General Psychology Study Guide – Unit Two
Chapter 2: Behavioral Neuroscience
1) Be able to describe the overall structure of the nervous system, and
differentiate between the functions of each (i.e., the central and the
peripheral; the somatic and the autonomic; and the sympathetic and the
parasympathetic).
2) What are the functions of the endocrine system, and how does it
communicate information in the body and the brain? What is the so-called
“master gland”, and which structure in the brain regulates its activity?
3) What are the functions of neurons and of glial cells? Differentiate between
the functions of the three classes of neurons: sensory neurons, motor
neurons, and interneurons.
4) Understand how reflexes take place in the spinal cord.
5) Be able to identify the following parts of a neuron, and describe the functions
of each: dendrites, soma (cell body), nucleus, axon, myelin sheath,
synapse, axon terminals, receptor sites and vesicles. (see Figures 2.6
and 2.7)
6) Explain the electrochemical process by which neurons communicate.
a) Why is it that when a neuron is at rest it has a negative electrical potential,
or charge?
b) Understand that all information in the nervous system is coded in the form
of action potentials. Understand that this electrical event is triggered
when the electrical potential of the cell membrane reaches a certain
threshold value. The action potential then travels down the axon until it
finally reaches the synapses at the axon terminal buttons. What is the
effect of the action potential when it reaches the terminal buttons?
c) What does it mean to say that an action potential is governed by the allor-none response?
7) What are neurotransmitters? Understand how neurotransmitters produce
either excitatory or inhibitory effects on receiving neurons.
8) Understand how the analogy of a specific key fitting into a specific lock
applies to the action of neurotransmitters at synapses.
9) Understand how drugs affect behavior by influencing the activity of
neurotransmitters at synapses (i.e., by facilitating or inhibiting the release of
neurotransmitters, by mimicking or blocking the effects of neurotransmitter, or
by affecting the breakdown or reuptake of neurotransmitters).
10) What specific neurotransmitters are associated with Alzheimer’s disease,
depression, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease? How is
acetylcholine related to the drug curare, and to the poisoning produced by a
black widow spider? What are endorphins, and how are they related to
opiates such as heroin and morphine?
11) Be familiar with how case studies, electrical stimulation, and electrical
recordings (EEG) have been used to investigate the brain.
12) Compare and contrast the following technologies for brain imaging:
computerized axial tomography (CAT scan), positron emission
tomography (PET scan), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI and
fMRI). Which method of imaging provides the clearest pictures of the brain?
Which two methods are most useful for studying ongoing activity in particular
regions of the brain?
13) Be able to locate the pons, the medulla, the cerebellum, and the reticular
activating system, and identify the functions of each.
14) Be able to locate and describe the functions of the thalamus and the limbic
system. Which of these is known as the sensory relay station of the brain?
Which of the structures within the limbic system is most directly associated
with the endocrine system? Which limbic structure is associated with the
formation of new memories? Which limbic structure is constantly scanning the
environment for possible threats, and is associated with aggressive behavior
in animals?
15) Describe the functions of the cerebral cortex. Be able to identify the four
lobes of the cortex found in each hemisphere: the frontal lobes, the
temporal lobes, the parietal lobes, and the occipital lobes. Which lobes
contain the motor cortex, the somatosensory cortex, the auditory cortex,
and the visual cortex? Understand the functions of the association areas
of the cortex in integrating information processed in the primary cortical areas.
16) Explain the difference between the two language areas of the cortex
(Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area). What are the symptoms of a patient
suffering from Broca’s aphasia?
17) Discuss the relation between handedness and cerebral lateralization. How
common are left-handers? What are two explanations for why the proportion
of left-handers tends to decrease through the lifespan?
18) In what kinds of task does the left hemisphere tend to be superior to the right
hemisphere, and vice versa?
19) What disorder has been treated by severing the corpus callosum? Be
familiar with how such split-brain patients respond to questions under
experimental conditions such as those described on pg. 67.
20) What does the term plasticity refer to with respect to the brain? Discuss
whether the adult brain can be changed through enrichment experiences.
What is an explanation for the phantom limb phenomenon?
21) What does the term neurogenesis refer to, and how does this process
change over the course of a lifetime? Is it possible restore brain function
through neural grafting?
Chapter 4 – Sleep and Dreaming (pages 140-153)
1) What are circadian rhythms? What happens to the sleep/wake cycles of
people living in special environments insulated from natural light and other
time cues?
2) What types of brainwaves are associated with a waking state? (Hint: beta
waves) What type of brain waves are associated with a relaxed state, such
as when a person is meditating? (Hint: alpha waves) What type of brain
waves signify that a person is falling asleep? (Hint: theta waves) What type
of brainwaves are associated with deep sleep? (Hint: delta waves)
3) Describe each of the four stages of NREM sleep and compare and contrast
them with REM sleep. Why is the REM stage sometimes referred to as
“paradoxical sleep”?
4) How many NREM-REM cycles does an adult typically pass through in the
course of a night’s sleep? What changes can be observed in the relative
length of the different sleep stages over the course of a night? How do typical
sleep patterns differ among infants, children, young adults, and the elderly in
terms of total length of sleep and relative length of NREM/REM phases?
5) Compare and contrast the restoration theory of why we sleep with the
circadian theory. (page 148)
6) What are three sources of evidence that REM activity is biologically adaptive?
(page 149)
7) What are the most common topics of human dreams?
8) What is the significance of dreaming according to Sigmund Freud?
Distinguish between the manifest content of a dream and the latent
content.
9) How do dreams arise according to the activation-synthesis theory? How do
PET scans help to explain why dreams often are bizarre and illogical?
10) What is lucid dreaming?
11) Be able to describe the defining characteristics of insomnia, sleep apnea,
narcolepsy, REM behavior disorder, nightmares, night terrors, and
sleepwalking.
Chapter 12 – Emotion
1) Distinguish between the three components of the textbook definition of
emotion.
2) How does the James-Lange theory of emotions differ from the CannonBard theory? Which of these theories is supported by evidence that different
emotions are associated with different patterns of physiological arousal?
Which of these theories is supported by evidence that quadriplegics with
damage low on the spinal column continue to feel intense emotions?
3) Understand the role played by the central nervous system (especially the
limbic system and the amygdala) and the peripheral nervous system (i.e., the
sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions) in the regulation of emotion. How
are the two hemispheres involved in regulating different kinds of emotion?
4) How is a polygraph test used to detect lying? What technique can be used
to fool a polygraph?
5) Why did Darwin believe that the behavioral expression of emotion is
adaptive? What evidence exists that the behavioral expression of certain
emotions is innate and universal?
6) What is the basic premise of the facial-feedback theory of emotions?
7) Describe Schacter’s two-factor theory of emotion, and be able to describe
the study described on pg. 481. Understand that cognitive appraisal is
important in explaining why two people faced with the same situation may
have very different emotional reactions.
8) Understand how arousal produced by one source can be misattributed to
another source.
9) Be familiar with survey research on the prevalence of happiness. What is the
relationship between income and subjective well being?
10) The experience of happiness is always relative. Understand how social
comparison and adaptation-level suggest two different standards against
which we assess our own happiness.
11) Understand why the capacity to experience emotion was essential to the
survival of our ancestors. Be able to explain the specific adaptive advantage
conferred by each of the following emotions: happiness, fear, disgust, love,
and anger. (Class notes)
Evolution and Psychology (pages 308 – 314)
1) Describe the principle of natural selection and be familiar with the five core
principles of natural selection listed at the bottom of page 308.
2) Understand the concept of adaptation and that natural selection works at the
genetic level; genes that build bodies and brains that allow individuals to best
survive and reproduce are the genes that enjoy a selective advantage.
3) Consider how natural selection builds behavioral adaptations as well as
physical adaptations. Discuss how aggressive behavior and altruistic or
helping behavior can serve an adaptive purpose.
4) Understand the principle underlying kinship selection theory and explain
how it accounts for our tendency to help individuals who are biologically
related to us. Consider how the notion of reciprocal altruism explains the
tendency to help strangers.
5) Consider the ways in which the ancestral environment (i.e., the environment
in which our human forebears evolved) differed from the contemporary
environment in which we live today. How do these differences allow us to
understand the prevalence of certain maladaptive behaviors that
contemporary humans display (e.g., overconsumption of fatty foods)?