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| The psychological specialty that researches that physical and chemical changes that cause, and occur in respons to, behavior and mental processes. |
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| 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 |
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| fundamental units of the nervous system; nerve cells |
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| Cells in the nervous system that hold neurons together a d help them commmunicate with on anothers |
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| Fibers that carry signals from the body of a neuron out to where communication occurs with other neurons |
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| Neuron fibers that receive signals from the axons of other neurons and carry those signals to the cell body |
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| The tiny gap b/t neurons across which they communicate |
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| an abrupt wave of electrochemical changes traveling down an axon when a neuron becomes depolarized |
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| a fatty substance that wraps around some axons and increases the speed of action potentials |
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| A short rest period b/t action potentials |
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| Chemicals that assist in the transfer of signals from one neuron to another |
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| Sites on the surface of cells that allow only one tye of neurotransmitter to fit into them, triggering a chemical response that may lead to an action potential |
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| Excitatory postsynaptic Potential |
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| A postsynaptic potential that depolarizes tha neuronal membrane, bringing the cell closer to the threshold for firing an action potential |
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| Inhibitory postsynaptic potential |
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| a postysynaptic potential that hyperpolarizes the neuronal membrane, making a cell less likely to fire an action potential |
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| Neurons that operate together to perform complex functions |
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| the parts of the nervous system tha provide information about the environment |
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| the parts of the nervous system that influence muscles and other oragans to respond to the environment in someway |
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| Peripheral Nervous system |
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| The parts of the nervous system not housed in bone |
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| the parts of hte nervous system encased in bone, including the braind and the spinal cord |
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| the subsystem of hte PNS that transmits information from the senses to the central nervous system and carries signals from the central nervous system and carries signals form the centra nervous system to the muscles |
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| A subsystem of the peripheral nervous system that carries messages b/t the central nervous system and the heart, lungs, and other organs and glands |
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| Collections of nerve cell bodies in the central nervous system |
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| Axons in the central nervous system that travel together in bundles |
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| The part of the central nervous system with/in the spinal column that relays signals from peripheral senses to the braine and conveys messages from the brain to the rest of thebody |
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| Involuntary, unlearned reactions in the form of swift, automatic, and finaly coordinated movements in the response to external stimuli |
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| Anextenstion of the spinal cord contained inside the skull where nuclei control blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, and other vital functions |
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| An area in the hindbrain that controls blood pressure, heart rate, breathng, and other vital functions |
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| A network of cells and fibers threaded throughout the hindbrain and midbrain tha alters the activity of hte rest of hte brain |
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| A small nucleus in the reticular formation that contains about half of the cell bodies of neurons in the brain that use norephinephrine |
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| the part of hte hindbrian whose function is to control finely coordinated movements and to store learned associatons that involve movement |
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| A small structure, b/t the hindbrain and forebrain, that relays information from the eyes, ears, and skin and that controls certain types of automatic bhaviors |
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| An area of the midbrain involved in the smooth initiation of movement |
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| A structure w/in the forebrain that is involved in the smooth intiation of movement |
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| the most highly developed part of the brain; it is responsible for the most complex aspects of behavior and mental life |
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| 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 info |
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| a structure in the forebrain that regulates hunger, thirst, and sex drives |
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| nuclei in the hypothalamus that generate biological rhythems |
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| a structure in the forebrain that, among other things, associates features of stimuli from two sensory modalities |
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| a structure in the forebrain associated with the formation of new memories |
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| a set of brain structures that play important roles in regulating emotion and memory |
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| the left and right halves of hte rounded, outermost part of the brain |
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| the other surface of the brain |
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| the parts of the cerebral cortex that receive stimulus information from the senses |
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| the part of the cerebral cortex whose neurons control voluntary movements in specific parts of the body |
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| thsoe parts of the cerebral cortex that receive info from more that one sens or that combine sensory and motor info to perform complex cognitive tasks |
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| a massive bundle of fibers that connects the right and left cerebral hemispheres and allows them to communicate with each other |
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| referring to the tendency for one cerebral hemisphere to excell at a particular function or skill compared with the other hemissphere |
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| the ability to create new synapses and to chane the strength of synapses |
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| a group of neurons that communicates by using the same neurotransmitter |
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| a neurotransmitter used by neurons in the peripheral and central nervous systems in the control of functions ranging from muscle contraction and heart rate to digestion and memory |
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| a neurotransmitter involved in arousal, as well as in learning and mood regulation |
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| a nerotransmitter used by cells in parts of the brain involved in the regulation of sleep, mood, and eating |
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| a neuro transmitter used in the parts of hte brain involved in regulation movement and experiencing pleasure |
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| a neurotransmitter that inhibits the firing of neurons |
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| an excitatory neurotransmitter tha helps strengthen synaptic connections b/t neurons |
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| one of a class of neurotransmitters that bind to opiate receptors and moderate pain |
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| cells that form organs called glands and that communicate with one another by secreting chemicals called hormones |
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| Organs tha secrete hormones into the blood stream |
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| Chemicals secreted by a gland into the bloodstream, which carries them through out the body |
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| Fight-or-Flight syndronme |
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| physical reactions initiated by the sympathetic nervous system that prepare the body to fight or to run from a threatening situation |
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| the body's system of defense against invading substances and microorganisms. |
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| physical problems caused when cells of hte body's immune system attack normal body cells as if they were foreign invaders |
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| Chapter Four: Sensory Systems |
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| a system that translates information from outside the nervous system into neural activity |
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| mesages from the senses that make up the raw information that affects many kinds of behavior and mental processes |
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| structures, such as the lens of hte eye that modify a stimulus |
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| the process of converting incoming energy into neural activity through receptors |
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| specialized cells that detect certain forms of energy |
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| the process through which responsiveness to an unchanging stimulus decreases over time |
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| translating the physical properties of a stimulus into a pattern of neural activity that specifically identifies those properties |
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| doctrine of specific nerve energies |
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| the discoverty that stimulation of a particular sensory nerve provides codes for that sense, no matter how the stimulation takes place |
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| coding attributes of a stimulus in terms of changes in teh timing of neural firing. |
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| coding attributes of a stimulus in terms of the location of firing neurons relative ot their neighbors |
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| a repetitive fluctuation in the pressure of a medium like air |
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| the difference b/t the peak and the baseline of a waveform |
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| the distance from one peak to the next in a wave form |
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| the number of complete waveforms, or cycles, that pass by a given point in space every second. |
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| a psychological dimension of sound determined by the amplitude of a sound wave |
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| How high or low a tone sounds |
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| the mixture of frequencies and amplitudes that make up the quality of sound |
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| a membrane in the middle ear that generates vibrations that match the sound waves striking it |
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| a fluid-filled spiral structure in the ear in which auditory transduction occurs |
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| the floor of the fluid filled duct that runs through the cochlea |
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| the bundle of axons that carries stimuli from the hair cells of hte choclea to the brain |
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| A theory that hair cells at a particular place on the bailar membrane respond mot to a particular frequency of sound |
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| Frequency-Matching theory |
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| the view that some sounds are coded in terms of the frequency of neural firing |
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| the area in the brain's temporal lobe that is first to receive informaton about sounds from the thalamus |
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| Electromagnetic radiation that has a wavelength of about 400 nanometers to about 750 nanometers |
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| a physical dimension of light waves that refers to how much energy the light contains; it determines the brightness of light |
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| the distance b/t peaks in light waves |
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| The curved, transparent, protective layer through which light rays enter the eye |
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| An opening in the eye, just behind the cornea, through which light passes |
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| The colorful part of the eye, which constricts or relaxes to adjust the amount of light entering the eye |
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| the part of the eye behind the pupil that bends light rays, focusing them on the retina |
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| the surface at the back of hte eye onto which the lens focuses light rays. |
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| the ability of the lens to change its shape and bend light rays so that objects are in focus |
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| Nerve cells in the retina that code light energy into neural activity |
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| chemicals in photoreceptors that respond to light and assist in converting light into neural activity |
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| the increasing ability to see in the dark as time in the dark increases |
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| highly light-sensitive, but color-insensitive, photoreceptors n the retina that allow vision even in dim lght |
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| Color sensitive photoreceptors in retina |
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| a region in the center of the retina where cones are highly concentrated |
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| visual clarity, which is greates in the fovea b/c of its large concentration of cones |
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| a process in which lateral connections allow one photoreceptor to inhibit the responsiveness of its neighbor, thus enhancing the sensation of visual contrast |
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| cells in the retina that generate action potentials |
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| the portion of the retina, and the world, that affects a given ganglion cell |
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| a bundle of fibers composed of axons of ganglion cells that carries visual information to the brain |
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| the light-insensitive point at which axons from all of hte ganglion cells converge and exit the eyeball |
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| part of hte bottom surface of hte brain where half of each optic nerve's fibers cross over to the opposite side of hte brain |
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| lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) |
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| a region of hte thalamus in which axons from most of the ganglion cells in the retina end and form synapses |
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| an area at the back of hte brain, to which neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus relay visual input |
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| cells in teh cortex that respond to a specific featurs of an object |
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| the essential "clor," determined by the dominant wavelength of light |
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| the overall intentsity of all of the wavelengths that make up light |
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| A theory of color vision iding three types of visual elements, each of which is most sensitive to diferent wavelengths of light |
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| a theory of color vision stating that color--senstive visual elemetns are grouped into red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white elements |
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| a blending of sensory experience that causes some people to "see" sounds or "taste" colors, for example |
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| a brain structure that receives messages regarding olfction |
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| chemicals released by one animal and detected by another that shape the seconds animals behavior or physiology |
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| a portion of hte mammalian olfactory system that is sensitive to pheromones |
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| structures on the tongue containing groups of taste receptors, or taste buds |
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| senses of touch, temperature, pain, and kinesthesia |
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| a theory suggesting that a functional "gate" in the spinal cord can either let pain impulses travel upward to the brain or block their progress |
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| the absence of pain sensations in teh presence of a normally painful stimulus |
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| the seonsory systems tha allow us to know about where wea are and what each part of our body is doing |
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| the proprioceptive sense that provides information about the position of the head (and hence the body) in space and about its movements |
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| organs in the inner ear that connect the semicircular canals and the cochlea, and contribute to the body's sense of balance |
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| small crystals in teh fluid-filled vestivular sacs of hte inner ear that , when shifted by gravity, stimulate nerve cells that inform the brain of hte position of hte head |
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| tubes in teh inner ear whose fluid, when shifted by head movements, stimulates nerve cells that tell the brain about those movements.es |
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| the sense that tells you where the parts of your body are with respect to one another |
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