the same or a mix of waves.
Saturation
The richness of a visual stimulus.
Sclera
White, outer part of the eye that helps to maintain the shape of the eye and protect from injury.
Iris
The colored part of the eye.
Pupil
The opening in the center of the iris.
Cornea
A clear membrane at the front of the eye.
Lens
transparent and flexible, disk-like structure with a gelatin-like material. Bends the light falling on the surface of the eye to focus it at the back.
Retina
The multilayered light sensitive surface in the eye that records electromagnetic energy and converts it to the neural impulses for processing in the brain.
Rods
The receptor cells in the retina that are sensitive to light but not very useful for color vision.
Cones
The receptor cells in the retina that allow for color perception.
Optic Nerve
The structure at the back of the eye, made up of axons of the ganglion cells, that carries visual information to the brain for further processing.
Fovea
A tiny area in the center of the retina at which vision is at its best. Contains only cones.
Blind Spot
The area on the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye on its way to the brain.
Optic Chiasm
Optic nerve fibers divide, and approximately half of the nerve fibers cross over the midline of the brain.
Visual Cortex
Located in the occipital lobe, the part of the cerebral cortex involved in vision.
Feature Detectors
Neurons in the brain’s visual system that respond to particular features of a stimulus.
Parallel Processing
The simultaneous distribution of information across different neural pathways.
Binding
In the sense of vision, the bringing together and integration of what is processed by different neural pathways or cells.
Trichromatic Theory
Theory stating that color perception is produced by three types of cone receptors in the retina that are particularly sensitive to different, but overlapping, ranges of wavelengths.
Color Blindness
Dysfunctional color vision.
Afterimages
Sensations that remain after a stimulus is removed.
Opponent-Process Theory
Theory stating that cells in the visual system respond to complementary pairs of red-green and blue-yellow colors; a given cell might be excited by red and inhibited by green, whereas another cell might be excited by yellow and inhibited by blue.
Contour
A location at which a sudden change of brightness occurs.
Figure-Ground Relationship
The principle by which we organize the perceptual field into stimuli that stand out and those that are left over.
Gestalt Psychology
A school of thought interested in how people naturally organize their perceptions according to certain patterns.
Depth Perception
The ability to perceive objects 3-dimensionally.
Binocular Cues
Depth cues that depend on the combination of the images in the left and right eyes and on the way the two eyes work together.
Convergence
A binocular cue to depth and distance in which the muscle movements in an individual’s two eyes provide information about how deep or how far away something is.
Monocular Cues
Powerful depth cues available from the image in one eye, either the right or left.
Familiar Size and Relative Size
Based on what we have learned from experience about the standard sizes of objects.
Heights in the field of view
All other things being equal, objects positioned higher in a picture are seen as farther away.
Linear Perspective
Objects that are farther away take up less space on the retina, so objects that are smaller are perceived to be farther away.
Overlap
We perceive an object that partially conceals or overlaps another object as closer.
Shading
Changes in perception due to the position of light and the position of the viewer.
Texture Gradient
Texture becomes denser and finer the farther away it is from the viewer.
Apparent Motion
The perception that a stationary object is moving.
Perceptual Constancy
The recognition that objects are constant and unchanging even though sensory input about them is changing.
Size Constancy
The recognition that an object retains the same size even though its orientation to you changes.
Shape Constancy
The recognition that an object retains the same shape even though its orientation to you changes
Color Constancy
The recognition that an object retains the same color even though different amounts of light fall on it.
Optical Illusions
Tricking the eye by using cues that work very well in real-life vision to create perceptions that do not reflect reality.
Auditory
Hearing
Wave Frequency
The number of full wavelength cycles that pass through a point in a given time interval.
Pitch
The perceptual experience of the frequency of a sound.
Amplitude
The amount of pressure a sound wave produces relative to a standard.
Loudness
The perception of a soundwaves amplitude.
Timbre
The Tone saturation of a sound
Outer Ear
The outermost part of the ear, consisting of the pinna and the external auditory canal.
Pinna
Collects sounds and channels them into the interior of the ear.
Middle Ear
The part of the ear that channels and amplifies sound through the ear drum, hammer, anvil, and stirrup to the inner ear.
Eardrum
Separates the outer ear from the middle ear and vibrates in response to sound.
Hammer, Anvil, and Stirrup
An intricately connected chain of small bones, when they vibrate they transmit soundwaves to the fluid filled inner ear.
Inner Ear
The part of the ear that includes the oval window, cochlea, and basilar membrane and whose function is to convert sound waves into neural impulses and send them to the brain.
Oval Window
Opening of the inner ear. Transmits sound waves to the cochlea.
Cochlea
Tubular, fluid filled structure that is coiled up like a snail.
Basilar Membrane
Lines the inner wall of the cochlea and runs its entire length. The variation in width and flexibility allows it to vibrate more intensely when exposed to different sound frequencies.
Hair Cells
Sensory receptors of the ear.
Cilia
Fine bristles that sprout from the top of hair cells.
Tectorial Membrane
Jelly Like flap above hair cells, generates resulting impulses that the brain interprets as sound.
Cochlear Implant
A small electronic device surgically implanted in the ear and head, allows deaf or hard of hearing individuals to detect sound.
Place Theory
Theory on how the inner ear registers the frequency of sound, stating that each frequency produces vibrations at a particular spot on the basilar membrane.
Frequency Theory
Theory on how the inner ear registers the frequency of sound, stating that the perception of a sound’s frequency depends on how often the auditory nerve fires.
Volley Principle
Principle addressing limitations of the frequency theory of hearing, stating that a cluster of nerve cells can fire neural impulses in rapid succession,
Auditory Nerve
The nerve structure that receives information about sound from the hair cells of the inner ear and carries these neural impulses to the brain’s auditory areas.
Sound Shadow
Provides a barrier that reduces the sound’s intensity.
Thermoreceptors
Sensory nerve endings under the skin that respond to changes in temperature at or near the skin and provide input to keep the body’s temperature at 98.6 degrees fahrenheit.
Prostaglandins
Fatty acids that stimulate the receptors and cause the experience of pain.
Fast Pathway
Fibers connect directly with the thalamus and then to the motor and sensory areas of the cerebral cortex.
Slow Pathway
Pain information travels through the limbic system, a detour that delays the arrival of information at the cerebral cortex by seconds.
Endorphins
Neurotransmitters that function as natural opiates in producing pain and pleasure.
Papillae
Rounded bumps above the tongue’s surface that contain the taste buds.
Taste Buds
Receptors for taste.
Olfactory Epithelium
The lining of the roof of the nasal cavity, containing a sheet of receptor cells for smell.
Kinesthetic Senses
Senses that provide information about movement, posture, and orientation.
Vestibular Sense
Senses that provide information about balance and movement.
Proprioceptive Feedback
Information about the position of our limbs and body parts in relation to other body parts.
Proprioceptive Drift
The perception that something other than our actual body belongs to us and is part of our body (amputee parts)
Semicircular Canals
Three fluid filled circular tubes in the inner ear containing the sensory receptors that detect head motion caused when an individual tilts or moves the head around the body.
