Unit 1 Vocab Flashcards
Nature (heredity)
Biological factors in traits, personality, body type, and mental health
Nurture (environmental factors)
The environmental factors that influence a person’s development and personality
Natural Selection
A theory that explains how organisms change and adapt over time
Eugenics
Study of how reproduction increases the occurrence of desirable traits
Monozygotic twins
Single egg being fertilized and splitting
Dizygotic twins
Two eggs being feritlized
Central nervous system
Brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous system
All of the body except the brain and spinal cord
Somatic nervous system
voluntary actions
autonomic nervous system
Involuntary actions
Parasympathetic nervous system
calms body, relax
Sympathetic nervous system
fight or flight
Neurons
Transmit information through electrical change
Glial Cells
building blocks, provide structure, insulation
Reflex arc
A natural pathway that controls a relfex
Sensory neurons
Carry nerve impulses from receptors or sense organs toward the central nervous system
Motor neurons
Carry nerve impulses away from the central nervous system to effectors such as muscles or glands
Interneurons
A neuron that forms a connection between other neurons
All or nothing principle
A neuron will fire or not (no in between)
Depolarization
Electrical change in charge of allowing a neuron to send a message
Refractory period
Rest period, neurons can’t fire (too tired)
Resting potential
The neuron is inactive but ready to fire
Reuptake
recycling of the neurotransmitter
Threshold
trigger point for the cell to fire
Multiple sclerosis
neurological disease, causes psychosocial problems such as muscle weakness, balance issues, vision problems, and dizzyness
Myasthenia gravis
Chronic autoimmune disease, causes mental health challenges
Neurotransmitters
chemical sent from one neuron to another
Excitatory
Increase likelihood of neuron firing
Inhibitory
Decrease likelihood of neuron firing
Dopamine
Influences rewards (addiction), voluntary movement, learning, attention, and emotion
Serotonin
Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal
Norepinephrine
Helps control alertness and arousal
Glutamate
Excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory
GABA
Inhibitory neurotransmitter; natural tranquilizer involved in calming you down
Endorphins
Influence the perception of pain and pleasure (runners high)
Substance p
Pain transmission
Acetylcholine
Enables muscle action, learning, and memory
Endocrine system
glands and organs that produce and release hormones
Pituitary gland
Controls the endocrine system
Hormones
Chemical messengers that can have a significant impact on behavior
Adrenaline
Prepares body for emergencies, enhances alertness, fight or flight
Leptin
Regulates energy and balance by inhibiting hunger
Ghrelin
Stimulates hunger to increase your food intake
Melatonin
Regulates the circadian rhythm and sleep/wake cycle
Oxytocin
Love hormone, social bonding hormone
Brain stem
Connects the brain to the spine
Medulla
Heart rate, Breathing, reflex
Reticular activating system
Alertness, Arousal
Cerebellum
Posture movement
Cerebral cortex
The outer layer of the brain, located on top of the cerebrum
Right hemisphere
Controls left side, creativity
Left hemisphere
Controls right side, 95% hold language center
Limbic system
group of brain structures that control emotions, behavior, cognitive process
Thalamus
Relay sensory information to other parts
*Not smell
Hypothalamus
Food, Thirst, Sex, Body Temp, Controls Pituitary gland
Hippocampus
Memories, conversation
Amygdala
Emotional responses, FEAR!!!!, Aggression
Corpus callosum
Axon fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres
Occipital lobe
Sight
Temporal lobe
hearing language, wernicke’s area
Parietal lobe
Process/organize information, somatosensory cortex
Somatosensory cortex
Sensing, Pressure, Pain, Warmth
Frontal lobe
Problem-solving, intelligence, Prefrontal cortex
Motor Cortex
Fine motor skills
Split brain
Cutting the corpus callosum, last resort for epilepsy
Broca’s area
Speach production and articulation
Wernicke’s area
speech comprehension
Aphasia
A condition where you lose the ability to use or comprehend words
Cortex specialization
different parts of the brain are responsible for different tasks and body parts
Contralateral hemispheric organization
Each hemisphere of the cerebrum and thalamus controls the opposite side of the body
Brain plasticity
Ability to rewire, modify, create new connections within the brain, especially when portions are removed
EEG
brain waves, electricity activity
fMRI
Uses MRI tech that measures blood flow
Lesioning
surgery damage
Consciousness
awareness of internal and external environment
Circadian rhythm
24-hour cycle of physical, mental, and behavioral changes
Jet-lag
circadian rhythm is messed up by time change
EEG patterns of sleep
different stages of sleep
NREM sleep
restful stage between periods of REM
REM sleep
Rapid eye movement, most vivid dreams occur
REM rebound
An experience of more than the average amount of REM sleep because of a previous lack
Activation-synthesis theory of dreaming
neurobiological theory that explains dreams as the cerebral cortex making sense of neural activity
Consolidation theory of dreaming
memory consolidation in the brain during sleep
Insomnia
Sleep disturbance, daytime fatigue, cognitive difficulties
Narcolepsy
Excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep attacks, cataplexy
REM sleep behavior disorder
Movement and vocalization during REM sleep
Sleep apnea
Stop breathing while asleep
Somnambulism
Sleepwalking
Psychoactive drugs
substances that cause changes in the normal activities of the central nervous system
Agonist
mimic neurotransmitters
antagonist
block neurotransmitters
Reuptake Inhibitors
a type of drug that prevents the reabsorption of neurotransmitters at the synapse
Stimulants
Increase neural activity
Caffeine
Stimulant-most common addiction
Cocaine
Stimulant
Depressants
decrease neural activity
Alcohol
depressant
Hallucinogens
distortions in percepiton and cognative funtion
Marijuana
Hallucinogen - calms, slows
Psychological addictions
When the brain thinks it needs a drug
Physical addiction
When the body needs the drug to function properly
Tolerance
The body gets used to a substance and is less affected. The body requires more of the substance to feel a result.
Withdraw
A substance is taken away and the body/mind can’t function properly
Sensation
Sensory organs convert physical energy for the brain to interpret sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing
Absolute threshold
minimal energy required for a stimulus to be detected
Just-noticeable difference
the smallest change needed to be perceptible
Sensory adaptation
senses adjust to stimuli, becoming less sensitive
Weber’s law
JND principle
Sensory interaction
process of five senses working together
Synesthesia
multiple unrelated senses, experience senses simultaniously
Transduction
the process of converting environmental stimuli (like light, sound, or touch) into neural signals that the brain can interpret
Retina
light-sensitive layer of tissue in the back of the eye
Blind spot
where the optic nerve connects
Optic nerve
Connects from the retina to the brain
Lens
A clear curved structure that focuses light onto the retina
Accommodation (eye)
Eye’s ability to focus on objects at different distances
Nearsightedness
distant objects are blurry
Farsightedness
close objects are blurry
Photoreceptor cells
neurons that convert light into electrical and chemical signals
Rods
Photoreceptor cells for low-light and night vision
Dark adaptation
process of recovery from exposure to bright light
Trichromatic theory
color vision is based on the activity of three types of cone cells in the retina, each sensitive to different wavelengths of light corresponding to red, green, and blue
Opponent-process theory
red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white, meaning that when one color in a pair is stimulated, the other is inhibited, which helps EXPLAIN phenomena like AFTERIMAGES
Fovea
small region in teh retina for sharp central vision
Cones
Photoreceptors cells that show colors and fine details
Afterimage
visual illusion when you stare at something then suddenly look away
Ganglion cells
carry visual information from the retina to the brain
Color vision deficiency
Color blindness
Dichromatism
Color blindness, two colors
Monochromatism
complete loss of color (black, grey, white)
Prosopagnosia
Face blindness- difficulty perceiving/organizing faces
Blindsight
Detect visual information in a blind region
Wavelengths
Pitch-audible sounds
Amplitudes
loudness- height of waves = volume
Place theory
explains how vibrations in the basilar membrane
Basilar membrane
a thin, flexible tissue located within the cochlea of the inner ear that vibrates in response to sound waves, stimulating hair cells
Volley theory
A group of neurons responded to sound by firing a greater frequency to the brain
Requency theory
sound is replicated to match the nerve impulse
Sound localization
ability to identify the localization of a sound source in a sound field
Conduction deafness
sound waves are blocked from reaching the inner ear
Sensorineural deafness
inner ear or the nerve pathways to the brain are damaged
Olfactory
sense of smell
Pheromones in olfactory system
chemical signals that are detected by the olfactory system and play a role in reproductive behaviors
sense of taste
Types of taste (6)
sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami(slavery/meaty), oleogustus(fat)
How taste receptors operate
Cellular receptors that allow us to taste by detecting chemical substances in food and another substance that enter the mouth
Supertasters
More tastebudes 35-60
Medium tasters
15-35 tastebuds
nontasters
0-15
Gate control theory
some pain has higher authority than others
Phantom limb
the brain creates phantom feelings after a limb is removed
Vestibular sense
Controls balance, semicircular canals, and cerebellum (in the ear)
Semicircular canals
Three fluid tubes in the inner ear
Kinesthesis
sense of individual body parts, receptors in the muscle tissues, and joints
