intro psych chapter 2

Types of Neurotransmitters

• Glutamate: Excitatory neurotransmitter.
• Dopamine: Involved in mood, sleep, and learning.
• Serotonin: Involved in mood, sleep, and appetite.
• GABA: Inhibitory neurotransmitter.
• Acetylcholine: Involved in muscle action and memory.

Neuron Structure

• Dendrites: Receive messages from other neurons.
• Soma: Cell body of the neuron.
• Axon: Carries messages to other neurons.
• Axon Terminal: Communicates with other nerve cells.

Neurotransmitter Function

• Antagonist: Blocks or reduces the effects of a neurotransmitter.
• Agonist: Mimics or enhances the effects of a neurotransmitter.

Glial Cells

• Support neuron function
• Assist in nutrient delivery
• Clean up dead neurons
• Provide insulation
• Communicate with neurons
• Help with the development and functioning of neurons

Myelin Sheath

• A fatty substance that insulates axons.
• Enables faster neural transmission.
• Produced by Oligodendrocytes (central nervous system) and Schwann cells (peripheral nervous system).

Nervous System Organization

• Central Nervous System: Brain and spinal cord.
• Peripheral Nervous System: Nerves connecting the central nervous system to the rest of the body.
• Autonomic Nervous System: Controls involuntary body functions.
  • Sympathetic Division: "Fight-or-flight" response.
  • Parasympathetic Division: "Rest and digest" response.
• Somatic Nervous System: Controls voluntary movements and senses.

Brain Structures

• Reticular Formation: Network of neurons responsible for arousal and attention.
• Thalamus: Processes sensory information before sending it to the cortex.
• Hypothalamus: Regulates body temperature, hunger, thirst, and sleep.
• Hippocampus: Responsible for the formation of long-term declarative memories.
• Amygdala: Processes emotions, especially fear and anxiety.
• Cingulate Cortex: Manages emotional and cognitive processing.
• Corpus Callosum: Connects the two hemispheres of the brain.
• Contralateral Organisation: Each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body.

General Brain Functions

• Corticalization: The process of increasing brain complexity.
• Bilateral Processing: Some information (e.g., hearing and vision) is processed by both hemispheres.
• Ipsilateral Processing: Some senses (e.g., taste and smell) are processed on one side of the brain.

The Cerebral Hemispheres

• The cortex is divided into two sections: the cerebral hemispheres.
• The two hemispheres are connected by a thick, tough band of axons called the corpus callosum.
• The wrinkling of the cortex allows more cortical cells to exist in it.

Brain Lateralization

• The view that different parts of the brain perform different functions.

Occipital Lobes

• Process visual information in the primary visual cortex.
• The visual association cortex helps identify and make sense of the visual information from the eyes.
• The occipital lobes primarily deal with sight.

Parietal Lobes

• Contain the somatosensory complex, which receives sensory information.
• Process information from the skin and internal body receptors related to touch, temperature, and body position.
• The somatosensory cortex is organized so that cells at the top receive signals from the lower body, and as you move down, they receive signals from higher body parts.
• The parietal lobes mainly deal with touch.

Temporal Lobes

• Contain the primary auditory cortex and auditory association area.
• Help process visual information.
• The left temporal lobe deals with language processing.
• The medial structures of the temporal lobe, such as the amygdala and hippocampus, deal with learning and memory.
• The temporal lobes mainly deals with hearing.

Frontal Lobes

• Handle higher mental functions like planning, personality, memory storage, complex decision-making, and language.
• Help regulate emotions through connections with the limbic system.
• The prefrontal cortex is the most forward part of the frontal lobes.
• Contains the motor cortex, which controls voluntary muscle movements by sending commands to the somatic nervous system.

Mirror Neurons

• A special type of neuron.
• Fire when an animal performs an action and when it observes the same action being performed by another animal.
• Found in both motor regions and areas involved in vision and memory.

Association Areas of the Cortex

• Association areas are made up of neurons in the cortex.
• Connect sensory information with stored memories, images, and knowledge.
• Help people make sense of the incoming sensory input.

Broca’s Area

• Located in the left frontal lobe.
• Allows a person to speak smoothly and fluently.
• Named after nineteenth-century neurologist Paul Broca, who first studied people with damage to this area.
• Damage to Broca's area leads to Broca's aphasia, where a person can understand speech but struggles to produce their own words.

Aphasia

• The inability to use or understand written or spoken language.

Wernicke’s Area

• Located in the left temporal lobe.
• Named after the physiologist Carl Wernicke, who first studied people with damage to this area.
• Deals with understanding the meaning of words.
• A person with Wernicke’s aphasia would be able to speak fluently and pronounce words correctly, but the meaning of the words would be wrong.

from textbook Ciccarelli, S. K., & White, J. N. (2015). Psychology (4th edition). New Jersey: Pearson.