Parts of the Brain
This part of the brain controls basic survival functions like breathing and heartbeat.
What is the medulla
The basic building block of the nervous system.
What is a neuron?
Our awareness of ourselves and our environment.
What is consciousness?
The process by which sensory receptors detect stimuli.
What is sensation?
The natural 24-hour biological cycle that influences sleep and wakefulness.
What is the circadian rhythm?
Located in the limbic system, this structure helps form new memories
What is the hippocampus
These neurons carry messages from the body to the brain.
What are sensory (afferent) neurons?
According to Freud, this part of the mind stores urges, feelings, and ideas not accessible to awareness.
What is the unconscious?
The five basic tastes are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and this savory flavor.
What is umami?
In this stage of sleep, dreams are most vivid and the body is temporarily paralyzed.
What is REM sleep?
This lobe is responsible for reasoning, planning, and personality
What is the frontal lobe?
This fatty layer speeds up neural transmission.
What is the myelin sheath?
The “White Bear” experiment showed that trying to suppress a thought can lead to this effect.
What is obsession/rebound effect?
The cochlea is located in this sensory organ.
What is the inner ear? (ear)
The sleep disorder that involves difficulty falling or staying asleep.
What is insomnia?
Damage to this area of the left frontal lobe can cause difficulty producing speech
What is Broca’s area?
This neurotransmitter is linked to pleasure and motivation; too much is associated with schizophrenia.
What is dopamine?
This principle says we process information on both conscious and unconscious tracks at the same time.
What is dual processing?
This type of processing begins with raw sensory input and builds upward to perception.
What is bottom-up processing?
The theory that dreams may help the brain process information from the day.
What is the information-processing theory of dreams?
This structure connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and when severed, can lead to “split-brain” effects.
What is the corpus callosum?
The space between neurons where neurotransmitters cross.
What is the synaptic gap (or synapse)?
This altered state of consciousness can be induced by suggestion, and about 20% of people are highly susceptible to it.
What is hypnosis?
This type of processing uses prior knowledge, models, and expectations to interpret sensory information.
What is top-down processing?
This rare disorder causes sudden episodes of overwhelming sleepiness, sometimes leading to collapsing into REM sleep.
What is narcolepsy?