Psy 101 chapter 2.

Endorphins

"morphine within"--natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure. neurotransmitters that regulate pain receptors. very similar to opioid drugs like heroin and morphine, endorphines are 100 x more potent and are release in response to stress, trauma, and pain. associated with increased mood levels, or runner's high.

perception organization

1. gestalt laws - figure ground = we pay attention to the figure and not perceive the ground

summary

3 typpes of neurons: motor, sensory and interneurons. the central nervous (spine and brain_ system is made up of the inter which allows for the communicaiton between neurons of sensory and motor. in order for sensory to talk to motor it must go through inter. adjacent to glands is motor and has acetylcholine. eyes and ears would have sensroy neurons.

pons

A brain structure that relays information from the cerebellum to the rest of the brain a hindbrain structure that connects the medulla to the two sides of the cerebellum; helps coordinate an integrate movements on each side of the body

cerebellum

A large structure of the hindbrain that controls fine motor skills. a large, two sided hindbrain structure at the back of the brain; responsible for the muscle coordination and maintaining posture and equillibirium. helps coordinate movements between the right and the left side of the body.

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)

A major inhibitory neurotransmitter. Undersupply linked to seizures, tremors, and insomnia. communicates inhibitory messages. GABA regulates the level of neural activity in the brain. too much GABA impairs learning, motivation, and movement, but too little can lead to seizures. alcohol makes people feel relaxed and less inhibited partly by increasing GABA activity.

hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage. a curved fore brain structure that is part of the limbic system and is involved in learning and forming new memories.

dopamine

A neurotransmitter associated with movement, attention and learning and the brain's pleasure and reward system. movement though processes and rewarding sensations, assocaited Dis oor effect of parkinsons schzonprenia drug addiction.

acetylcholine

A neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and also triggers muscle contraction a neurotransmitter that causes muscle contraction and is involved in learning and memor. motor neuron . causes muscles to contract by blocking sypathetic nervous system and therefore activataing the parasympathetic nervous system. too little acetylcoline associated disorder is alzheimers. blocked by curare.

occipital lobe

A region of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information visual cortex eyes to spinal cord to thalamus and then to visual cortex. p

temporal lobe

An area on each hemisphere of the cerebral cortex near the temples that is the primary receiving area for auditory information audiotory responsible for hearing

brain stem:

Connection to spinal cord. Filters information flow between peripheral nervous system and the rest of the brain. Connects the brain and spinal cord a region of the brain made up of the hind brain and the midbrain

Reuptake inhibitors

Drugs that interfere with the reuptake of neurotransmitters in the synapse so that a greater amount remains in the synapse. slow down the reuptake processs by blocking the neuron fromt aking it back in it so it can cross the synapse

plasticity of the brain

The anatomical structure and functional organization of the brain is somewhat malleable ability to reorganize and modify functions and adapt to internal and external changes. when someones suffers from a brain injury the other parts of the brains will recover. it will control the functions that are no longer able to execute.

frontal lobe

The largest lobe of each cerebral hemisphere; processes voluntary muscle movements and is involved in thinking, planning, and emotional control. plays a role in foresight and planning. allows you to see what comes next or in the future. damage to the frontal lobe can cause inability to look at a situation in terms of the future, personality changes. motor cortex is at the back of the frontal lobe. frontal lobe isn't fully developed until adult. that is why decision making is only better as an adult

perpetual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

reticular formation

a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal a network of nerve fibers located in the center of the medulla that helps regulate attention, arousal and sleep, also called the reticular activating system nerve fibers that has a role as the gate KEEPER. RAS is the gate keeper that decides whether or not the information will be delivered to the brain. if you are in a situation when the environemtn has a stimulus that you are unaware of, the the ras closed because you ar eunaware of itl

parietal lobe

an area on each hemisphere of the cerebral cortex located above the temporal lobe that processes somatic sensations involved in processing bodily or somatosensory information including touch, temperature , pressure, and infomration from receptors in the muscles and joints. somatosensory corex receives info from touch receptors in different parts of the brain input = sensory cortex. somaticsensory is for the skin sense. touch temp on the skin. left hemisphere receives inputs from the right side of the body.

wernick's comprehension

aphasia: the partial or complete inability to articulate ideas or understand spoken or written langage because of brain injury or damage. wernick's apahsia have great difficulty comprehending written or spoken communication, which is why it is often reffered to as receptive aphasia. although they can speak, they often have trouble finding the correct words. It is involved in the comprehension of written and spoken language (in contrast to Broca's area that is involved in the production of language). In this condition there is a major impairment of language comprehension, while speech retains a natural-sounding rhythm and a relatively normal syntax. Even when patients with Wernicke's area lesions have comprehension deficits, these are usually not restricted to language processing alone.

Perception: Selection

attention novel and reveling. if it makes it to the reticular formation and to the thalamus the pereception will occur. we select based on attention if you don't pay attnetion to it you will not perceive it. something out of the ordinary or unusal will catch your attention as long as it is relevant to you. hearing a group of people say your name.

antagonist transmitter

blocks fit into the lock but it does not work because it is not similar enough to the original. it doesn't work and therefore all it does is take up space that the original or the agonsist could use.l it will fit into the lock but it does not allow for the drug to fire. if the original neurotransmitter is an inhibitory transmitter then the antagonist is most likely going to be the oppsite which would be the excitatory. it fills the gap so natural neurotranmitter or drugs cannot fill the gap a drug or other chemical substance that blocks a receptor site and inhibits or prevents a response in the receiving cell.

Hypothalamus

brain region controlling the pituitary gland A neural structure lying below the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion and reward. a peanut sized forebrain structure that is part of the limbic system and that regulates behvaiors related to survival such as eating drinking and sexual activity

structural plasticity

brain's ability to physically change its structure in response to learning, active practice, or environmental stimulation The brain's ability to change its physical structure in response to learning, active practice, or environmental influences. the brain's ability to change its phsycial structure in response to learning, active practice or environmental influences.

Broca's production

broca's aphasia find it difficult or impossible to produce speech, which is why it is often referred to as expressive aphasia. despite their impairments in speaking, their comprehension of verbal or written words is relatively unaffected

neuron parts and functions

cell body: provides energy for neuron function/nucleus dendrites: receive info from other neurons axon: tube that carries neuron's messages to other areas. the cells out put structure. myelin sheath: the fatty substance that increases the communicaton speed of neurons. protects the axon because it is so thin and speed up the neurotransmission. if mylein sheath is present, the neurotransmitters can jump along the junction. dendritic growth: when brain cells die, it is completley gone. their are only a few exceptions. when children learn their dendrites grow. when they mature, neurons generally can't divide but new dendrites can grow

Medulla

the base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing controls heartbeat and breathing a hindbrain strucutre that controls vital life functions such as breathing and circulation

glial cells

cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons speciallized support cells that assist neuronms by providing structural support, nutritioon, and removal of cell wastes; manufacture mylein sheath. most abundant cells in the human brain. ratio of glial to neurons is 3 to 1. helper cells that are located in the brain. are responsible for the development (especially in feutus) as the new interneurons are produced. transports the right neurons to the correct place in the brain. serve to provide nourishment for the neuron. prune your brain. maintain and produce myelin sheath on the axon. there is no cause and effect but there is a correlation

Neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons

NeuroModulators and neurotransmitters

chemicals in the nervous system that makes the neurons less susceptible to being excitory or inhibitory. chemicals in the nervous system that impacts the sensitivity of neurons to either excitory or inhibitory.

Neuromodulators

chemicals released in the nervous system that influence the sensitivity of the receiving neuron to neurotransmitters chemicals released in the nervous system that influence the sensitivity of the receiving neuron to neurotransmitters

ready state/ taking action

contatnly ready to take infomration in. the neurons will take action and fire.

transduction

conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brains can interpret. the process by which a form of phsycial energy is converted into a coded neural signal that can be processed by the nervous system. when your sensory neruons take the external stimulation and turns it into electrical ation potential. if it make it to the thalamus that you will have perceptions. if transduction does not occur, there will be no communcaition and therefore no sensation or perception.

vision function

dark adaptation: how long it takes us to move from a dark environemt to a lit environment. llight to dark will adjust slower but dark to light is a lot quicker. the eyes movement allows us to not have sensory adaptation. eyes are constantly moving even when you are staring at something so you don't have sensory adaptation.

what is the structure of a neuron

dendrite, cell body, axon, myelin sheath, synapse (dendrites receive messages, axons deliver them) cell body (brain of cell) w/ nucleus and (dendrites are the branches) information travel in unidirection which means everything in the dendrites goes in one and onlhy one direction. take in the information

what is the communication between neurons

dendrites are activated. cell membrane opens up and breaks down allowing for positive charges ions to enter. if the ratio of positve ions entering the cell membrane is met, then it pases the threshold. this creates action potential which is also electrical energy. then the energy travels down the axon. if there is myelin sheath it goes faster to the terminal branches and then the buttons that hold the vesicles that hold the neurotransmitters which are chimcals. if the neurotransmitter chemicals push up the buttons against the end, it releases neurotransmitter chemical into the synaptic gap and then cross and attaches to the dendrites of the receiving neuron. if it is ecitory, it is more likely to fire and if it is inhibitory than it is les slikely. while in the sneding neuron, reuptake occurs and takes in excess neurotransmitter and finally in the sending neruon it goes back to resting in refractory period.

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation the decline in sensitivity to a constant stimulus. getting adjusted. the only thing that sensory adaptaiton does not effect would be vision. just because you look at something for a long period of time, the object will not disappear out of nowhere.

cerebral hemispheres what are the 4 lobes

frontal, pareital, temporal, and occipital.

Smell & Taste ( Chemical Senses)

gustation: our sense of taste: results from the stimulationn of special receptors in the mouth. substances from food are dissolved by saliva allowing the chemicals to activate the taste buds that have specialized sensory receptors for taste. mixture of aroma tempearture texture and appearance of food as well

Norepinephrine

helps control alertness and arousal. involved in learning, memory and reuglation of sleep. also a hormone manufactured by adrenal glands. gear up in the face of danger or threat.dysfunction is implicated in some psychological disorders , like depression

Nervous system

the body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems. the primary internal communicaiton network of the body; divided into the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. specialzed for communication up to 1 trillion neurons that are linked throughoutyour body in a complex, organized comunication network.

Split Brain: Sperry's Study

images are flashed to the left visual fields (therefore the right hemisphere) and individual cannot name object, but can locate it. Images are flashed to the right visual fields (therefore the left hemisphere) and individual can name object. a surgical procedure that involves cutting the corpus callosum. cutting the corpus callosum is used to stop and reduce recurring seizures in severe case of epilepsy that can't be treated in any other fashion. psychologist and neuroscientist roger sperry and his colleagues began unraveling the puzzle of the left and right hemispheres. a person with a split brain will do whatever the brain they have left sees or does. reconfirmed that the left hemisphere is for language.

aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke's area (impairing understanding).

specialization in the hemispheres left vs right: speech

language and speech functions are performed primarily by the left cerebral hemisphere. the left side exerts greater control over speech and language abilities in people.

the central nervous system

made up of the brain and spinal cord. critcal in your ability to function that is entirely protected by bone. central to all your behaviors and mental processes. central processing center.

limbic system

neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives A doughnut-shaped system of neural structures at the border of the brainstem and cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions such as fear and aggression and drives such as those for food and sex. Includes the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus. a group of forebrain structure that form a border around the brainstem and are involved in emotion, motivation, learning, and memory made up of the hypothalamus and the hippocampus and the amygdala

Serotonin

neurotransmitter involved in sensory eprceptions, sleep and emotional states like depression. some antidepressant drugs increase the aviability of serotonin in certain brain regions

at rest:

not currently firing. resting potential or ready state (more negative charged potassium ions inside and positive sodium ions on the outside) more negatives in and more positives out. ions are attached to one another because of their opposite charges

hearing structure

outer ear: pinna and ear canal are responsible for collection of sound and the ear drum is responsible for the aplification of the sound. the eardurm separates the outer ear from the middle ear. sound waves will vibrate the ear drum and will go to the inner ear. which is where transduction occurs. the stirrup will move which is attached to the cochlea that has hairlike structures that move due to the vibration. when transduction occurs, it sends action potential out to the auditory nerve.

Pain Gate Control Theory

pain signals must pass through a "gate" located in the spinal cord we have a "gate" to control how much pain is experienced the theory that pain is a product of both physiological and psychological factors that cause spinal gates to open and relay patterns of intense stimulation to the brain, which perceives them as pain.

perceptional constancy

perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change. proximity: how close they are put together similarity: how they ar eismilar and how they are close together. why are they alieke closure: we close it up by taking the ink blots and completing the picture continuity: completing the image and closing the image to perceive it easier. simplicity: when you break things down into is simplistic ocmponent in order to perceive the whole thing. perceptual cnstancy: familar object will stay the same even whent he reitinal image is changing. shape constancy: is when you have the same object regarless of how you shift it is the exact same shape it initially ws.

Illusions

perceptions that misrepresent physical stimuli

Endocrine system

the body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream Glands secrete hormones that regulate processes such as growth, reproduction, and nutrient use (metabolism) by body cells. the system of glands located throughout the body, that secrete hormones into the bloodstream. hormones: chemical messengers secreted into the bloodstream primarily by endocrine glands pituitary gland: endocrine gland attached to the base of the brain that secretes hormones afffecting the function of other galnds as well as hormones that act directly on physical processes

nervous system

perhiperal and central portions. mortor and sensory are located in the peripheral while the inter are in the central. all the neurons that are taken in from the environemtn would be the central. brain and spinal cord automatic controls: sympathetic - fight or flight (arousing) eyes diallation -inhibits digestion because it needs the energy for the emergency situation parasympathetic: calming -after synpathetic to conserve energy to bring a person back to homeostasis. somatic: voluntary movements in your own control of skeletal muscles. spinal cord - communicator. without the spinal cord, nothing would go to the brain. information goes from the peripheral part of the brain and then is sent down the spinal cord and then sen tto the brain and then sent back to the spinal cord and then sent to specfic area. spinal cord will act on its own without the brian (REFLEX) preipheral to the brain to motor without brain interpreation. hand on hot stove the ow part doesn't come until after you lift it from the hot surface

hearing: localization

process where one locates where a sound comes from localized or figure out where sounds are coming from. sounds that are to the sides are more easily perceived then those in front.. if the sound has the same intensity (2 feet front 2 feet up) then it cannot be differentiated because it makes it to the ear at the same speed and intensity.

rate and speed

rate: how frequently do neurons fire or the number of action potentials in a period of time. 2. speed: how fast action potential travels down the axon (varies with myelin sheath) 3. speed of action potential is contant at all times 4. rate number of action potentials will vary 5. rate nos speed is the determinant of intensity of the sensory stimulus. more action potenials because speed does not vary. speed is constant and the rate is the thing that varies.

effects of drugs: agonist

regular neurotransmitters fit like key and lock. agonsit are the type of neurotransmitter that is a close enough fit that fits into the receptor cite and will ultimately have the same effect as the regular neurotransmitter. if the OG neurotransmitter is excitatory, that means the agonist will be excitory neurotransmitter. transmitters is going to be the key that fits into the lock which would be the receptor site and the receptor site is located on the dendrites drug or other chemical substance the binds to a recptor site and triggers a response in the cell. it mimics specific neurotransmitters. chemically siilar to a specfic neurotransmitter and prodcue the same effect.

Vision cones and rods

rods: night/peripheral cones: color and detail goes through the cornea, then the pupil, and the iris. goes through the lensand they goes focusing on the back also called the retina. then it heads to the optic nervs (disk and nerve) in your cornia rods: highly sensitive to light but not o color and that is resonsible for peripheral vision and night vision. cones: the short thick pointed sensory receptors of the eye that detect color and are repsonbile for color vision and visual acuity rods and cones refer to the shape. rods are long and thin and cones are shorter and fatter. more rods than cones. a acquity: how much you can see and details that you can see which would be cones

What are the types of neurons

sensory, motor and interneurons/association sensory neurons: input from sensory organs go to the brain and spinal cord (somatosensory neurons are the neurons on the skin) motor neurons are the output from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands interneurons carry information between other neurons only found in the brain and the spinal cord

spinal reflexes

simple automatic behaviors that are processed in the spinal cord

subliminal stimuli

stimuli that are below the level of conscious awareness stimili that are in the environment but you cannot perceive. under your absolute threshold because you don't even notice it. doesn't impact us because you don't even notice it. something so fast or subtle. does not have an impact on behavior but maybe attitude

perceptual context:

the attitudes, emotions, and motivations of the persons engaged in communication and how they affect information processing what is presented at the same time will effect how you interpet the image

functional plasticity

the brain's ability to move functions from a damaged area of the brain to other undamaged areas the brain's ability to shift functions from damaged to undamaged brain areas the brain's ability to shift functions from damaged to undamaged brain areas

thalamus

the brain's sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla a forebrain structure that processes sensory info for all sense except for smell, relaying that info to the cerebral cortex.

sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system

the branch of the autonomic nervous system that produces rapid phsyical arousal in response to perceived emergencies or threats parasympathetic nervous system: the branch of the autonomic nervous system that mains normal bodily functions and conserves the body's physical resource

action potential

the brief electrical impulse by which information is transmitted along the axon of a neuron

perhiperhal nervous system

the division of the nervous system that includes all the nerves lying outside the central nervous system

corpus callosum

the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them. thick band of axons connecting the 2 hemispheres of the cerebral cortex.

threshold

the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse. trying to determine when transuction occurs. the point when people can distinguish something from nothing 50% of the time or more. absolutesmallest possible strength of the stimulus that can be detected half the time. variability amongst people therefore 50%. under ideal conditions which is not normal daily life, our sensory abilities are more sensitive.

what is the stem made up of

the medulla, pons, and reticular formation

difference threshold

the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. the smallest possible difference between two stimuli that can be detected half the time; also called the noticeabe differnce. how prominent does the change have to be for you to notice that there was a change. the more intense your simulus was in the beginning the more difference and change required in order to actually see a difference.

sensation

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment. the process of detecting aphysical stimulus such as light, sound heat or pressure. biological reactions to external stimuli. the neurons that are reacting to external stimuli are the sensory neurons and is purely biological.

perception

the process of integrating, organizing and interpreting sensations. when the feelings from the sensory neurons make it to the brain and is given a meaning and you pay attention to it. not a reliable thing because even if you are exposed ot same stimuli you will produce different perceptions

somatic nervous system

the subdivision of the peripheral nervous system that regulates involuntary functions

autonomic nervous system

the subdivision of the peripheral nervous system that reuglates involuntary functions

amygdala

two lima bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion. an almond shaped cluster of neurons in teh brain's temporal lobe, involved in memory and emotional responses, especially fear.