Brain Parts
This brain structure controls heartbeat, breathing, and basic life functions.
What is the medulla?
This neurotransmitter is essential for muscle movement and learning, and its deterioration is linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
What is acetylcholine (ACh)?
The biological transmission of traits from parents to offspring is called this.
What is heredity (or genetics)?
This perspective focuses on how observable behaviors are learned and reinforced.
What is the behavioral perspective?
This system consists of the brain and spinal cord.
What is the central nervous system (CNS)?
This part of the brain helps coordinate voluntary movements and balance.
What is the cerebellum?
Low levels of this neurotransmitter are associated with depression, and it is also involved in mood regulation and sleep.
What is serotonin?
This refers to all the external factors, like parenting, culture, and experiences, that influence development.
What is the environment?
This approach emphasizes unconscious drives and conflicts, often stemming from childhood experiences.
What is the psychanalytic perspective?
This division of the peripheral nervous system controls voluntary movements.
What is the somatic nervous system?
Damage to this area of the brain can impair speech comprehension.
What is Wernicke’s area?
This neurotransmitter is involved in the brain’s reward system and motor control; too little can cause Parkinson’s disease.
What is dopamine?
A study that compares identical twins raised together versus apart is used to determine the influence of heredity versus environment.
What is a twin study?
This perspective studies how mental processes like thinking, memory, and problem-solving influence behavior.
What is the cognitive perspective?
This part of the nervous system controls involuntary functions like heart rate and digestion.
What is the autonomic nervous system?
This limbic system structure is key to forming new explicit memories.
What is the hippocampus?
Known as the “love hormone,” this chemical is released by the pituitary gland and is important for social bonding, trust, and attachment.
What is oxytocin?
This discredited movement in the early 20th century attempted to improve human populations through selective breeding.
What is eugenics?
This perspective examines how people strive to reach their full potential and emphasizes self-actualization.
What is the humanistic perspective?
The “fight or flight” response is activated by this branch of the autonomic nervous system.
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
Responsible for regulating hunger, thirst, body temperature, and sexual behavior, this brain structure links the nervous system to the endocrine system.
What is the hypothalamus?
These two hormones work together to regulate hunger: one stimulates appetite, while the other signals satiety.
What are ghrelin (stimulates hunger) and leptin (signals fullness)?
A person may inherit a higher likelihood of developing certain traits or disorders, such as depression or diabetes. This is called what?
What is a genetic predisposition?
This approach looks at how genetic inheritance and brain function influence thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
What is the biological perspective?
Neurons that carry messages from the CNS to muscles and glands are called this.
What are motor (efferent) neurons?