Unit 1 Flashcards
Nature
Heredity: DNA, Chromosomes, inherited brain chemistry
Nurture
Environmental factors: family interactions, where you live, education, diet, pregnancy
Genetic Predisposition
Increased likelihood of developing a disease based on genetic makeup
Evolutionary Perspective
The study of the evolution of behavior and the mind using principles of natural selection
Natural Selection
Inherited traits that enable an organism to survive, survival of the fittest
Eugenics
Pseudoscientific view that the genetic makeup of the population can be improved by selective breeding, preventing reproduction by people with various ability
Twin Studies
Identical twins separated at birth can determine impact of nurture, fraternal twins raised together can determine differences due to nature
Family Studies
Research conducted among siblings, parents and children can assess evidence for genetic links
Adoption Studies
Investigates relationships among genetic and environmental factors in the development
- Parent - child pairs
Nervous System Breakdown
Central Branch and Peripheral Branch
Central Nervous System
Brian and spinal cord
- brain: command center
- spinal cord: sends messages to and from the brain (handles fast reflexes)
Peripheral System Breakdown
Somatic and Autonomic Systems
Somatic System
- Carries motor messages from brain to skeletal muscles (motor efferent neurons)
- Messages to brain from sense organs (sensory afferent neurons)
Autonomic System
Controls glands and muscles of internal organs
- Breathing
- Pupil dilation
- heart beat
- digestion
Autonomic System Breakdown
Sympathetic and Parasympathetic systems
Sympathetic system
flight or flight
Parasympathetic system
rest and digest
- returns body to homeostasis
Neurons
Transmits information
- sensory
- motor
- interneurons
(like a queen bee, cannot feed or protect themselves)
Glial Cells
structure, insulation, communication, waste transportation (like worker bees, provide structure)
Ex: Schwann cells
Reflex Arc
Simple automatic response to sensory stimulus BEFORE stimulus reaches the brain
Neural transmission
the transfer of info between 2 neurons
Communication used by neurons
electrochemical signals transmitters at the synapse
- either excite or inhibit neuron from firing action potential
communication used WITHIN neurons
electrical signals, action potentials
- send info from cell body to axon terminals
Resting potential
Neuron at rest, inside of neuron membrane is negatively charged compared to the outside
Threshold
minimum intensity needed to trigger an action potential (neural impulse)
Action potential
neural impulse
- electrical charge that travels down the axon
Depolarization
movement of the cells membrane potential to a more positive value
All or nothing principle
a neuron will either fire with full strength or not at all
refractory period
a brief resting pause that occurs after a neuron has fired; subsequent action potentials cannot occur until the axon returns to it’s resting state
neurotransmitter
chemical messengers of the nervous system
- degraded by enzymes in synaptic space
- reuptake THEN repackaged for reuse
reuptake
the reabsorption or a neurotransmitter by the pre synaptic neuron
multiple sclerosis
disease of CNS
- myelin sheath is destroyed causing slow down or death of neurons
(vision, movement and cognition)
myasthenia gravis
affects neuromuscular system
- receptor on neurons responsible for muscle contraction attacked by immune system
(muscles, speech, AcH)
Excitatory Neurons
increase the chances that the next chain will fire (achieve action potential)
Inhibitory Neurons
decrease the chances that the next neurons in the chain will fire
Hormones
chemical messengers of the endocrine system
- regulate growth, hunger, sleep, immune response, sexual motivation
Adrenaline
fight or flight (adrenal glands)
Leptin
hunger suppressants (stomach)
Ghrelin
hunger stimulant
- Ex: growling stomach
Melatonin
sleep
Oxytocin
3 Ls; labor, lactation, love
Acetylcholine Function (excitatory)
CNS: Attention, learning, memory
PNS: Musclee contractions
- slow acting neurotransmitters
ACh Deficit
Dementia, paralysis
ACh Surplus
Spasm, cramps
Norepinephrine Functions (excitatory)
CNS: alertness, attention
PNS: fight or flight
Norepinephrine Deficit
depressed mood, attention and focus issues
Serotonin Function (excitatory and inhibitory)
CNS: mood, hunger, sleep, arousal
PNS: modulates pain signals
Serotonin Deficit
depression
Dopamine Function (excitatory and inhibitory)
CNS: voluntary movement regulation, emotions, motivations, pleasure, reward
Dopamine deficit
tremors, decreased mobility (Parkinson’s)
Dopamine Surplus
hallucinations (schizophrenia)
GABA Function (Inhibitory)
most abundant inhibitory neurotransmitter
- sleep regulation
GABA Deficit
anxiety, seizures, insomnia, Huntington’s disease
GABA Surplus
sedation, lack of coordination, memory impairment
Endorphines (inxibitatory)
inhibit pain, transmission, indirectly increase pleasure
endorphin deficit
pain
endorphin surplus
euphoria (but if induced chemically, a suppression or end of production)
substance p functions (excitatory)
modulates pain
substance p surplus
chronic pain
glutamate function (excitatory)
most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter
- involved in memory
glutamate surplus
migraines, seizures, anxiety
Psychoactive drugs
chemicals that alter Brian function by interacting with neurotransmitter systems
agonist
enhances the effect of a neurotransmitter
agonist
prevents the effect of a neurotransmitter (occupies post synaptic neuron)
reuptake inhibitor
enhances the effect of neurotransmitters by blocking its reuptake (excess amount of neurotransmitters in synapse)
Stimulants
increased neural activity
Ex: caffeine and cociane
Caffeine
increased concentration, alertness, elevated mood, anxiety, disrupts sleep
Cocaine
increased energy, euphoria, heightened alertness, anxiety paranoia and crash
reuptake inhibitor for norepinephrine (alertness), dopamine (reward system), seratonin (euphoria)
Depressants
decreases neural activity
Ex: alcohol
Alcohol
reduces anxiety and inhibitions
Impacts: Prefrontal cortex (impulse control and social behaviour) and Cerebellum (balance and coordination)
GABA Agonist
Hallucinogens
indirectly stimulates dopamine release
- distortions in perception or cognition
Ex: Marijuana
Marijuana
mild hallucinations, sensitivity to light and sound, euphoria and relaxation, memory loss
seratonin antagonist
Opioids
pain treatment, endorphins agonist, neurons stop producing endorphins when opiates are present
Ex: Heroin
Heroin
Pain relievers
- endorphin agonist
Tolerance
requiring large doses to achieve the same effect
stimulants withdrawal symptoms
fatigue, increased appetite, sleep and mood disturbance
depressants withdrawal symptoms
anxiety, insomnia, seizures
hallucinogens withdrawal symptoms
mood disturbances, disassociation, cognitive impairment
opioids withdrawal symptoms
anxiety, insomnia, nausea, intense cravings
brainstem
arousal, attention and vital life functions (medulla, pons)
reticular activating system
attention and arousal
- sensory filter: controls consciousness, motivation and reward system
cerebellum
coordinated movement (basal ganglia), balance
thalamus
sensory (relay) station, direct sensory read in cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla
hypothalamus
bridge between nervous and endocrine system
4Fs: flight/fight, feeding, Fahrenheit, fornication
BODY REGULATION
pituitary gland
controlled by hypothalamus
- secretes prolactin and oxytocin
- major role in growth and development
Hippocampus
forms memories
- converts short term to long term memories
amygdala
fear and aggressions
- sends info to hypothalamus to trigger fight or flight
corpus callosum
neural fibers that connect the two hemispheres
occipital lobes
vision!!
- contains the visual cortex
temporal lobes
auditory!!
- contains auditory complex (linguistic processing)
- FFA (Fusiform Facial Area)
- Werinicke’s area.: land and comprehension (on left hemisphere)
parietal lobes
primary somatosensory cortex
- processes pain, pressure, temp
- association areas for spatial reasoning and attention
frontal lobes
linguistics, thinking, judgment and impulse
- pre-frontal not developed til early 20s
medulla
breathing, heart rate, involuntary reflex
brocas
left frontal lobe
- speech production
biopsychology
link between biological and psychological processing
plasticity
brain’s ability to create new pathways or strengthen existing ones in response to damage
Phineas gage
damage to frontal lobe led to impulsiveness, irresponsibility and personality change
H.M
no hippocampus to deal with epilepsy
- loss of memory
EEG
non-invasive tool to see brainwave activity, useful to diagnose seizures and sleep disorders
fMRI
brain imaging technique to see blood flow and oxygenation
- shows which part of brain is active
Lesioning
removal of a part of the brain if damaged or necessary
split brain research
study of people who have had corpus callosum or a hemisphere removed
left hemisphere roles
language, logic, motor control of the right
right hemisphere roles
abstract thought, facial recognition, motor control of the left
contralateral hemisphere organization
property of the brain that causes brain hemispheres to represent the other side of the body
circadian rhythm
body works on a 24 hr schedule
NREM 1
hallucination sensations, hypnogogic sensations
hypnogogic sensation
vivid, visual and auditory experiences
NREM 2
sleep spindles
NREM 3
delta waves, deep sleep
sleep spindles
bursts of rapid brain wave activity that helps with memory processing
delta waves
large slow brains waves in NREM 3
REM
recurring sleep stage with vivid dreams
- brainstem blocks motor cortex leaving you essentially paralyzed during sleep
REM rebound
natural response to sleep deprivation where you oversleep or sleep more the next night
Why do we sleep? (Memory consolidation)
Strengthening memories we acquire throughout the day
Why do we sleep? (Restoration)
body repairs on the cellular level
Insomnia
difficulty falling or staying asleep
Narcolepsy
Uncontrollable sleep attacks, instant from wakeful to REMS
Sleep Apnea
Temporary cessations (not breathing) durinng sleep
- repeated wakenings
Somnambulism
sleepwalking (during stage NREM 3)
Dream theories? Activation synthesis
dreams are our brain making sense of random neural firings
Dream theories? Consolidation theory
serve a physiological function like sleep, reflected memory consolidation
Sensation
the process buy which we receive information from the environment
Transduction
process of converting energy of stimulus into neural activity
Absolute threshold
minimum energy needed to produce a sensation 50% of the time
sensory adaptation
changes that you are able to detect
just-noticeable different
the smallest difference between 2 stimuli that can be detected 50% of the time
Weber’s Law
it is harder to diffrentiate diffrences to higher stimuli
Ex: its harder to differentiate volume 35-40 compared to 5-10
Sensory interacton
when our five sense wok together and influence each other
Synethesia
when your brain routes sensory information to multiple sensory cortex, you experience more than one sense at a time
Ex: seeing colors associated with sound
McGurk effect
sight is dominant over other senses
optic nerve
carries visual info from eye to brain
fovea
located in the center of the retina (cones)
cornea
transparent covering over the eye the focuses light waves
pupil
opening in the eye where the light comes through
lens
colored part that is attached to muscles to expand or retract the lens
accommodation
when the lens changes shape to focus on images in front of you
photoreceptors
located on the retina (rods and cones)
rods
see black and white, peripheral vision, low light, movement and shapes
cones
interpret color, found in center of retina in the fovea
red color waves
longest wave
green color wave
middle length wave
blue color wave
shortest waves
blind spot
area where there are no rods or cones, where optic never connects to the retina
trichromatic theory
the eye has 3 different cone systems that respond to the 3 colors: red, green, blue
opponent process theory
opposite colors are pairs
(blue v yellow)
prosopagnosia
face blindness, issue with connection in the FFA
blighsight
awareness of visual information but cortically blind
semicircular canals
filled with fluid that help with balance and head positioning
pinna
collects sounds waves
auditory never
deliver impulses to the brain
tympanic membrane
separated outer ear from the middle ear and vibrate with sound
cochlea
filled with fluid and hair cells that vibrate to produce sound
wavelength of sound waves
pitch
amplitude of sound waves
volume
place theory
we hear different pitches because different sound waves trigger activity in a different part of the cochlea
volley theory
different pitches trigger different impulses to the brain
frequency theory
neural cells work together, alternating when they fire
sound localization
ability to identify the position of where sound is based on which ear hears first or loudest
conduction deafness
damage to mechanical system that transmits sound waves, damage to cochlea or any mechanism before
sensorineural deafness
most common
- damage to the cochlear hair cells or auditory nerve
olfaction
sense of smell
gustation
taste
flavors we experience
sweet, salty, sour, umami, bitter, oleogustus
supertaster
lots of tastebuds
nontaster
less taste buds on tongue
Types of touch
warm, cold, pressure, pain
touch pathway
nociceptors –> thalamus –> parietal lobe –> sensory cortex
gate control theory
non-painful sensory input can block painful sensation reaching the brain
Ex: rub a spot where it hurts
phantom limb
the ability to feel sensation or pain in limbs that no longer exist
vestibular sense
enables balance controlled by semicircular canals
kinesthetic sense
enable control and coordination over movements (walking, talking, facial expressions)
