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60 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Biological Psychology
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A branch of Psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior
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Neuron
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A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system
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Dendrite
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The bushy, branching extenstions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body
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Axon
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The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages are sent to other neurons or to muscles or glands
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Myelin sheath
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A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; makes possible vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses
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Biological Psychology
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A branch of Psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior
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Neuron
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A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system
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Dendrite
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The bushy, branching extenstions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body
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Axon
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The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages are sent to other neurons or to muscles or glands
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Myelin sheath
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A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; makes possible vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses
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Action potential
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A neural impulse; a breif electrical charge that travels down an axon. The action potential is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and our of channels in the axon's membrane
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Threshold
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The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse
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Synapse
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The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the "synaptic gap" or "cleft"
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Neurotransmitters
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Chemical messengers that transverse the synaptic gap between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to the receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether it will generate a neural impulse
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Acetylcholine
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A neurotransmitter that, among its functions, triggers muscle contraction
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Endorphins
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The "morphine within"- natural opiate;ole neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure
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Nervous system
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The body's speedy, electrochemical communication system, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and sentral nervous systems
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Central nervous system (CNS)
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The brain and spinal cord
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Peripheral nervous system (PNS)
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The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system (CNS) to the rest of the body
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Nerves
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Neural "cables" containing many axons, which are part of the peripheral nervous system, connect the cemtral nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs
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Sensory neurons
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Neurons that carry incoming information for the sensed receptors to the CNS
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Interneurons
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CNS neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs
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Motor neurons
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The neurons that carry outgoing information from the CNS to the muscles and glands
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Skeletal nervous system
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The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles
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Autonomic nervous system
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The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs. Its sympathetic division arouses;its parasympathetic division calms
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Sympathetic nervous system
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The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations
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Parasympathetic nervous system
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The division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy
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Reflex
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A simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response
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Brainstem
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The oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; it is responsible for automatic survival functions
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Medulla
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The base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing
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Reticular formation
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A nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in controlling arousal
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Thalamus
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The brain's sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainste,; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla
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Hypothalamus
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A neural structure lying below the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activites (eating drinking body temp), helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion
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Cerebral cortex
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The inricate fabric of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center
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Glial cells
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Non-neural nervous system cells that support, nourish, and protect neurons
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Frontal lobes
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The portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments
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Parietal lobes
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The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; includes the sensory cortex
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Occipital lobes
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The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes the visual areas which recieve visual information from the opposite visual field
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Temporal lobes
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The portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each of which receives auditory information primarily from the opposite ear
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Motor cortex
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An area that is located at the rear of the fronatal lobes and that controls voluntary movements
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Sensory cortex
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The area that is located at the front of the parietal lobes and that registers and processes body sensations
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Association areas
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Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in high mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking
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Aphasia
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Impairment of language, usually caused by left hempisphere damage either to Broca's area (impairing speaking) or Wernicke's area (impairing understanding)
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Broca's area
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An area of the frontal lobe, in the left hempisphere for most people that directs the muscle movements involved in speech
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Wernicke's area
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An area of the left temporal lobe involved in language comprehension
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Plasticity
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The brain's capacity for modification, as evident in reorganization following damage (especially in children) and in experiments on the effects of experiance on brain development
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Corpus callosum
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The large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hempispheres and carrying the messages between them
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Split-brain
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A condition in which the two hempispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connecting fibers between them
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Endocrine system
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The body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete horomones into the bloodstream
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Horomones
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Chemical messangers, mostly those manufactured by the endocrine glands that are produced in one tissue and affect another
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Adrenal glands
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A pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys. The adrenals secrete the horomones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) which help to arrouse the body in times of stress
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Pituitary gland
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The endocrine's system most influential gland. Under the influenceof the hyupothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands
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Chromosomes
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threadlike structures made from DNA molecules that contains the genes
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DNA
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A complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes
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genes
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The biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes
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Evolutionary psychology
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The study of the evolution of behavior using the principles of natural selection, which presumably favor behavioral tendencies that contribute to the preservations and spread of one's genes
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Behavior genetics
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The study of the power and limits of genetic and enviornmental influences on behavior
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Identical twins
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Twins who develop from and single zygote that splits into two creating to genetic replicas
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Fraternal twins
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Twins who develop from seperate zygotes. They are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share the same fetal enviornment
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Heritability
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The proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes
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