Psychology 101 chp. 2: Neuroscience and Behavior

Parathyroids

(behind the thyroid): make parathyroid hormone, which increases blood calcium.

Adrenal Glands

-Medulla: Makes epinephrine and norepinephrine, which mediate the "fight-or-flight" response. -Cortex: makes aldosterone, which regulates sodium and potassium balance in the blood; also makes glucocorticoids (such as cortisol), which regulate growth, metabolism, development, immune function, and the body's response to stress.

Spinal Cord

A bundle of neurons that leaves the brain and runs down the length of the back and is the main means for transmitting messages between the brain and the body.

Endocrine System

A chemical communication network that sends messages throughout the body via the bloodstream.

Myelin Sheath

A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next.

Neurons

A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system. -1 trillion neurons throughout the body are involved in the control of behavior. -all neurons have similar structure; neurons are physically held in place by glial cells. -they communicate with other cells and transmit information across relatively relay the nervous system's messages to muscles and other target cells.

Dendrites

A neuron's bushy, branching extensions that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.

Biofeedback

A procedure in which a person learns to control through conscious thought internal physiological processes such as blood pressure, heart and respiration rate, skin temperature, sweating, and the constriction of particular muscles.

Axon

A threadlike extension of a neuron that carries nerve impulses away from the cell body. - information goes one way; the exit is the axon.

Hypothalamus

A tiny part of the brain, located below the thalamus, that maintains homeostasis and produces and regulates vital behavior, such as eating, drinking, and sexual behavior.

Parasympathetic Division

Acts to calm the body after an emergency situation has engaged the sympathetic division; provides a means for the body to maintain storage of energy sources. -Ex: when you find, for instance, that the stranger at the window is actually your roommate, who has lost his keys and is climbing in the window to avoid waking you, your parasympathetic division begins to take over, lowering your heart rate, stopping your sweating, and returning your body to the state it was in before you became alarmed. - sexual arousal is controlled by the parasympathetic division. -Eyes: Contracts Pupils: -Lungs: Constricts Bronchi -Heart: Slows Heartbeat -Stomach Intestines: Stimulates Activity -Blood vessels of Internal Organs: Dilates vessels

Sympathetic Division

Acts to prepare the body in stressful emergency situations, engaging resources to respond to a threat -It's often called the "fight of flight" response. -sexual orgasm is a function of the sympathetic division. - eyes: dilates pupils (enhanced vision) -Lungs: relaxes Bronchi (increased air to lungs) -Heart: accelerates, strengthens heartbeat (increased oxygen) -Stomach Intestines: Inhibits activity ( blood sent to muscles) -Blood vessels of Internal Organs: Contracts vessels (increased blood pressure)

Reflex

An automatic, involuntary response to an incoming stimulus. - ex: touching a hot stove and immediately withdraw your hand.

Action Potential

An electric nerve impulse that travels through a neuron's axon when it is set off by a "trigger," changing the neuron's charge from negative to positive. - Just after an action potential has passed through a section of the axon, the cell membrane in that region cannot admit positive ions again for a few milliseconds, and so a neuron cannot fire again immediately no matter how much stimulation it receives.

Behavioral Genetics

An interdisciplinary field that studies the effects of genes and heredity on behavior.

Brain

An organ roughly half the size of a loaf of bread that constantly controls behavior.

Pancreas

An organs in the abdominal cavity with two roles. The first is an exocrine role: to produce digestive enzymes and bicarbonate, which are delivered to the small intestine via the pancreatic duct. The second is an endocrine role: to secrete insulin and glucagon into the bloodstream to help regulate blood glucose levels.

Temporal Lobe

Association Areas: One of the major regions of the cerebral cortex; the site of the higher mental processes, such as thought, language, memory, and speech. - related to planning, goal setting, judgement, and impulse control. -Temporal Lobes are found in the lower-center portion of the cortex.

Resting State

Before a neuron is triggered - that is, when it is in a resting state- it has a negative electrical charge of about - 70 millivolt ( a millivolt is 1/1,000 of a volt). This charge is caused by the presence of more negatively charge ions within the neuron than outside it. - When the positive charge reaches a critical level, the "trigger" is pulled, and an electrical impulse, known as an action potential, travels along the axon of the neuron.

Corpus Callosum

Bridge of fibers passing information between the two cerebral hemispheres.

Neuroplasticity

Changes in the brain that occur throughout the life span relating to the addition of new neurons, new interconnections between neurons, and the reorganization of information-processing areas. -although for many years conventional wisdom held that no new brain cells are created after childhood, but new neurons are also created in certain areas of the brain during adulthood.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.

Hormones

Chemicals that circulate through the blood and regulate the functioning or growth of the body. - are like neurotransmitters, although their speed and mode of transmission are quite different. whereas neural messages are measured in thousandths of a second; hormonal communications may take minutes to reach their destination.

Autonomic Division (involuntary)

Concerned with the parts of the body that function involuntarily without our awareness. -Sympathetic division -Parasympathetic Division

Central Nervous System

Consists of the brain and spinal cord -Brain -Spinal Cord

The Nervous System

Consists of the brain and the neurons extending throughout the body. -Peripheral Nervous System -Central Nervous System

Occipital Lobe

Deals with visuals. - related to planing, goal setting, judgement, and impulse control. Also language, memory, and speech. -Occipital Lobes lie behind the temporal lobes.

Cerebral Cortex

Extensive, wrinkled outer layer of the forebrain; governs higher brain functions, such as thinking, learning, and consciousness. -contains four lobes. - Frontal Lobe -Parietal Lobe -Temporal Lobe -Occipital Lobe

Step 2:

If an action potential arrives, the axon releases neurotransmitters.

Amygdala

Involved in fear and the discrimination of objects necessary for organism's survival.

Hippocampus

Involved in memory

Dopamine (DA)

Location: Brain Effect: Inhibitory or excitatory Function: Movement control, pleasure and reward, attention.

Acetylcholine (ACh)

Location: Brain, Spinal cord, peripheral nervous system, especially some organs of the parasympathetic nervous system Effect: excitatory in brain and autonomic nervous system; inhibitory elsewhere Function: Muscle movement, cognitive functioning

Gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA)

Location: Brain, spinal cord Effect: Main inhibitory neurotransmitter Function: Eating, aggression, sleeping

Glutamate

Location: Brain, spinal cord Effect: excitatory Function: Memory

Serotonin

Location: Brain,spinal cord Effect: Inhibitory Function: Sleeping, eating, mood, pain, depression

Endorphins

Location: brain, spinal cord Effect: Primarily inhibitory, except in hippocampus Function: Pain suppression, pleasureable feelings, appetites, placebos

Peripheral Nervous System

Made up of long axons and dendrites, it contains all parts of the nervous system other than the brain and spinal cord. - Somatic Division (voluntary) - Autonomic Division ( Involuntary)

Heart

Makes atrial natriuretic peptide, which lowers blood sodium.

Pineal

Makes melatonin, which regulates daily rhythms . -Melanin: a dark brown to black pigment occurring in the hair, skin, and iris of the eye in people and animals. It is responsible for tanning of skin exposed to sunlight.

Frontal Lobe

Motor area: The part of the cortex that is largely responsible for the body's voluntary movement. -Frontal lobes lie at the front center of the cortex

Motor (efferent) Neurons

Neurons that communicate information from the nervous system to muscles and glands

Interneurons

Neurons that connect sensory and motor neurons, carrying messages between the two. -ex: interneurons help us recognize a song by linking what we are hearing from the auditory sense to the place in the brain where the song is being stored.

Sensory (afferent) Neurons

Neurons that transmit information from the perimeter of the body to the central nervous system.

Step 1:

Neurotransmitters are produced and stored in the axon.

Step 3:

Neurotransmitters travel across the synapse to receptor sites on another neuron's dendrite.

Testes

Produce androgens, such as testosterone, which control reproduction in males. -ex: steroids, which act like testosterone, is increasingly common. For athletes and others who want to bulk up their appearance, steroids provide a way to add muscle weight and increase strength. However, these drugs can lead to stunted growth, shrinking of the testicles, heart attacks, strokes, and cancer, making them extremely dangerous. Can produce violent behavior.

Adipose Tissue

Produces adipokines (for example, leptin), which regulate appetite and metabolic rate.

Glial Cells

Provide nourishment to neurons, insulate them, help repair damage, and generally support neural functioning.

Reuptake

Reabsorption of neurotransmitters by a terminal button.

Thyroid

Regulates metabolic rate and growth

Liver and Kidneys:

Secrete erythropoietin, which regulates production of red blood cells.

Stomach and small intestine

Secrete hormones that facilitate digestion and regulate pancreatic activity.

Parietal Lobe

Sensory Area: The site in the brain of the tissue that corresponds to each of the senses, with the degree of sensitivity related to the amount of tissue. -ex:sight, sound, touch, pressure in particular part of the body. -Parietal lobes lie behind the frontal lobes.

Terminal Buttons

Small bulges at the end of axons that send messages to other neurons. - they release neurotransmitter to communicate with other neurons.

Mirror Neurons

Specialized neurons that fire not only when a person enacts a particular behavior, but also when a person simply observes another individual carrying out the same behavior -Have the capacity to understand others' intentions; like predict what their goals are and what they may do next.

Somatic Division (voluntary)

Specializes in the control of voluntary movements and the communication of information to and from the sense organs.

Hemispheres

Symmetrical left and right halves of the brain that control the side of the body opposite to their location.

Central Core

The "old brain," which controls basic functions such as eating and sleeping and is common to all vertebrates (species with backbones.)

Evolutionary Psychology

The branch of psychology that seeks to identify behavior patterns that are a result of our genetic inheritance from our ancestors.

Neurogenesis

The creation of new neurons.

Lateralization

The dominance of one hemisphere of the brain in specific functions, such as language. -ex: for most people, language processing occurs more in the left side of the brain. In general, the left hemisphere concentrates more on tasks that require verbal competence, such as speaking, reading, thinking, and reasoning. In addition, the left hemisphere tends to process information sequentially, one bit at a time.

Lobes

The four major sections of the cerebral cortex:frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital.

Pituitary Gland

The major component of the endocrine system, or "master gland," which secretes hormones that control growth and other parts of endocrine system.

Thalamus

The par of the brain located in the middle of the central core that acts primarily to relay information about the senses. - Relays information between lower and higher brain centers.

Central Nervous System (CNS)

The par of the nervous system that includes the brain and spinal cord.

Reticular Formation

The part of the brain extending from the medulla through the pons and made up of groups of nerve cells that can immediately activate other parts of the brain to produce general bodily arousal. -and stereotyped patterns, such as walking.

Cerebellum

The part of the brain that controls bodily balance. Without the help of the cerebellum we would be unable to walk a straight line without staggering and lurching forward, for it is the job of the cerebellum to control bodily balance.

Limbic System

The part of the brain that controls eating, aggression, and reproduction. - its involved in self-preservation, learning, memory, and the experience of pleasure.

All-of-none law

The rule that neurons are either on or off. Once there is enough force to pull the trigger pull the trigger, a neuron fires.

Synapse

The space between two neurons where the axon of a sending neuron communicates with the dendrites of receiving neuron by using chemical messages.

Step 4:

When a neurotransmitter fits into a receptor site, it delivers an excitatory or inhibitory message. If enough excitatory messages are delivered, the neuron will fire.

Excitatory Message

a chemical message that makes it more likely that a receiving neuron will fire and an action potential will travel down its axon

Inhibitory Message

a chemical message that prevents or decreases the likelihood that a receiving neuron will fire

The most important scanning techniques are...

are electroencephalogram (EEG), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Imaging (TMS).

Ovaries

produce estrogens such as progesterone, which control reproduction in females.