The Brain and Its Functions
This "emotional brain" includes the amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus.
What is the limbic system?
This approach examines how genetic, physiological, and environmental factors interact to influence behavior.
What is the biological approach?
This process involves the brain physically altering its structure in response to learning, memory, or environmental changes.
What is neuroplasticity?
These chemical messengers transmit signals across the synaptic gap between neurons.
What are neurotransmitters?
This structure connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain, allowing communication between them.
What is the corpus callosum?
This case study of a man nicknamed "Tan" demonstrated that speech production is linked to a specific area in the frontal lobe.
What is Broca’s Area?
This method uses non-human subjects to study biological processes and their influence on behavior, often to gain insights applicable to humans.
What is animal testing?
This form of neuroplasticity involves the strengthening or weakening of synaptic connections between neurons.
What is synaptic plasticity?
This neurotransmitter is associated with mood regulation and is often linked to depression when levels are imbalanced.
What is serotonin?
This famous case study involved a railroad worker whose personality dramatically changed after a severe brain injury, highlighting the role of the frontal lobe in behavior.
Who is Phineas Gage?
Damage to this part of the brain, responsible for transferring short-term memory to long-term memory, affects learning and memory.
What is the hippocampus?
This debate considers whether biology or environment has a greater influence on human behavior.
What is the nature versus nurture debate?
How does the Draganski et al. (2004) study demonstrate the concept of neuroplasticity through learning a juggling routine?
What is that it shows the brain's ability to increase grey matter in response to learning and practice, which decreases when the skill is no longer used?
This part of the neuron receives signals from other neurons, while this part transmits signals to other cells.
What are dendrites (receives signals) and the axon (transmits signals)?
Research suggests that this structure, which facilitates interhemispheric communication, may be larger on average in women, potentially leading to differences in multitasking abilities.
What is the corpus callosum?
This concept refers to how certain functions, like language or spatial reasoning, are more dominant in one hemisphere of the brain than the other.
What is lateralization of function?
This approach simplifies complex human behaviors by studying their most basic biological mechanisms, such as neurotransmitters or brain structure.
What is the reductionist approach?
How does the Maguire et al. (2000) study illustrate neuroplasticity in the brains of London taxi drivers?
What is that it demonstrates how repeated navigation experience leads to structural changes, such as an increase in grey matter in the posterior hippocampus?
This neurotransmitter is linked to feelings of reward and motivation and plays a role in conditions like Parkinson’s disease.
What is dopamine?
When the corpus callosum is severed, this phenomenon occurs, where each hemisphere acts independently, leading to unique cognitive effects.
What is split-brain syndrome?
A patient loses the ability to feel sensations on their right hand after a stroke. This illustrates how specific brain regions are responsible for specific functions. What is this concept called?
What is localization of function?
A psychologist studies aggression by only examining serotonin levels in the brain, ignoring environmental influences. This study illustrates a limitation of which approach in biological psychology?
What is the reductionist approach?
A patient regains motor function after a stroke due to the brain rerouting functions to undamaged areas. What process is this an example of?
What is neuroplasticity?
When a neuron fires, this process involves the movement of ions across the membrane, creating an electrical impulse that travels down the axon. What is this process called?
What is an action potential?
This case study of a man with severe memory loss helped researchers understand the role of the basal ganglia in habits and procedural memory.
Who is Eugene Pauly?