Chapter 3 Psychology Study Guide

1) Biological Psychology: The psychological specialty focused on the physical and chemical changes that
cause, and occur in response to, behavior and mental processes
2) Nervous System: A complex combination of cells whose primary function is to allow an organism to gain
information about what is going on inside and outside the body and to respond appropriately
Components of Information Processing: input (information enters the brain), processing (information
received is combined with information about past experiences and current wants and needs), and output
(brain directs a response to information)
3) Neurons: Fundamental units of the nervous system; nerve cells; specialized to rapidly respond to signals and
quickly send signals of their own
Glial Cells: Cells in the nervous system that hold neurons together and help them communicate with one
another
4) Axons: Fibers that carry signals from the body of a neuron out to where communication occurs with other
neurons
Dendrites: Neuron fibers that receive signals from the axons of other neurons and carry those signals to the
cell body
Synapses: The tiny gaps between neurons across which they communicate
5) Action potential: An abrupt wave of electrochemical changes traveling down an axon when a neuron
becomes depolarized; gates along the cell membrane open abruptly because the environment around a cell is
depolarized, allowing positively charged ions in; all-or-nothing: either fires at full strength or not at all;
occurs in both axons and dendrites; in axons, the action potential can go in both directions
Myelin: A fatty substance that wraps around some axons and increases the speed of action potentials
6) Refractory Period: A short rest period between action potentials; neuron cannot fire; positively charged ions
are pumped back out and the cell is repolarized; patterns of neutrons firing amount to coded messages
7) Neurotransmitters: Chemicals that assist in the transfer of signals from one neuron to another; stored in
vesicles at the tip of the axon; when the action potential reaches the end of an axon, a neurotransmitter is
released into the synapse, where it spreads to an adjacent/postsynaptic cell
8) Neural Receptors: Sites on the surface of a cell that allow only one type of neurotransmitter to fit into them,
triggering a chemical response that may lead to an action potential; each neurotransmitter can bind to several
different receptor types
9) Postsynaptic Potential: The changes in the membrane potential of a neuron that has received stimulation
from another neuron; can make the cell either more or less likely to fire
Excitatory Postsynaptic Potential: A postsynaptic potential that depolarized the neuronal membrane,
making the cell more likely to fire an action potential
Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potential: A postsynaptic potential that hyperpolarizes the neuronal membrane,
making a cell less likely to fire an action potential
10) Neural Networks: Neurons that operate together to perform complex functions; nervous system conveys
information through the activity of groups of neurons firing together in varying combinations; same neurons

can be involved in producing different patterns of behavior depending on which combinations of them are
active
11) Sensory Neurons: Input; cells in the nervous system that provide information to the brain about the
environment
Motor Neurons: Output; parts of the nervous system that the brain uses to influence muscles and other
organs to respond to the environment
12) Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): The parts of the nervous system not housed in bone
Central Nervous System (CNS): Part of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord
13) Somatic Nervous System: The subsystem of the peripheral nervous system that transmits information from
the senses to the CNS and carries signals from the CNS to the muscles
Autonomic Nervous System: A subsystem of the PNS that carries messages between the CNS and the heart,
lungs, and other organs and glands; independent operation; controls activities that are normally outside of
conscious control
14) Sympathetic Nervous System: The subsystem of the autonomic nervous system that readies the body for
vigorous activity; ex: fight-or-flight response
Parasympathetic Nervous System: The subsystem of the autonomic nervous system that typically
influences activity related to the protection, nourishment, and growth of the body; regulates the bodys
energy-conserving functions
15) Nuclei Tracts: collections of neuronal cell bodies; like neighborhoods
Fiber Tracts: Axons that travel together in bundles; like highways; axons from a given cell can merge with
or leave fiber tracts; can branch into other tracts
16) Spinal Cord: The part of the CNS within the spinal column that relays signals from the peripheral senses to
the brain and conveys messages from the brain to the rest of the body
Reflexes: Involuntary, unlearned reactions in the form of swift, automatic, and finely coordinated movements
in response to external stimuli; occur without instructions from the brain
Feedback System: A series of processes in which information about the consequences of an action goes back
to the source of the action so that adjustments can be made
Sensory Neurons: Afferent (approaching) neurons; Motor Neurons: Efferent (exit) neurons
17) Electroencephalograph (EEG): measures general electrical activity of the brain; electrodes are pasted on
the scalp to detect electrical fields resulting from the activity of billions of neurons
Positron Emission Tomography (PET): Can locate cell activity by recording where substances become
concentrated after being made radioactive and injected into the bloodstream; records images from the
brain that indicate the location of the radioactivity as the brain performs various tasks
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): Exposes the brain to a magnetic field and measures the resulting
radio frequency waves to get clear pictures of the brains anatomical details
Functional MRI (fMRI): capable of detecting changes in blood flow that reflect ongoing changes in the
activity of neurons
18) fMRI Research About Behavior and Mental Processes: fMRI images can indicate where brain activity
occurs as people think and experience emotion; no guarantee that this activity is actually causing behavior ;

questions raised about the assumption that particular thought processes or emotions occur in a particular
brain structure or set of structures
19) Hindbrain: An extension of the spinal cord contained inside the skull where nuclei control brain pressure,
heart rate, breathing, and other vital functions
Medulla Oblongata: An area in the hindbrain that controls blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, and other
vital functions
Reticular Formation: A network of cells and fibers threaded throughout the hindbrain and midbrain that
alters the activity of the rest of the brain; if disconnected; the person will fall into a coma
Locus Coeruleus: A small nucleus in the reticular formation that is involved in directing attention
Cerebellum: The part of the hindbrain whose main functions include controlling finely coordinated
movements and storing memories about movements but which may also be involved in impulse control,
emotion, and language
20) Midbrain: A small structure between the hindbrain and forebrain that relays information from the eyes,
ears, and skin and that controls certain types of autonomic behaviors
Substantia Nigra: An area of the midbrain involved in the smooth beginning of movement
21) Forebrain: The most highly developed part of the brain ; it is responsible for the most complex aspects of
behavior and mental life
Striatum: A structure within the forebrain that is involved in the smooth beginning of movement
Thalamus: A forebrain structure that relays signals from most sense organs to higher levels in the brain and
plays an important role in processing and making sense out of this information
Hypothalamus: A structure in the forebrain that regulates hunger, thirst, and sex drive
Suprachiasmic Nuclei: Nuclei in the hypothalamus that generate biological rhythms
Amygdala: A structure in the forebrain that, among other things, associates features of stimuli from two
sensory modalities
Hippocampus: A structure in the forebrain associated with the formation of new memories
Limbic System: A set of brain structures that play important roles in regulating emotion and memory;
consists of the amygdala and hippocampus

*Note: Structures of the brain picture does NOT include the cerebral cortex, striatum, or septum.

22) The Study of Alzheimers Disease: Cells in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus were bunched up like a
knotted rope, and cellular debris had collected around the affected nerves; tangles- twisted fibers within
neurons; plaques- deposits of protein and parts of dead cells found between neurons; major component of
plaque- beta-amyloid protein; injected the beta-amyloid protein in a group; mice were also used to test a
possible vaccine; also knocked out the genes of specific types of neurotransmitter receptors and observed
their effects
23) Cerebral Hemisphere: The left and rights halves of the rounded, outermost part of the brain
Cerebral Cortex: The outer surface of the brain
Four Lobes of the Cortex: Frontal, Parietal, Temporal, Occipital
24) Sensory Cortex: The parts of the cerebral cortex that receive stimulus information from the senses; made
up of the somatosensory, auditory, and visual cortexes
Motor Cortex: The part of the cerebral cortex whose neurons control voluntary movements in specific parts
of the body

*Note: May include more functions than we need to know. Better safe than sorry!
25) Association Cortex: The parts of the cerebral cortex that receive information from more than one sense or
that combine sensory and motor information to perform complex cognitive tasks
Brocas Area: Linked to speech production
Wernickes Area: Involved in the interpretation of both speech and written words
Prefrontal Cortex: Involved in the complex processes necessary for the conscious control of thoughts and
actions and for understanding the world
26) Split-Brain Studies: Severing the tie between the hemispheres dramatically affected the way that patients
thought about and dealt with the world; left: language oriented; right: superior in tasks dealing with spatial
relations

Corpus Callosum: A massive bundle of fibers that connects the right and left cerebral hemispheres and
allows them to communicate with each other
27) Lateral Dominance (Lateralization): The tendency for one cerebral hemisphere to excel at a particular
function or skill compared with the other hemisphere; left: better logical and language abilities; right: better
spatial, artistic, and musical abilities; in split-brain patients, each hemisphere has its own private sensations,
perceptions, thoughts, and ideas all of which are cut off from the corresponding experiences in the opposite
hemisphere
28) Neural Plasticity: The ability to create new synapses and to change the strength of synapses; undamaged
neurons may take over for damaged ones by changing their own function and sprouting new axons whose
communications help neighboring regions take on new functions
Methods Used to Help People Recover from Brain Damage: Transplant, or graft, tissue from a stilldeveloping fetal brain into the brain of an adult animal; Neural Stem Cells: Special cells in the nervous
system that are capable of dividing to form new tissue, including new neurons; Neurogenesis: The process
of creating new neurons
29) Changes in the Nervous System throughout Development: In newborns, activity is high in the thalamus
and low in the striatum; during development, activity increases in many regions of the cortex; in adolescence,
the connections from the prefrontal cortex to the striatum that are involved in judgment and decision making
are not yet fully developed; after birth, the number of dendrites and synapses increase; at 6 or 7, their brains
have more dendrites and use twice as much metabolic fuel as those of adults; in early adolescence, the
number of dendrites begins to drop, so the adult level is reached by age 14; as we reach adulthood, we
develop more brainpower with less brain
30) Neurotransmitter Systems: A group of neurons that communicates using the same neurotransmitter
Three Classes of Neurotransmitters: Small Molecules, Peptides, and Gases
Small Molecules
Acetylcholine: A neurotransmitter used by neurons in the PNS and CNS in the control of functions
ranging from muscle contraction and heart rate to digestion and memory
Norepinephrine: A neurotransmitter involved in arousal, as well as in learning and mood regulation
Serotonin: A neurotransmitter used by cells in parts of the brain involved in the regulation of sleep,
mood, and eating
Dopamine: A neurotransmitter used in the parts of the brain involved in regulating movement and
experiencing pleasure
Gamma-Amino Butyric Acid (GABA): A neurotransmitter that inhibits the firing of neurons
Glutamate: An Excitatory neurotransmitter that helps strengthen synaptic connections between neurons
Peptides
Endorphins: A class of neurotransmitters that bind to opiate receptors and moderate pain
Gases
Nitric Oxide and Carbon Monoxide: two gases that contribute to air pollution, can act as
neurotransmitters; nitric oxide can be responsible for penile erection and the formation of memories
31) Endocrine System: Cells that form organs called glands and that communicate with one another by
secreting chemicals called hormones
Glands: Organs that secrete hormones into the bloodstream
Hormones: Chemicals secreted by a gland into the bloodstream, which carries them throughout the body

Compare/Contrast Nervous System and Endocrine System: Hormones are similar to neurotransmitters;
many chemicals, including norepinephrine and endorphins, can act as both hormones and
neurotransmitters; endocrine glands can stimulate cells with which they have no direct connection
Target Organs: Organs whose cells have receptors for a hormone
32) Flight-or-Flight Syndrome: A physical reaction triggered by the sympathetic nervous system that prepares
the body to fight or to run from a threatening situation
33) Negative Feedback System: Regulates hormone secretion so as to keep it within a certain range;
suppresses further action when out of imminent danger