Unit 7 - Chapter 2 - Neuropsychology
Terms
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- Hypothalamus
- A neural structure lying below the thalamus; it directs several maintenance activities, helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland, and is linked to emotion
- Cerebellum
- The "little brain" attached to the rear of the brainstem; it helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance
- Endorphins
- natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure
- Biological Psychology
- A branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior
- Neuron
- A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system
- Medulla
- The base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing
- Sensory Cortex
- The area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body sensations
- Synapse
- The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron
- Autonomic Nervous System
- The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs
- Axon
- The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages are sent to other neurons or to muscles or glands
- Endocrine System
- The body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream
- Dendrite
- The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body
- Central Nervous System
- The brain and spinal cord
- Pituitary Gland
- The endocrine system's most influential gland; under the influence of the hypothalamus, it regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands
- Parietal Lobes
- The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; includes the sensory cortex
- Adrenal Glands
- A pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys; they secrete the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine which help to arouse the body in times of stress
- Temporal Lobes
- The portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each of which receives auditory information primarily from the opposite ear
- Action Potential
- A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon, and is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon's membrane
- Broca's Area
- An area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech
- Electroencephalogram (EEG)
- An amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweeps across the brain's surface, which are measured by electrodes placers on the scalp
- Nerves
- neural "cables" containing many axons, that connect the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs
- Split Brain
- A condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connected fibers between them
- Frontal Lobes
- The portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgements
- Interneurons
- Central nervous system neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory imputs and motor outputs
- Reticular Formation
- A nerve network in the brainstem that plays and important role in controlling arousal
- Somatic Nervous System
- The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles
- Motor Neurons
- The neurons that carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands
- MRI(magnetic resonance imaging)
- A technigue that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer generated images that distinguish among different types of soft tissue
- Limbic System
- A doughnut-shapes system of neural structures at the bored of the brainstem and cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions like fear and aggress
- Neurotransmitters
- Chemical messengers that transverse the synaptic gaps betwen neurons, after being released they travel across the synapse and bind receptor sites on the receiving neuron
- Brainstem
- The oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells and enters the skull, and it is responsible for automatic survival functions
- Acetylcholine
- A neurotransmitter that among its fuctions, triggers muscle contraction
- Corpus Callosum
- The large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them
- Motor Cortex
- An area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements
- Sympathetic Nervous System
- The divison of the autonomic nervous system that aroused the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations
- Lesion
- Tissue destruction
- Aphasia
- Impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca's area or to Wernicke's area
- Reflex
- A simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response
- Threshold
- The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse
- Peripheral Nervous System
- The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body
- Hormones
- Chemical messengers, mostly those manufactured by the endocrine glands, that are produced in one tissue and affect another
- Sensory Neurons
- Neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system
- Thalamus
- The brain's sensory switchboard, located on the top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla
- Nervous System
- The body's speedy electrochemical communication system, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems
- Myelin Sheath
- A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables a greater speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next
- Occipital Lobes
- The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes the visual areas, which receive visual information from the opposite visual field
- Cerebral Cortex
- The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center
- Neural Networks
- Interconnected neural cells that, with experience can learn as feedback strengthens or inhibits connections that produce certain results
- PET(positron emission tomography) Scan
- A visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task
- Association Areas
- Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such learning, remembering, thinking, and speaking
- Amygdala
- Two almond-shaped neural clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion
- Plasticity
- The brain's capacity for modification, as evident in brain reorganization following damage and in experiments on the effects of brain development
- Glial Cells
- Cells in the nervous system that are not neurons but that support, nourish, and protect neurons
- Wernicke's Area
- A brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe
- Synaptic Gap
- The tiny gap at the junction between the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron
- Parasympathetic Nervous System
- The division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy
- CT(computed tomography) 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 (CAT Scan)