Ch 6: Biological Bases of Behavior
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sarafavero13 on March 11, 2012
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81 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 EEG | measures changes in brain electrical activity through electrodes placed on the head (electrical picture of brain) |
| MRI | X-ray technique that gives highly detailed pictures of the brain |
| PET | allow a view of the brain as it's working via a diffusion of radioactive glucose |
| CAT | cross-sectional images of the brain through an X-ray like technique |
| fMRI | rapid sequencing of MRI images that allow a view of the brain as its working |
| central nervous system | brain and spinal cord |
| peripheral nervous system | all other nerves in the body |
| afferent neurons | nerves sending information to the brain (Arriving) |
| efferent neurons | convey information from the brain (Exiting) |
| reflexes | quick and involutary responses to environmental stimuli |
| somatic nervous system | responsible for voluntary movement of large skeletal muscles |
| autonomic nervous system | controls self-regulated action of internal organs |
| fight-or-flight reaction | heightened state of physiological arousal (prepares body to flee or defend itself) |
| parasympathetic nervous system | calms the body down and conserves energy (the PARAmedics calm you down) |
| hindbrain | oldest part of brain composed of the cerebellum, medulla oblongata, reticual activating system, pons, and thalamus |
| midbrain | part of the brain containing the tectum and tegmentum |
| forebrain | contains the limbic system, or emotional center of the brain, as well as the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus |
| cerebral cortex | wrinkled outer layer of the brain |
| cerebellum | controls muscle tone and balance |
| medulla oblongata | controls involuntary actions (i.e. breating, heart rate, swallowing) |
| reticular activation system | controlas arousal (wakefulness and alertness) |
| pons | pass neural information from one brain region to another; help induce REM sleep |
| thalamus | relays sensory infomation |
| limbic system | emotional center of the brain |
| hippocampus | memories (elephants never forget, and HIPPOs always remember) |
| tectum | brain's roof |
| tegmentum | brain's floor |
| amygdala | anger, fear, and frustration |
| hypothalamus | homeostasis; body temperature, hunger, thirst, and sex drives; contains the pituitary gland |
| lateral hypothalamus | "on switch" for eating (regulates eating behaviors and body weight) |
| ventromedial hypothalamus | "off switch" for eating (regulates eating behaviors and body weight) |
| sensory cortex | receives sensory input |
| motor cortex | sends out motor information |
| left and right cerebral hemispheres | two symmetrical-looking sides of the brain (left: language processing; right: visual and spatial information) |
| expressive aphasia | damage to the left hemisphere results in loss of the ability to speak (Paul Broca) |
| receptive amnesia | inability to comprehend speech (discovered by Carl Wernicke) |
| Roger Sperry | demonstrated that the two hemispheres of the brain can operate independently of each other by severing patients' corpus callosums |
| split-brain patients | patients who had their corpus callosums severed to control their epileptic seizures |
| contralateral processing | information is processed on opposite side from which its recieved |
| corpus callosum | brand of connective nerve fibers that joins the two hemispheres of the brain |
| Broca's area | speech |
| Wernicke's area | comprehending speech |
| frontal lobe | high-level though and resoning (i.s. memory, problem solving, forming judgement, and making plans) |
| parietal lobe | touch/senses (next to the somato sensory strip) receives information about temperature, pressure, texture and pain |
| temporal lobe | hearing |
| occipital lobe | vision |
| agnosia | difficulty processing sensory input |
| apraxia | inability to organize movement |
| alexia | inability to read |
| nerves | bundles of neurons |
| neurons | basic unit of the nervous system |
| axons | long, tubelike structure that transmits a neural message down its length and then passes its information on to other cells |
| dendrites | recieve input from other neurons through recptors on their surface |
| soma | cell body |
| myelin sheath | fatty coating around axon that speeds up the rate at which electrical information travels down the axon |
| nodes of Ranvier | small "pinches" in the myelin sheath that help speed up neural transmission |
| terminal buttons | small knobs at the end of axons that secrete chemicals called neurotransmitters |
| synapse | gap between terminal buttons and the cell body/dendrites of other neurons that neurotransmitters must cross |
| neurotransmitters | chemical messengers |
| nerve impulse | same as action potential |
| action potential | level of stimulation that allow the neuron to "fire"...this continues on down the axon until the action potential reaches the terminal buttons where it causes the release of a neurotransmitter |
| acetylcholine | neurotransmitter that afftects memory function and muscle contraction (heart) |
| seratonin | neurotransmitter that is related to arousal, sleep, pain sensitivity, and mood & hunger regulation (not enough=depression) |
| dopamine | neurotransmitter thats associated with movement, attention, and reward (not enough=Parkinson's too much=Schizophrenia) |
| GABA | inhibitory neurotransmitter |
| norepinephrine | neurotransmitter that affects levels of alertness |
| endorphins | body's natural pain killers |
| pituitary gland | master gland that releases hormones, which in turn control hormonal release by many other glands |
| adrenal glands | secrete epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) which results in the fight-or-flight reaction |
| hormones | chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues |
| ACTH | released in stressful situations and alerts the adrenal glands resulting in fight-or-flight reactions |
| epinephrine | adrenaline |
| thyroid gland | produces thryoxine which is important for regulating cellular metabolism |
| dominant trait | trait more likely to be passed on to offspring |
| recessive trait | trait less likely to be passed on to offspring |
| genotype | all the possible combination of fenes |
| phenotype | observable result (in relation to traits) |
| heritability | degree of variance among individuals that can be attributed to genetic variations |
| Punnett Square | a snazzy square used to see if a trait will show up |
| Down's syndrome | break in the 21st chromosome pair |
| Huntington's chorea | genetic disorder resulting in muscle impairment |
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