Psych Exam
depressants
drugs (such as alcohol, barbiturates, and opiates) that reduce neural activity and slow body functions
Barbiturates
drugs that depress the activity of the central nervous system, reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgment
Major Sleep Disorders
insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, night terrors
hindsight bias (also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon)
is easy to demonstrate by giving half the members of a group some purported psychological finding, and giving the other half an opposite result. Tell the first group, for example: "Psychologists have found that separation weakens romantic attraction. As the saying goes, 'Out of sight, out of mind.'" Ask them to imagine why this might be true. Most people can, and after explaining it nearly all will then view this true finding as unsurprising. Tell the second group the opposite: "Psychologists have found that separation strengthens romantic attraction. As the saying goes, 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder.'" People given this untrue result can also easily imagine it, and most will also see it as unsurprising. When opposite findings both seem like common sense, there is a problem.
The survey
looks at many cases in less depth, asking people to report their behavior or opinions. Questions about everything from sexual practices to political opinions are put to the public.
cerebellum
meaning "little brain," which is what its two wrinkled halves resemble (FIGURE 2.16). The cerebellum (along with the basal ganglia, deep brain structures involved in motor movement) enables nonverbal learning and skill memory. Our brain processes most information outside of our awareness. We are aware of the results of our brain's labor—say, our current visual experience—but not how we construct the visual image.
Why do we sleep?
protection, recuperation, memory, creative thinking, growth
Hallucinogens
psychedelic ("mind-manifesting") drugs, such as LSD, that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input
naturalistic observations
range from watching chimpanzee societies in the jungle, to videotaping and analyzing parent-child interactions in different cultures, to recording racial differences in students' self-seating patterns in a school lunchroom. records behavior in natural environments. Like the case study, naturalistic observation does not explain behavior. It describes it. Nevertheless, descriptions can be revealing.
evolutionary psychologists
the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection
molecular genetics
the study of the structure and function of chromosomes and genes
Overconfidence
the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
Chromosomes
threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes Genetically speaking, every other human is nearly your identical twin. Human genome researchers have discovered a common sequence within human DNA. This shared genetic profile is what makes us humans, rather than tulips, bananas, or chimpanzees.
fraternal (dizygotic) twins
twins that originate from the fertilization of two eggs at approximately the same time (two zygotes)
identical (monozygotic) twins
twins who develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms
Three roadblocks to critical thinking
—hindsight bias, overconfidence, and perceiving patterns in random events Hindsight bias, overconfidence, and our tendency to perceive patterns in random events tempt us to overestimate our intuition. But scientific inquiry can help us sift reality from illusion.
How to boost sleep
• Exercise regularly but not in the late evening. (Late afternoon is best.) • Avoid caffeine after early afternoon, and avoid food and drink near bedtime. The exception would be a glass of milk, which provides raw materials for the manufacture of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that facilitates sleep. • Relax before bedtime, using dimmer light. • Sleep on a regular schedule (rise at the same time even after a restless night) and avoid long naps. • Hide time displays so you aren't tempted to check repeatedly. • Reassure yourself that temporary sleep loss causes no great harm. • Focus your mind on nonarousing, engaging thoughts, such as song lyrics or vacation travel (Gellis et al., 2013).
alcohol use disorder
(popularly known as alcoholism). Alcohol use marked by tolerance, withdrawal, and a drive to continue problematic use.
Unconscious parallel processing
"automatic pilot" taking care of routine business. Parallel processing enables your mind to take care of routine business. Sequential processing is best for solving new problems, which requires our focused attention on one thing at a time.
In the end, our theory will be useful if it
(1) organizes a range of self-reports and observations, and (2) implies predictions that anyone can use to check the theory or to derive practical applications. (Does people's sleep predict their retention?) Eventually, our research may (3) stimulate further research that leads to a revised theory that better organizes and predicts what we know.
substance use disorder
continued substance craving and use despite significant life disruption and/or physical risk
When Is an Observed Difference Reliable?
1. Representative samples are better than biased samples 2. Less-variable observations are more reliable than those that are more variable 3. More cases are better than fewer
Why we dream
1. to satisfy our own wishes 2. to file away memories 3. to develop and preserve neural pathways 4. to make sense of neural static 5. to reflect cognitive development
The Amygdala
A limbic system structure involved in memory and emotion, particularly fear and aggression.
The Hippocampus
A neural center located in the limbic system that helps process explicit memories for storage.
The Hypothalamus
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.
hypotheses
A testable prediction, often implied by a To test our theory about sleep effects on memory, our hypothesis might be that when sleep deprived, people will remember less from the day before. To test that hypothesis, we might assess how well people remember course materials they studied either before a good night's sleep or before a shortened night's sleep (FIGURE 1.1). The results will either support our theory or lead us to revise or reject it.
Recap
A variable is anything that can vary (infant nutrition, intelligence, TV exposure—anything within the bounds of what is feasible and ethical to measure). Experiments aim to manipulate an independent variable, measure a dependent variable, and control confounding variables. An experiment has at least two different conditions: an experimental condition and a comparison or control condition. Random assignmentworks to minimize preexisting differences between the groups before any treatment effects occur. In this way, an experiment tests the effect of at least one independent variable (what we manipulate) on at least one dependent variable (the outcome we measure).
PROCEDURES AND THE PLACEBO EFFECT
And that is precisely how new drugs and new methods of psychological therapy are evaluated (Chapter 16). Investigators randomly assign participants in these studies to research groups. One group receives a treatment (such as a medication). The other group receives a pseudotreatment—an inert placebo (perhaps a pill with no drug in it). The participants are often blind (uninformed) about what treatment, if any, they are receiving. If the study is using a double-blind procedure, neither the participants nor those who administer the drug and collect the data will know which group is receiving the treatment. In double-blind studies, researchers check a treatment's actual effects apart from the participants' and the staff's belief in its healing powers. Just thinking you are getting a treatment can boost your spirits, relax your body, and relieve your symptoms. This placebo effect is well documented in reducing pain, depression, and anxiety (Kirsch, 2010). Athletes have run faster when given a supposed performance-enhancing drug (McClung & Collins, 2007). Decaf-coffee drinkers have reported increased vigor and alertness—when they thought their brew had caffeine in it (Dawkins et al., 2011). People have felt better after receiving a phony mood-enhancing drug (Michael et al., 2012). And the more expensive the placebo, the more "real" it seems to us—a fake pill that costs $2.50 worked better than one costing 10 cents (Waber et al., 2008). To know how effective a therapy really is, researchers must control for a possible placebo effect.
Dual Processing: The Two-Track Mind
At any moment, we are aware of little more than what's on the screen of our consciousness. But beneath the surface, unconscious information processing occurs simultaneously on many parallel tracks. When we look at a bird flying, we are consciously aware of the result of our cognitive processing ("It's a hummingbird!") but not of our subprocessing of the bird's color, form, movement, and distance. One of the grand ideas of recent cognitive neuroscience is that much of our brain work occurs off stage, out of sight. Perception, memory, thinking, language, and attitudes all operate on two levels—a conscious, deliberate "high road" and an unconscious, automatic "low road." The high road is reflective, the low road intuitive (Evans & Stanovich, 2013; Kahneman, 2011). Today's researchers call this dual processing. We know more than we know we know.
The Scientific Method
At the foundation of all science is a scientific attitude that combines curiosity, skepticism, and humility. Psychologists arm their scientific attitude with the scientific method—a self-correcting process for evaluating ideas with observation and analysis. Psychological science welcomes hunches and plausible-sounding theories. And it puts them to the test. If a theory works—if the data support its predictions—so much the better for that theory. If its predictions fail, the theory gets revised or rejected.
What does it mean when we say two things are correlated, and what are positive and negative correlations?
Describing behavior is a first step toward predicting it. Naturalistic observations and surveys often show us that one trait or behavior tends to coincide with another. In such cases, we say the two correlate. A statistical measure (the correlation coefficient) helps us figure how closely two things vary together, and thus how well either one predicts the other. Knowing how much aptitude test scores correlate with school success tells us how well the scores predict school success. Throughout this book, we will often ask how strongly two variables are related: For example, how closely related are the personality scores of identical twins? How well do intelligence test scores predict career achievement? How closely is stress related to disease? In such cases, scatterplots can be very revealing.
Stimulants
Drugs (such as caffeine, nicotine, and the more powerful amphetamines, cocaine, and Ecstasy) that excite neural activity and speed up body functions.
Wording Effects
Even subtle changes in the order or wording of questions can have major effects. People are more approving of "aid to the needy" than of "welfare," of "affirmative action" than of "preferential treatment," of "not allowing" televised pornography than of "censoring" it, of "gun safety" laws than of "gun control" laws, and of "revenue enhancers" than of "taxes." Because wording is such a delicate matter, critical thinkers will reflect on how the phrasing of a question might affect people's expressed opinions.
True or false? "Everyone needs 8 hours of sleep."
False. Newborns often sleep two-thirds of their day, most adults no more than one-third (with some thriving on fewer than 6 hours nightly, others racking up 9 or more). There is more to our sleep differences than age. Some are awake between nightly sleep periods—sometimes called "first sleep" and "second sleep" (Randall, 2012). And some find that a 15-minute midday nap is as effective as another hour of nighttime sleep (Horne, 2011).
Perceiving order in random events
For most people, a random, unpredictable world is unsettling (Tullett et al., 2015). We therefore have a built-in eagerness to make sense of our world. People may see a face on the Moon, hear satanic messages in music, perceive the Virgin Mary's image on a grilled cheese sandwich. Even in random data, we often find patterns, because—here's a curious fact of life—random sequences often don't look random (Falk et al., 2009; Nickerson, 2002, 2005). Flip a coin 50 times and you will likely be surprised at the streaks of heads or tails—much like supposed "hot" and "cold" streaks in basketball shooting and baseball hitting. In actual random sequences, patterns and streaks (such as repeating digits) occur more often than people expect (Oskarsson et al., 2009). That also makes it hard for people to generate random-like sequences. When embezzlers try to simulate random digits, their nonrandom patterns can alert fraud experts (Poundstone, 2014).
How might an evolutionary psychologist explain male-female differences in sexuality and mating preferences?
Having faced many similar challenges throughout history, males and females have adapted in similar ways: We eat the same foods, avoid the same dangers, and perceive, learn, and remember similarly. It is only in those domains where we have faced differing adaptive challenges—most obviously in behaviors related to reproduction—that we differ, say evolutionary psychologists. Male-Female Differences in Sexuality And differ we do. Consider sex drives. Both men and women are sexually motivated, some women more so than many men. Yet, on average, who thinks more about sex? Masturbates more often? Initiates more sex? Views more pornography? The answers worldwide: men, men, men, and men (Baumeister et al., 2001; Lippa, 2009; Petersen & Hyde, 2010). No surprise, then, that in one BBC survey of more than 200,000 people in 53 nations, men everywhere more strongly agreed that "I have a strong sex drive" and "It doesn't take much to get me sexually excited" (Lippa, 2008). Indeed, "with few exceptions anywhere in the world," reported cross-cultural psychologist Marshall Segall and his colleagues (1990, p. 244), "males are more likely than females to initiate sexual activity." This is the largest sexuality difference between males and females, but there are others (Hyde, 2005; Petersen & Hyde, 2010; Regan & Atkins, 2007). To see if you can predict some of these differences in Americans, take the quiz in TABLE 4.1. Heterosexual men are alert for women's interest, and often misperceive a woman's friendliness as a sexual come-on (Abbey, 1987). In one speed-dating study, men believed their dating partners expressed more sexual interest than the partners reported actually expressing (Perilloux et al., 2012). This sexual overperception bias is strongest among men who require little emotional closeness before intercourse (Howell et al., 2012; Perilloux et al., 2012).
illusory correlation.
Illusory correlations can feed an illusion of control—that chance events are subject to our personal control. Gamblers, remembering their lucky rolls, may come to believe they can influence the roll of the dice by again throwing gently for low numbers and hard for high numbers. The illusion that uncontrollable events correlate with our actions is also fed by a statistical phenomenon called regression toward the mean.
meta-analysis
In both psychological and medical science, another important tool in psychology's toolkit is meta-analysis. A meta-analysis statistically combines the results of many studies to provide a bottom-line result.
Random Sampling
In everyday thinking, we tend to generalize from samples we observe, especially vivid cases. An administrator who reads (a) a statistical summary of a professor's student evaluations and (b) the vivid comments of two irate students may be influenced as much by the biased sample of two unhappy students as by the many favorable evaluations in the statistical summary. The temptation to succumb to the sampling bias—to generalize from a few vivid but unrepresentative cases—is nearly irresistible. Typically, you would seek a random sample, in which every person in the entire population has an equal chance of being in the sample group
The Reticular Formation
Inside the brainstem, between your ears, lies the reticular ("netlike") formation, a neuron network extending from the spinal cord right up through the thalamus. As the spinal cord's sensory input flows up to the thalamus, some of it travels through the reticular formation, which filters incoming stimuli and relays important information to other brain areas. Have you multitasked today? You can thank your reticular formation
Consciousness
Most psychologists define consciousness as our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment (Feinberg & Mallatt, 2016): This awareness allows us to assemble information from many sources as we reflect on our past, adapt to our present, and plan for our future. First-year university students think back to their high school years, adjust to the ups and downs of academic life, and look ahead to their life beyond graduation. It focuses our attention when we learn a complex concept or behavior. When learning to drive, we focus on the car and the traffic. With practice, driving becomes semiautomatic, freeing us to focus our attention on other things. Over time, we flit between different states of consciousness, including normal waking awareness and various altered states
sleep stages
NREM-1, NREM-2, NREM-3, REM
Circadian Rhythm
Our bodies roughly synchronize with the 24-hour cycle of day and night thanks to an internal biological clock called the circadian rhythm (from the Latin circa, "about," and diem,"day").
What are neurons, and how do they transmit information?
Our body's neural information system is complexity built from simplicity. Its building blocks are neurons, or nerve cells. Throughout life, new neurons are born and unused neurons wither away (O'Leary et al., 2014; Shors, 2014). To fathom our thoughts and actions, our memories and moods, we must first understand how neurons work and communicate. Neurons differ, but all are variations on the same theme (FIGURE 2.2). Each consists of a cell body and its branching fibers. The often bushy dendrite fibers receive and integrate information, conducting it toward the cell body (Stuart & Spruston, 2015). From there, the cell's single lengthy axon fiber passes the message through its terminal branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands (FIGURE 2.3). Dendrites listen. Axons speak. Unlike the short dendrites, axons may be very long, projecting several feet through the body. A human neuron carrying orders to a leg muscle, for example, has a cell body and axon roughly on the scale of a basketball attached to a 4-mile long rope. Much as home electrical wire is insulated, some axons are encased in a myelin sheath, a layer of fatty tissue that insulates them and speeds their impulses. As myelin is laid down up to about age 25, neural efficiency, judgment, and self-control grow (Fields, 2008). If the myelin sheath degenerates, multiple sclerosis results: Communication to muscles slows, with eventual loss of muscle control. Supporting these billions of nerve cells are spidery glial cells ("glue cells"). Neurons are like queen bees; on their own they cannot feed or sheathe themselves. Glial cells are worker bees. They provide nutrients and insulating myelin, guide neural connections, and mop up ions and neurotransmitters. Glia also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory. By "chatting" with neurons, they participate in information transmission and memory (Fields, 2011, 2013; Martín et al., 2015).
The Peripheral Nervous System
Our peripheral nervous system has two components—somatic and autonomic. Our somatic nervous system enables voluntary control of our skeletal muscles. As you reach the end of this page, your somatic nervous system will report to your brain the current state of your skeletal muscles and carry instructions back, triggering a response from your hand so you can read on. Our autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls our glands and our internal organ muscles. The ANS influences functions such as glandular activity, heartbeat, and digestion. (Autonomic means "self-regulating.") Like an automatic pilot, this system may be consciously overridden, but usually operates on its own (autonomously). The autonomic nervous system's subdivisions serve two important functions (FIGURE 2.8). The sympathetic nervous system arouses and expends energy. If something alarms or challenges you (such as a longed-for job interview), your sympathetic nervous system will accelerate your heartbeat, raise your blood pressure, slow your digestion, raise your blood sugar, and cool you with perspiration, making you alert and ready for action. When the stress subsides (the interview is over), your parasympathetic nervous system will produce the opposite effects, conserving energy as it calms you. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems work together to keep us in a steady internal state called homeostasis. (More on this in Chapter 11.)
REM sleep
Rapid eye movement sleep, a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep, because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active.
Replication is confirmation.
Replication is an essential part of good science. In psychology, recent replication efforts have produced mixed results. Other fields, including medicine, also have nonreplicated findings (Collins & Tabak, 2014). Especially when based on a small sample, a single failure to replicate needs replication itself (Maxwell et al., 2015). In all scientific fields, replication either confirms findings, or enables us to revise our understanding.
How do nerve cells communicate with other nerve cells?
Sherrington called the meeting point between neurons a synapse. We now know that the axon terminal of one neuron is in fact separated from the receiving neuron by a tiny synaptic gap (or synaptic cleft). Spanish anatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) marveled at these near-unions of neurons, calling them "protoplasmic kisses." "Like elegant ladies air-kissing so as not to muss their makeup, dendrites and axons don't quite touch," noted poet Diane Ackerman (2004, p. 37). How do the neurons execute this protoplasmic kiss, sending information across the synaptic gap? The answer is one of the important scientific discoveries of our age. e knob-like terminals at an axon's end, it triggers the release of chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters (FIGURE 2.5). Within 1/10,000th of a second, the neurotransmitter molecules cross the synaptic gap and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron—as precisely as a key fits a lock. For an instant, the neurotransmitter unlocks tiny channels at the receiving site, and electrically charged atoms flow in, exciting or inhibiting the receiving neuron's readiness to fire. The excess neurotransmitters finally drift away, are broken down by enzymes, or are reabsorbed by the sending neuron—a process called reuptake. Some antidepressant medications work by partially blocking the reuptake of mood-enhancing neurotransmitters
The Thalamus
Sitting atop the brainstem is the thalamus, a pair of egg-shaped structures that act as the brain's sensory control center
Brain shrinkage due to alcohol
Slowed Neural Processing. Memory Disruption Reduced Self-Awareness and Self-Control Expectancy Effects
Biological vs. Adoptive Relatives
Studies have been preformed with adoptive children for whom the biological relatives are known. Findings: Adoptive children seem to be more similar to their genetic relatives than their environmental/ nurture relatives. For behavior geneticists, nature's second real-life experiment—adoption—creates two groups: genetic relatives (biological parents and siblings) and environmental relatives(adoptive parents and siblings).
Independent and dependent variables
This simple experiment manipulated just one factor: the drug (Viagra versus no Viagra). We call this experimental factor the independent variable because we can vary it independently of other factors, such as the men's age, weight, and personality. Other factors that can potentially influence a study's results are called confounding variables. Random assignment controls for possible confounding variables. Experiments examine the effect of one or more independent variables on some measurable behavior, called the dependent variable because it can vary depending on what takes place during the experiment. Both variables are given precise operational definitions, which specify the procedures that manipulate the independent variable (the exact drug dosage and timing in this study) or measure the dependent variable (the men's responses to questions about their sexual performance).
experimental manipulation
To find answers to such questions—to isolate cause and effect—researchers must experiment. Experiments enable researchers to isolate the effects of one or more factors by (1) manipulating the factors of interest and (2) holding constant ("controlling") other factors. To do so, they often create an experimental group, in which people receive the treatment, and a contrasting control group that does not receive the treatment. To minimize any preexisting differences between the two groups, researchers randomly assign people to the two conditions. Random assignment—whether with a random numbers table or flip of the coin—effectively equalizes the two groups. If one-third of the volunteers for an experiment can wiggle their ears, then about one-third of the people in each group will be ear wigglers. So, too, with age, attitudes, and other characteristics, which will be similar in the experimental and control groups. Thus, if the groups differ at the experiment's end, we can surmise that the treatment had an effect.
The Limbic System
We've considered the brain's oldest parts, but we've not yet reached its newest and highest regions, the cerebral hemispheres (the two halves of the brain). Between the oldest and newest brain areas lies the limbic system (limbus means "border"). This system contains the amygdala, the hypothalamus, and the hippocampus
heritibility
ability of a trait to be passed from one generation to the next. the extent to which variation among individuals in a group can be attributed to their differing genes. For many personality traits, heritability is about 40 percent; for general intelligence, heritability has been estimated at about 66 percent (Haworth et al., 2010; Turkheimer et al., 2014). This does not mean that yourintelligence is 66 percent genetic. Rather, it means that genetic influence explains about 66 percent of the observed variation among people.
The Neural Impulse
action potential; the firing of a nerve cell; the entire process of the electrical charge (message/impulse) traveling through inner on; can be as fast as 400 fps (with myelin) or 3 fps (no myelin) The loss of the inside/outside charge difference, called depolarization, causes the next section of axon channels to open, and then the next, like falling dominos. This temporary inflow of positive ions is the neural impulse—the action potential. Each neuron is itself a miniature decision-making device performing complex calculations as it receives signals from hundreds, even thousands, of other neurons. The mind boggles when imagining this electrochemical process repeating up to 100 or even 1000 times a second. But this is just the first of many astonishments. Most neural signals are excitatory, somewhat like pushing a neuron's gas pedal. Some are inhibitory, more like pushing its brake. If excitatory signals exceed the inhibitory signals by a minimum intensity, or threshold (see Figure 2.4), the combined signals trigger an action potential. (Think of it this way: If the excitatory party animals outvote the inhibitory party poopers, the party's on.) The action potential then travels down the axon, which branches into junctions with hundreds or thousands of other neurons or with the body's muscles and glands. Neurons need short breaks (a tiny fraction of an eyeblink). During a resting pause called the refractory period, subsequent action potentials cannot occur until the axon returns to its resting state. Then the neuron can fire again. Increasing the level of stimulation above the threshold will not increase the neural impulse's intensity. The neuron's reaction is an all-or-none response: Like guns, neurons either fire or they don't. How, then, do we detect the intensity of a stimulus? How do we distinguish a gentle touch from a big hug? A strong stimulus can trigger more neurons to fire, and to fire more often. But it does not affect the action potential's strength or speed. Squeezing a trigger harder won't make a bullet go faster.
case study method
an in-depth study of one or more individuals The point to remember: Individual cases can suggest fruitful ideas. What's true of all of us can be glimpsed in any one of us. To find those general truths, we must employ other research methods.
Sleep deprivation
any significant loss of sleep, resulting in problems in concentration and irritability
The Central Nervous System
brain and spinal cord
How do psychologists use case studies, naturalistic observations, and surveys to observe and describe behavior, and why is random sampling important?
case studies (in-depth analyses of individuals or groups). naturalistic observations (recording the natural behavior of many individuals). surveys and interviews (asking people questions).
psychoative drugs
chemicals that affect the central nervous system and alter activity in the brain
Theory
explains behaviors or events by offering ideas that organize observations. By using deeper principles to organize isolated facts, a theory summarizes and simplifies. As we connect the observed dots, a coherent picture emerges. A theory of how sleep affects memory, for example, helps us organize countless sleep-related observations into a short list of principles. Imagine that we observe over and over that people with good sleep habits tend to answer questions correctly in class and do well at test time. We might therefore theorize that sleep improves memory. So far so good: Our principle neatly summarizes a list of observations about the effects of a good night's sleep.
inattentional blindness
failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
Dreams
occur most often during REM sleep; may be caused by activation-synthesis, or may be a way of cementing memories
operational definitions
of procedures and concepts. Sleep deprived, for example, may be defined as "X hours less" than the person's natural sleep. Using these carefully worded statements, others can replicate (repeat) the original observations with different participants, materials, and circumstances. If they get similar results, confidence in the finding's reliability grows.
opiates
opium and its derivatives, such as morphine and heroin; they depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety
Sleep
periodic, natural loss of consciousness--as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation
The Endocrine System
the body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream In a moment of danger, the ANS orders the adrenal glands on top of the kidneys to release epinephrine and norepinephrine (also called adrenaline and noradrenaline). These hormones increase heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar, providing a surge of energy. When the emergency passes, the hormones—and the feelings—linger a while. The most influential endocrine gland is the pituitary gland, a pea-sized structure located in the core of the brain, where it is controlled by an adjacent brain area, the hypothalamus (more on that shortly).
temperament
the enduring characteristics with which each person is born. emotional reactivity and excitability)—is quickly apparent, and it is genetically influenced (Kandler et al., 2013; Raby et al., 2012). Identical twins, more than fraternal twins, often have similar temperaments (Fraley & Tancredy, 2012; Kandler et al., 2013). Temperament differences typically persist.
selective attention
the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in the cocktail party effect
Cognitive Neuroscience
the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)
The Brainstem
the oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions. Its base is the medulla, the slight swelling in the spinal cord just after it enters the skull
