Neural Communication: The axon terminal of one neuron is separated from the receiving neuron by a tiny gap. Nerve cells are functionally made to each other at a junction known as a synapse. Information is transmitted across the gap by chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. This causes activation in the post-synaptic cell and all cells possess the ability to respond to stimuli. The messages carried by the nervous system are electrical signals called impulses.
The Impact of neurotransmitters: It unlocks tiny openings at the receiving site for ions to enter the receiving neuron. They are responsible for the signaling that underlies thoughts, emotions, planning, and other types of behavior. Regulation of neurotransmitter signaling can therefore alter these processes. This idea is used in the treatment of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease, and psychiatric disorders such as depression.
Impact of Drugs/chemicals on Neural Communication: Some drugs excite by mimicking particular neurotransmitters or blocking their reuptake. Other drugs inhibit by blocking neurotransmitters.
Nervous system: the body's speedy, electrochemical communication system, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems. It is used to take in information from the world, make decisions, and give orders for the body's tissues.
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body.There are two parts: somatic, controls skeletal movements; autonomic, controls the glands and muscles of our internal organs. Two parts of the autonomic nervous system include: sympathetic and parasympathetic. Sympathetic arouses us for defensive actions while the parasympathetic conserves energy and calms the body.
Central Nervous System (CNS): the brain and the spinal cord. Neurons use it as a "highway" and cause reflexes, or automatic responses to stimuli.
Endocrine System: the body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glads that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.
Limbic System: a doughnut shaped system of neural structures at the border of the brain and the brain stem of cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions such as fear and aggression and drives such as those for food and sex.
Methods of Researching the Brain: the oldest method of research is clinical research, or observing the effects of damage that has been done. Today, scientists can do tests on the brain without damage done. They can stimulate the brain by using things such as an electroencephalogram (EEG), an amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface. These waves are measure by electrodes placed on the scalp. Another test is a computed tomography (CT) scan, a series of x-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice through the body. A third test us the positron emission tomography(PET) scan, a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radio active form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task. Finally, the brain can be tested through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images that distinguish among different types of soft tissue; allow us to see structures within the brain.
Parts of the Brain: Brain Stem - The brain stem plays a vital role in basic attention, arousal, and consciousness. All information to and from our body passes through the brain stem on the way to or from the brain. Thalamus - processes and relays movement and sensory information. It receives info. From all the senses except smell and routes them to the higher brain regions that deal with seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching. Cerebellum - The cerebellum is involved in the coordination of voluntary motor movement, balance and equilibrium and muscle tone. Limbic System - The limbic system is comprised of four main structures: the amygdala, the hippocampus, regions of the limbic cortex and the septal area. These structures form connections between the limbic system and the hypothalamus, thalamus, and cerebral cortex. The hippocampus is important in memory and learning, while the limbic system itself is central in the control of emotional responses. Cerebral Cortex - Determines Intelligence, personality, interpretation of sensory impulses, motor function, and planning and organization.
Plasticity: the brain's capacity for modification,as evident in brain reorganization following damage (especially in children) and in experiments on the effects of experience on brain development.
The Divided Brain: the left side of the brain is considered the dominant side or verbal hemisphere. It has been found to affect reading, writing, speaking, arithmetic reasoning, and understanding when damaged. The right side of the brain is the subordinate hemisphere is does not show dramatic effects when damaged. Only about one in ten people actual have speech development in this side of their brain.
Nature vs Nurture: the things you are born knowing vs the thing you learn through experiences.
Genes/DNA: Genes - the biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes; a segment of DNA capable of synthesizing a protein. DNA - a complex molecule containing genetic information that makes up the chromosomes double-helix with a pair of nucleotides.
Evolutionary Psychology: the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection. Natural selection has favored genes that designed both behavioral tendencies and info-processing systems that solved adaptive problems faced by out ancestors, thus contributing to the survival and spread of genes.
Natural Selection: the principle, that among the range of inherited trait variations, those that lead to increased reproduction and survival will most likelt be passed to succeeding generations.
Sexuality/gender: in psychology, the characteristics, whether biologically or socially influenced, by which people define male or female.
Behavior Genetics: the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.
Twins: the studies of twins allows researches to determine genetic effects on behavior. It also let's them see the similarities and differences in fraternal and identical twins. Separating twins at birth and performing tests can also help show to the effects of nature vs nurture.
Adoption Studies: adoption studies show that many siblings that grow up in the same house do no share similar personalities. Adopted children are actually more apt to share characteristics with their biological family rather than the people who raise them. In this case, nurture does play much of a role in a child's personality.
Temperament/heritability: temperament - a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity. heritability - the proportion of variation among individuals tat can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied.
Genes and Environment: The interaction between our genes and out environment make us who we are. Genes affect how people react to and influence us, therefore making biological appearances having social consequences. Our genes and our environment are both equally as important to us.
Molecular Genetics: the sub field of biology that studies the molecular structure and function of genes.
Parental Influence/interference: Parents are given too much credit and take too much blame for the actions of their. Although environment and nurture do play roles in the development of the child, it is not all because of parenting. Test have shown siblings to act in completely different ways even though they were raised in the same family, proving this to be true.
Peer Influence: many children will follow groups and find friends who act in ways similar to the way they do. This can begin when a child will eat food when other children are eating it.
Culture: the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from on generation to the next.
Variations Over Time: variations can occur at very different rates over time. For example, language is something that has been slowly evolving over hundreds of years, while the crime rates, divorce rates, and other common occurrences have sky rocketed over a much shorter period of time. These changes cannot be stopped, and it is often amazing to see how much they can change over a certain period of time.
The Nature and Nurture of Gender: the nature of males and females are similar in many ways so as body functions, but genetically they are different due to the X and Y chromosomes. The extra chromosome from the father determines the sex and the rest of the nature causing them to think in a certain way. Gender is socially constructed and accentuated in culture causing the differences found in the nurture or males and females.
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