Interaction of Heredity and the Environment + Sensations
The phenomenon where a person’s sensitivity to a constant stimulus decreases over time (e.g., not noticing the feel of clothes after wearing them for a while) is called?
What is sensory adaptation?
The system responsible for coordinating voluntary movements and transmitting sensory information is called?
What is the somatic nervous system?
The electrical charge difference across a neuron’s membrane when it is not firing is called its _____.
What is the resting potential?
This part of the brain regulates basic life functions, such as heartbeat and breathing.
What is the medulla?
This stage of sleep is characterized by low-frequency, high-amplitude brain waves and is considered the deepest, most restorative sleep.
What is NREM-3?
This research method compares the traits of adopted children to those of their biological and adoptive parents to assess the impact of genetic versus environmental influences.
What is adoption studies?
This system controls involuntary functions like heart rate, digestion, and respiration.
What is the autonomic nervous system?
During the rising phase of an action potential, which ion rushes into the neuron, causing depolarization?
What is sodium (Na+)?
This structure in the limbic system is responsible for emotional processing and memory formation.
What is the amygdala?
This sleep disorder involves episodes of interrupted breathing during sleep.
What is sleep apnea?
The interaction between a person’s genetic makeup and environmental influences is sometimes referred to as the study of the relative contributions of both nature and nurture. This is known as?
What is gene-environment interaction?
What is the process in which you reflexively withdraw your hand from a hot surface before consciously feeling pain called?
What is the reflex arc?
The all-or-none principle states what about the firing of a neuron?
A neuron either fires completely or not at all, regardless of stimulus strength (as long as threshold is reached).
This part of the brain controls balance, coordination, and fine motor skills.
The circadian rhythm is the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle, and it is regulated by this part of the brain.
What is the hypothalamus?
This is the smallest amount of a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time.
What is absolute threshold?
Explain how afferent and efferent neurons work together in the context of a reflex arc.
Afferent neurons carry sensory signals to the CNS, and efferent neurons carry motor signals from the CNS to muscles, enabling a quick response without the need for higher brain involvement.
After an action potential, this process restores the neuron to its resting state by pumping ions back across the membrane.
What is repolarization (via the sodium-potassium pump)?
The frontal lobe of the brain is involved in higher-level functions, such as decision-making and personality. This specific region is most responsible for planning, reasoning, and abstract thinking.
What is the prefrontal cortex?
This theory of sleep proposes that sleep serves an adaptive function for conservation of energy and protection during periods of inactivity.
What is the evolutionary theory of sleep?
The body’s ability to sense its position and movement in space is called?
What is proprioception or the kinesthetic sense?
Contrast the functions of white matter and gray matter in the nervous system.
White matter consists of myelinated axons and facilitates communication between brain areas, while gray matter contains neuronal cell bodies and is involved in processing and cognition
Which ion channels open during depolarization, and which during repolarization?
Sodium (Na⁺) channels open during depolarization, and potassium (K⁺) channels open during repolarization.
This area of the brain, located at the top of the brainstem, is involved in regulating sleep, arousal, and alertness.
What is the reticular formation?
This type of sleep, which involves rapid eye movements, is when most vivid dreaming occurs.
What is REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep?