Nature vs. Nurture
This term refers to the genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring.
What is heredity?
This division of the nervous system includes the brain and spinal cord.
What is the central nervous system?
This part of the brain is often referred to as the “little brain” and is responsible for coordination and balance.
What is the cerebellum?
This is the neural impulse that travels down an axon, leading to the transmission of information between neurons.
What is an action potential?
This phenomenon occurs when a person needs to take increasingly larger doses of a drug to achieve the same effect.
What is tolerance?
The study of how environmental factors influence gene expression without altering DNA is called this.
What is epigenetics?
This division of the peripheral nervous system controls voluntary movements.
What is the somatic nervous system?
This area of the brain is involved in processing visual information.
What are the occipital lobes?
This brief resting period occurs after a neuron has fired and must recharge before it can fire again.
What is the refractory period?
This class of drugs reduces neural activity and slows body functions, with examples including alcohol and barbiturates.
What are depressants?
This perspective explores how natural selection affects behavior and mental processes to increase survival and reproductive success.
What is evolutionary psychology?
This division of the autonomic nervous system arouses the body, mobilizing its energy.
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
This part of the brain is responsible for regulating hunger, thirst, and body temperature.
What is the hypothalamus?
This principle states that a neuron either fires completely or does not fire at all.
What is the all-or-none response?
This stimulating and highly addictive drug is commonly found in tobacco.
What is nicotine?
This kind of study is commonly used to research the effects of genes on behavior by comparing similarities between these of an identical variety.
What are twin studies?
These neurons carry incoming information from the body’s tissues and its distant receptors to the brain and spinal cord.
What are sensory (afferent) neurons?
This region of the brain is involved in processing information about sounds through the auditory cortex.
What are the temporal lobes?
These chemicals cross the synaptic gap between neurons to carry messages to the next neuron.
What are neurotransmitters?
This drug is a powerful hallucinogen, also known as acid.
What is LSD?
The interaction between these two factors shapes behavior and mental processes.
What are heredity and environment?
This part of the brainstem controls automatic survival functions, such as heartbeat and breathing.
What is the medulla?
This part of the brain acts as the brain’s relay station, directing sensory messages to the cortex.
What is the thalamus?
This process occurs when neurotransmitters are reabsorbed by the sending neuron after the message has been transmitted.
What is reuptake?
This synthetic stimulant is also a mild hallucinogen, known for producing euphoria and social intimacy.
What is Ecstasy (MDMA)?