Biological Psychology Chapters 1-4

The experience your brain creates when something interacts with your senses.

The idea that everything, including thoughts and matter, is made of the same fundamental substance.

The belief that the mind and matter are separate substances.

Thoughts and brain activity are the same thing.

Focuses on how the physical body affects behavior, (e.g., growth of a specific brain area).

Focuses on how environment and development affects animal behavior; how experience shapes an animal.

Focuses on the history and evolution of behaviors.

Focuses on the purpose or function of a behavior.

There are four types of explanations for behaviors, all can be used to explain the bird's song.

A psychiatrist helps people with emotional distress or troublesome behaviors, sometimes using medication or medical procedures.

Allied medical fields usually require a master's degree or more, and practitioners work in hospitals, clinics, private practices, or medical schools.

Helps people with muscle or nerve problems, pain, or impaired movement using exercise and treatments.

Helps people improve daily life functions, like after a stroke.

Helps people with personal and family problems.

Underlying mechanisms of behavior are similar across species, sometimes easier to study in nonhumans.

Interest in animals for their own sake.

Learning about animals informs human evolution.

Cells in the nervous system that receive and transmit information to other cells.

Cells that support and protect neurons, maintaining homeostasis and assisting in signal transmission.

A protective barrier that separates the blood from the brain and spinal cord, controlling what substances can enter.

The surface of a cell that separates the inside of the cell from the outside environment.

A neuron that carries signals from the brain or spinal cord to muscles, causing movement.

A neuron specialized to detect and respond to stimuli (e.g., light, sound, touch).

A neuron's long, thin fiber that transmits signals away from the cell body.

Branching fibers of a neuron that receive signals from other neurons.

Star-shaped glia that help synchronize the activity of neurons and regulate the chemical content of synapses.

The junction where a neuron communicates with another cell.

Insulating material that encases some axons, speeding up signal transmission.

The primary fuel source for neurons.

Strength of an impulse weakens as it travels through the body, unlike electricity in copper wire which doesn't decay.

Axons regenerate the impulse signal at each point, preventing signal weakening unlike electrical conduction.

Neural signal transmission is slower than electrical conduction, ranging from less than 1 m/s to around 100 m/s.

Messages within a neuron emerge from changes in its resting potential.

The neuron's membrane is a double layer of phospholipids with embedded proteins, allowing or blocking chemical passage.

The difference in electrical charge across the neuron membrane at rest, typically -70 mV.

The electrical gradient maintained across the neuron membrane at rest, resulting in a slightly negative inside the cell in relation with the outside.

Resting potential can be measured using microelectrodes, which are small glass tubes filled with salt solution.

The neuron membrane's ability to allow certain chemicals to pass more freely than others.

A protein complex that actively transports sodium ions out and potassium ions into the cell, maintaining ion concentration gradients.

Sodium ions are more concentrated outside the cell, and both electrical and concentration gradients drive them into the cell when the membrane isn't blocked.

Potassium ions are more concentrated inside the cell, facing a balance between electrical and concentration forces, making them leak out.

Inside cell negative proteins contribute to the resting potential difference by creating an overall negative charge.

Channels (and gates) that allow some molecules and ions to pass through the membrane.

The resting potential establishes an electrical gradient that is essential for the generation and transmission of neural signals.

Chemicals released by neurons that affect other neurons.

Most abundant neurotransmitter in the nervous system.

Neurotransmitters made from amino acids, e.g., glutamate, GABA.

Modified amino acid neurotransmitter.

Neurotransmitters modified from amino acids, including serotonin and dopamine.

Chains of amino acids acting as neurotransmitters.

Odd neurotransmitter; a gas that dilates blood vessels.

Neurotransmitter release from presynaptic terminal.

Space between presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons.

Neurotransmitter's quick, on-off effect on channels.

Slower, longer-lasting neurotransmitter effect via metabolic pathways.

Common inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain.

Enzyme that breaks down neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.

Controls tongue movement

Part of the CNS, communicates with body, excluding head.

Located in dorsal root ganglia, outside spinal cord.

Located inside the spinal cord

Controls involuntary functions (heart, intestines).

"Fight or flight" response; increases activity.

Chains near the thoracic and lumbar spinal cord.

Norepinephrine (some use acetylcholine).

"Rest and digest" response; conserves energy.

Near target organs, not in a chain.

Acetylcholine

Medulla, pons, and cerebellum; basic life functions.

Tectum and tegmentum; vision, hearing, movement.

Cerebral cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia; higher functions.

Controls vital reflexes (breathing, heart rate).

Axon crossing; left hemisphere controls right side.

Movement, balance, coordination.

Midbrain roof; superior and inferior colliculi (vision and hearing).

Under the tectum; structures like substantia nigra (movement readiness).

Outer layer of forebrain; receives sensory info, directs movement.

Sensory relay center; processes and sends to cortex.

Essential for basic drives (eating, drinking, reproduction).

Essential for learning and spatial navigation.

Evaluates emotional information, especially fear.