AP Psychology Unit 2

What is the difference between sensory (afferent) neurons and motor (efferent) neurons?

Sensory neurons carry messages from the body's tissues and sensory receptors inward to the brain and spinal cord for processing. Motor neurons carry instructions from the central nervous system outward to the body's muscles and glands.

Most brain-damage effects can be traced to two hard facts:

Severed brain and spinal cord neurons, unlike cut skin, do not regenerate. Some brain functions seem preassigned to specific areas.

. How else can scientists observe brain functions?

Scientists can observe your brain at work because of your mental activity emitting telltale electrical, metabolic, and magnetic signals.

What is laterlization?

The localization of function or activity on one side of the body in preference to the other.

What does depolarize mean?

The loss of the inside/outside charge difference

What is the relationship between the sensitivity of a body region and the size of the sensory cortex area devoted to it?

The more sensitive the body region is, the larger the sensory cortex area is devoted to it.

What is the limbic system?

The neutral system located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives. The limbic system's hypothalamus controls the nearby pituitary gland.

What is the pituitary gland? Why is it the most influential endocrine gland?

The pituitary gland is the endocrine system's most influential gland. It is the most influential gland because it regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands.

What is dual processing?

The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.

What is the peripheral nervous system?

The sensory and motor neurons that connect the brain to rest of the body

What is the spinal cord and how does it work?

The spinal cord is an information highway connecting the peripheral nervous system to the brain. The ascending neural fibers send info up and the descending fibers send it back motor-control information. They carry sensory information like touch, pressure, cold, warmth, pain and other sensations.

. Where is the synapse?

The synapse is of close connection between axon and dendrite.

What are adrenal glands?

They are a pair of endocrine glands that secrete hormones that help arouse the body in times of stress.

What are neurotransmitters?

They are the molecules used by the nervous system to transmit messages between neurons, or from neurons to muscles.

How is the endocrine system similar to the nervous system? Different from the nervous system?

They both produce molecules that act on receptors elsewhere. They differ because the speedier nervous system zips messages from eyes to brain to hand in a fraction of a second. Endocrine messages trudge along the bloodstream, taking several seconds or more to travel from the gland to the target tissue. The nervous system is faster, the endocrine system is slower.

How are association areas different from sensory and motor areas?

They don't trigger an observable response. So unlike the somatic sensory and motor areas, association areas cannot be neatly mapped.

What did neurosurgeons Vogel and Bogen speculate?

They speculated that major epileptic seizures were caused by an amplification of abnormal brain activity bouncing back and forth between the two cerebral hemispheres, which work together as a whole system.

Why is the hypothalamus referred to as the reward center?

This is because it controls thirst, hunger, and body temperature...craving for something etc.

Why is it a benefit that there is not much difference between the brains of humans and animals?

This is beneficial because it allows researchers to study relatively simple animals to understand the neutral systems we are about to explore.

What is the central nervous system?

brain and spinal cord

What four things that researchers seeking to understand the biology of the mind have discovered?

-our adaptive brain is wired by our experiences -among the body's cells are nerve cells that conduct electricity and "talk" to one another by sending chemical messages across a tiny gap that separates them. -specific brain systems serve specific functions (though not the functions Gall supposed). - We integrate information processed in these different brain systems to construct our experience of sights and sounds, meanings and memories, pain and passion.

Approximately how many neurons in the central nervous system?

86 billion

What is blindsight?

A condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it.

Function and Malfunctions of Glutamate:

A major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory Malfunction: Oversupply can overstimulate the brain; producing migraines or seizures

Function and Malfunctions of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric-acid)

A major inhibitory neurotransmitter Malfunction: Undersupply linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia

What is the hypothalamus?

A neural structure lying below the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities, helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary glands, and is linked to emotion and reward.

What are neurons?

A neuron is a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.

What is a neuron's action potential?

A neuron's action potential is a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down the axon.

What is the all-or-none response?

A neuron's reaction of either firing (with a full-strength response) or not firing.

What are reflexes?

A simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as a knee-jerk response.

What is a split brain?

A split brain is a condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibers connecting them. When there is a split brain, each hemisphere of the brain functions independently.

What is the threshold?

A threshold is the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.

Functions and Malfunctions of Serotonin:

Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal Malfunctions: Undersupply linked to depression

What is the difference between an agonist and an antagonist?

Agonists increase a neurotransmitter's action. Antagonists decrease a neurotransmitter's action by blocking production or release.

What is the somatosensory cortex?

An area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.

What is the motor cortex?

An area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements.

What are excitatory signals and what are inhibitory signals?

An excitatory transmitter promotes the generation of an electrical signal called an action potential in the receiving neuron, while an inhibitory transmitter prevents it.

What are association areas?

Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking and speaking.

What is going on "beneath the surface"?

Beneath the surface, unconscious information processing occurs simultaneously on many parallel tracks.

Why is brain plasticity good news for those who are blind or deaf?

Blindness or deafness make unused brain areas available for other uses. For example, if a blind person uses one finger to read Braille, the brain area dedicated to that finger expands as the sense of touch invades the visual cortex that normally helps people to see.

What is Broca's Area? Wernicke's Area?

Broca's Area plans the process of speech by interacting with the temporal cortex, where sensory information is processed, and the motor cortex, which controls movements of the mouth. Wernicke's area is the region of the brain that is important for language development.

Describe the purpose of the following neuroimaging techniques: CT, PET, MRI, fMRI,

CT (computed tomography) scan- it examines the brain by taking X-ray photographs that can reveal brain damage. PET (positron emission tomography) scan-depicts brain activity by showing each brain area's consumption of its chemical fuel, the sugar glucose. MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)-uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer generated images of soft tissue. MRI scans show brain anatomy. fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)-reveals blood flow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans. fMRI scans show brain function as well as structure.

What are glial cells?

Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons; they also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory.

What are hormones?

Chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues.

What do association areas in the frontal lobes enable?

Enables judgement, planning, and processing of new memories.

What other mental functions are accomplished through association areas?

Enables mathematical, spatial reasoning, and recognizing faces.

Functions and Malfunctions of Acetylcholine:

Enables muscle action, learning, and memory Malfunction: neurons deteriorate.

What are endorphins and give an example of what they can do?

Endorphins are natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure. These endorphins help explain good feelings such as the "runner's high."

Functions and Malfunctions of Norepinephrine:

Helps control alertness and arousal Malfunction: Undersupply can depress mood

How is the myelin sheath related to multiple sclerosis?

If myelin sheath degenerates, it can cause multiple sclerosis.

What happens if there is frontal lobe damage?

If there is frontal lobe damage, it can alter personality and remove a person's inhibitions.

What is the refractory period?

In neural processing, a brief resting pause occurs after a neuron has fired; subsequent action potentials cannot occur until the axon returns to its resting state.

List a couple examples of how animals' capacities come from brain structures.

In primitive animals, such as sharks, a not-so-complex brain primarily regulates basic survival functions: breathing, resting, and feeding. In lower mammals, such as rodents, a more complex brain enables emotion and greater memory. In advanced mammals, such as humans, a brain that processes more information enables increased foresight as well.

What additional areas provide input to the cortex besides touch?

Occipital lobes and the auditory cortex.

What are interneurons?

Interneurons are neurons within the brain and spinal cord; they communicate internally and process information between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.

What is magnetoecenphatography?

It is a brain imaging technique that measures magnetic fields from the brain's natural electricity activity

Describe the cerebral cortex.

It is the intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center.

What is meant that humans are considered biopsychosocial systems?

It means that we are a system composed of subsystems that are in turn composed of even smaller subsystems.

What does it mean "the brain enables our humanity"?

It means the brain allows us to have our thinking, feeling, and acting.

What makes the brain of advanced mammals more complex?

Older brain structures, and the brain that processes more information and enables foresight as well.

What is consciousness?

Our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment.

What do people often have trouble accepting?

People often have trouble accepting that much of our everyday thinking, feeling, and acting operates outside our conscious awareness.

___________ is what makes the human brain unique.

Plasticity

What is parallel processing?

Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; generally used to process well-learned information or to solve easy problems.

What is sequential processing?

Processing one aspect of a problem at a time; generally used to process new information or to solve difficult problems.

What is the so-called "hard problem" in regards to consciousness?

The "hard problem" in regards to consciousness is, how consciousness arises from the material brain. How do brain cells "jabbering" to one another create our awareness of the taste of food, the idea of infinity, the feeling of fright, and etc..

What is the amygdala? Is this the only area that controls rage and fear? Explain.

The amygdala is two lima-bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion. No, there are other areas that control aggression and fear.

What is the endocrine system?

The body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.

What is plasticity?

The brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.

What are neural networks?

The brain's neurons cluster into work groups.

What is the cerebrum and what is its purpose?

The cerebrum is the two cerebral hemispheres contributing 85 percent of the brain's weight. It initiates and coordinates movement and regulates temperature.

What is an electroencephalogram and for what purpose is it used?

The electroencephalogram is an amplified recording for the waves of electrical activity sweeping across the brain's surface. These waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp.

What body areas occupied the greatest amount of cortical space? Why?

The fingers and mouth. The fingers and mouth require precise controls.

What is neurogenesis?

The formation of new neurons.

What is the hippocampus?

The hippocampus is a neural center located in the limbic system; it helps process explicit (conscious) memories of facts and events.

What is cognitive neuroscience?

The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language).

What is the corpus callosum?

The large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them.

When is the left hemisphere more active? When is the right hemisphere more active?

The left hemisphere is more active when the person speaks or does a math calculation. The right hemisphere is more active when a person performs a perceptual task.

What happens when the "two minds" are at odds?

When the "two minds" are at odds, the left hemisphere does mental gymnastics to rationalize reactions it does not understand.

What happens when the brain is "flooded" with opiate drugs such as heroin and morphine?

When the brain is "flooded" with opiate drugs, it disrupts the brain's chemical balancing act. When flooded with opiate drugs, the brain maintains its chemical balance by suppressing its own natural opiates. When the drug is withdrawn, the brain may then be deprived of any form of opiate, causing intense discomfort.

Is it possible to move prosthetics just by thinking? Explain.

Yes it is possible to move prosthetics just by thinking because they can be linked to certain nerves in the brain.

Do humans have limbic systems for pleasure?

Yes, stimulating the brain's reward circuits produces more desire than pure enjoyment. Also, the effects of the dopamine-related reward system in people, for instance dopamine release, produces positive "chills."

What happens if the spinal cord is severed?

You would be out of touch with your body. You would lose all sensation and voluntary movement in body regions with sensory and motor connections to the spinal cord below its point of injury.

These older brain functions all occur without:

any conscious effort.

Describe the location AND the function of the following older brain structures: brainstem, medulla, reticular formation, thalamus, cerebellum, pons

brainstem- located in the base of the brain and on top of the spinal cord. Responsible for breathing, consciousness, blood pressure, heart rate & sleep. medulla- located at the base of the brain, where the brainstem connects the brain to the spinal cord. Controls heartbeat and respiration. reticular formation- located between your ears. Promotes arousal and consciousness. thalamus: Acts as the brain's sensory control center. Receives information from all senses except smell, and routes that information to the higher brain regions that deal with seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching. It also relays sensory and motor signals, as well as regulation of consciousness and alertness. cerebellum- It helps with the coordination and movement related to motor skills. It enables nonverbal learning and skill memory. It helps us judge time, modulate our emotions, and discriminate sounds and textures. pons- It is involved in the regulation of functions carried out by the cranial nerves it houses, and works together with the medulla oblongata to serve an especially critical role in generating the respiratory rhythm of breathing. Active functioning of the pons may also be fundamental to rapid eye movement

Describe the function of the various parts of a neuron: cell body, dendrite, axon, myelin sheath

cell body -contains the nucleus; the cell's life-support center dendrite -receives messages from other cells. A neuron's often bushy, branching extensions that receive and integrate messages, conducting impulses towards the cell body. axon -passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands. The neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands. myelin sheath - covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural impulses. A fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons of some neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed and neural impulses hop from one node to the next.

When is plasticity the strongest?

during childhood

What do biological psychologists do?

explore the links between brain and mind

Neurons that ______ together ________ together, helping learning occur.

fire; wire

Describe the function of the four lobes located in each of the brain's two hemispheres: frontal lobe, parietal, occipital, temporal

frontal lobe - Involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgements. parietal lobe - Receives sensory input for touch and body position. occipital lobe - Primarily responsible for vision. temporal lobe -Processing auditory information and with the encoding of memory.

Functions and Malfunctions of Dopamine:

influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion Malfunction: Oversupply linked to schizophrenia

Particular neurotransmitters affect specific:

motions and emotions

What makes up nerves?

neurons

Indicate various functions performed by each side of the brain: right brain, left brain

right brain -Control creativity, spatial ability, artistic, and musical skills. Excels in making inferences, helps us modulate our speech to make meaning clear, and helps orchestrate our self-awareness. Nonlanguage songs, music, nonverbal memory, emotional tone of speech. left brain - The ability to pay attention to details, fine motor movement skills, and the ability to convert sounds to language and translate their meaning. Language sounds, verbal memory, language

Describe what makes up the following components of the peripheral nervous system: somatic nervous system, autonomic, sympathetic, parasympathetic

somatic nervous system - enables voluntary control of our skeletal muscles autonomic nervous system -controls our glands and our internal organ muscles sympathetic nervous system -arouses and expends energy parasympathetic nervous system -calms the body, conversing its energy

Define the nervous system:

the body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.

What happens to the cerebral cortex as we "move up the ladder of animal life"

the cerebral cortex expands; genetic controls relax, organisms adaptability increase.

What occurs during reuptake?

the excess neurotransmitters finally drift away, are broken by enzymes, or are reabsorbed by the sending neuron.

What happens when hormones act on the brain?

they influence our interest in sex, food, and aggression

What is a lesion?

tissue destruction