Biological psychology
Scientific study of relationship between body+mind
Neurons
Building block of nervous system
Cell body (soma)
Maintains neuron health
Dendrites
Receive messages
Axon
Passes messages from cell body to other neurons
Myelin sheath
Protects axon/speeds process
Axon terminal
Sends info
Refractory period
Pumps positive ions back outside to fire again
Threshold
Stimulation needed to trigger action potential
All-or-none response
Neuron either fires or doesn't, always at same speed+intensity
Synapse
Gap between axon tip of one neuron/dendrite of a second neuron
Acetylcholine
Muscle movement/memory, alzheimers
Dopamine
Movement/reward systems, schizophrenia
Serotonin
Mood/sleep, depression
Norepinephrine
Arousal/mood/sympathetic nervous system activation, bipolar
GABA
Inhibitory, anxiety
Endorphins
Pleasure+mood/pain reduction, like opium-based drugs
Agonist
Mimics neurotransmitter
Antagonist
Inhibits neurotransmitter
Nervous system
Fast communication system of body
Central nervous system
Brain/spinal cord, makes decisions
Peripheral nervous system
Gathers info, sends to CNS
Nerves
Receive/send messages between body/brain
Sensory neurons
Info from senses to CNS
Motor neurons
Info from CNS to muscles/glands/organs
Interneurons
Connect sensory/motor inputs, connection between brain/spinal cord
Somatic nervous system
Controls voluntary movements
Autonomic nervous system
Controls glands/organs, automatic
Sympathetic nervous system
Arouses body, uses energy
Parasympathetic nervous system
Calms body, conserves energy
Reflexes
Automatic response to stimulus when brain has no time to process info
Endocrine system
Slower body communication system
Hormones
Chemical messengers
Adrenal gland
Fight/flight
Pituitary gland
Controls all other glands
Lesion
Damaged part of brain
EEG
Brain wave patterns, electrical activity
CT scan
More detailed X-ray, horizontal slices
PET scan
Brain activity by monitoring glucose
MRI
More detailed CT scan
fMRI
MRI with brain functioning via blood flow
Medulla
Heartbeat/breathing
Pons
Movement, sleep/waking up
Thalamus
Takes in sensory info (not smell)
Reticular formation
Connects spine to thalamus, filters stimuli
Cerebellum
Muscle memory, voluntary movements, balance
Amygdala
Emotion (aggression/fear)
Hypothalamus
Homeostasis
Hippocampus
Processes+stores conscious memories
Cerebral cortex
Outer surface of brain where info is processed
Frontal lobes
Thinking, judgement, decision-making
Parietal lobes
Touch/sensory processing
Occipital lobes
Vision
Temporal lobes
Hearing
Motor cortex
Voluntary movements
Somatosensory cortex
Processes touch/movement stimuli
Association areas
Not motor/sensory, higher mental functioning
Broca's area
Speech production
Wernicke's area
Processing speech
Left hemisphere
Language, logic
Right hemisphere
Interpretation, recognition
Split brain procedure
Cut corpus callosum
Corpus callosum
Group of axons that connect the hemispheres
Dual processing
Info processes consciously and unconsciously
Cognitive neuroscience
Study of brain activity/cognition
Behavior genetics
Nature v. nurture
Molecular genetics
Studies function of genes
Heritability
How much of differences is explained by genetic info
Epigenetics
Environment can switch genes on and off
Evolutionary psychology
Link between behavior/mind to reproduction/survival
Mutation
Random error in genes
Sensation
Converting sensory input into neural impulses
Perception
How we organize/interpret that info
Bottom-up processing
No prior knowledge---parts -> whole
Top-down processing
Prior knowledge---whole -> parts
Selective attention
Focusing on a specific stimulus
Inattention blindness
Not seeing visual stimuli when attention is elsewhere
Change blindness
Not noticing changes in environment
Transduction
Changing sensory input into neural impulses/sending it to brain
Absolute threshold
Minimum stimulation to detect stimulus (50%+ of time)
Signal detection theory
Depends not just on stimulus but also on psychological state
Subliminal
Below absolute threshold
Priming
Perceiving stimulus unconsciously
Difference threshold
Detecting difference of stimulus 50%+ of time
Weber's law
Difference threshold is proportional: +impulse -> +change needed
Sensory adaptation
Constant exposure to stimulus lowers sensitivity to it
Context effects
Context---top-down influences perception
Perceptual set
Mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
Wavelength
Peak-peak/trough-trough
Pupil
Adjustable eye opening, light enters
Lens
Changes shape to focus, accommodates to near/far
Retina
Back of eye, holds rods/cones
Cornea
Transparent covering, protects eye
Iris
Controls size of pupil, a muscle
Accommodation
Adjusting to near/far
Rods
Receptors, black/white/peripheral
Cones
Near center, high sensitivity, color
Optic nerve
Takes visual info to thalamus
Fovea
Central focal point at back of eye
Feature detectors
Neurons in visual cortex respond to specific features
Parallel processing
Processing aspects of an image simultaneously
Young-Helmholtz---Trichromatic theory
Three color theory (red, green, and blue)
Operant-Process Theory
Three sets of opposing retinal processes: afterimage