| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Central Nervous System | spinal cord and brain |
| Peripheral Nervous System | the section of the nervous system lying outside the brain and spinal cord |
| psychobiology | study of biological basics of behavior |
| somatic nervous system | division of peripheral nervous system; controls voluntary actions |
| autonomic nervous system | division of the nervous system that control the glands and organs; its divisions arouse or calm |
| Wernicke's area | language area, if there is a lision you have trouble understanding or comprehending speech |
| somatosensory cortex | The area of the parietal lobes that processes information from sensory receptors in the skin |
| 4 lobes of the brain | frontal, parietal, temporal, ocipital |
| 2 parts of the autonomic nervous system | sympathetic and parasympathetic |
| sympathetic nervous system (autonomic or peripheral) | nervous system that regulates fight or flight |
| parasympathetic nervous system | nervous system that calms system down |
| processing sensory info | sensory neurons, spinal cord, brain, motor neurons |
| medulla | regulates heart rate and breathing |
| pons | bridge from upper to lower brain, affects eating and facial movements |
| cerebellum | the "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem; it helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance |
| reticular activating system | screens out information traveling from brain stem to the mid brain |
| Brain stem components | medulla, pons, cerebellum, reticular activating system |
| Mid brain components | substantia nigra, superior and inferior colliculus |
| substantia nigra | involved in smooth initiation of movement |
| superior colliculus | part of the brain that controls the response to visual stimulus |
| inferior colliculus | part of the brain in charge of the response to auditory stimulus |
| Forebrain components | cerebral cortex, frontal lobe, motor cortex, prefrontal cortex |
| cerebral cortex | outer layer of brain (bark), the outer surface of the two cerebral hemispheres that regulates most complex behavior |
| motor cortex | area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements |
| Broca's area | controls speech, production of language |
| prefrontal cortex | area of cortex at the front of the brain that specializes in the executive functions of anticipation, planning, and impulse control |
| sensory neuron | a neuron conducting impulses inwards to the brain or spinal cord |
| motor neuron | this carries information from the brain to the muscles |
| frontal lobe | located in the front most portion of the brain, involved with motor movements, speech, and executive functions |
| parietal lobe | lobe located in the middle front area of the brain, involved with sensory stimuli and emotion |
| ocipital lobe | in the rear most area of the brain, area where visual information is interpreted |
| temporal lobe | located above the ears, area where auditory information is interpreted |
| corpus callosum | fibers that connect the two hemispheres, transfers information back and forth |
| basal ganglia | part of the brain located below the lobes, above the limbic system; two sets of bulb like structures that help control movement, produce dopamine, reward for pleasurable activities |
| auditory cortex | in temporal lobe; analyzes and recognizes sound |
| limbic system components | hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, cingulate cortex |
| hypothalamus | part of the limbic system, in charge of 4 F's, feeding, fighting, fleeing, fornication |
| amygdala | part of the limbic system, involved with strongest emotions, such as fear and agression |
| hippocampus | part of the limbic system and is involved in learning and forming new long-term memories |
| thalamus | egg shaped component of the limbic system, sends information to correct portions of the brain (traffic cop) |
| cingulate cortex | part of the limbic system that processes cognitive information and emotion (empathy) |
| cerebral ventricles | tube like structures in the middle of the brain filled with cerebro spinal fluid |
| phrenology | early method (1800's) of linking the brain areas to their functions, based on bumps on the scalp and personality traits |
| neurons | basic communicators in the brain, over 100 billion, bundles of them make nerves |
| dendrites | leaf like projections at the end of a neuron that receive messages from other neurons |
| soma | cell body |
| cell body | located inside dendrites, house nucleus and DNA |
| Axon | long fiber that carries impulses away from the cell body of a neuron |
| myelin sheath | layer of cells, develops with age, that coats axon, made of glial cells, also provides protection for axon |
| glial cells | these form the myelin sheath |
| terminal button | bulb at the end of the neuron holding the synaptic vesicles which contain neurotransmitters |
| nuerotransmitter examples | seratonin, endorphines, dopemine |
| presynaptic neuron | synaptic cell where neurotransmitter release occurs. |
| synaptic gap | space between the axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrite receptors of the next neuron |
| postsynaptic neuron | synaptic cell where neurotransmitter is absorbed. |
| resting potential or refractory period | The state of a neuron when it is at rest and capable of generating an action potential, the axon is negatively charged inside, and positively charged outside |
| process of a neuron impulse | resting potential, irritability, depolarization, all or none, action potential, conduct, rest potential |
| irritability | the process during which the dendrite gathers information |
| depolarization | the process during which positively charged ions flow into the axon, making it less negatively charged inside. |
| All or None law | an action potential either occurs or doesn't (no halfway) and once triggered it travels down the axon remaining the same size |
| Conduction | the impulse races down the axon |
| ESB | Electrical stimulation of brain |
| EEG | Electroenchephalography |
| CAT | Computerized Axial Tomography |
| PET | Positron Emission Tomography |
| MRI | Magnetic Resonance Imaging |
| TMS | Transcranial Magnetic stimulation |
| MEG | magnetoecncephalography |
| antagonist | impede or reduce neurotransmitter activity by blocking neurotransmitter binding, or speeding up re-uptake |
| agonist | increase neurotransmitter activity by pretending to be a certain neurotransmitter by blocking reuptake of transmitter |
| deep brain stimulation therapy | ESB |
| an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface. These waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp | EEG |
| x-rays of structures in brain | CAT |
| a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task, radioactive subst. injected to measure glucose in blood and brain activity | PET |
| noninvasive imaging technique that uses radio waves and a strong magnetic field to produce multiplanar cross-sectional images | fMRI |
| hand held magnet to send electric impulses to brain to change brain activity | TMS |
| detects electrical activity per millisecond | MEG |
| Broca's aphasia | damage to the speech production area of the brain, causes speech to be slow |
| aculculia | difficulty with mathematics caused by damage to parietal lobe |
| contralateral neglect | complete lack of attention to one side of your body, caused by damage to parietal lobe |
| Wernicke's aphasia | difficulties understanding speech, disorganized speech patterns |
| Parkinson's disease | caused by damage to basal ganglia and substantia nigra |
| ADHD | one possibility of this condition is due to the RAS functioning improperly |
| vegetative state | caused by damage to medulla |
| acquired sociopathy | a lack of empathy or concern for others, results in damage to cingulate cortex |
| multiple sclerosis | caused by damage to myelin sheath |
Combine with other sets
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