The Neuron
These types of twins allow us to study genetic similarities because they have 100% of their DNA in common
What are monozygotic/identical twins
The regular cycle of biological processes, such as sleep and temperature, that occur every 24 hours.
What is circadian rhythm?
Our awareness of faint stimuli illustrates our...
Caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, and amphetamines are all categorized as this type of drug.
What are stimulants?
The type of neuron that carries outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands
What are motor neurons
Theory that dreams are the result of the cerebral cortex interpreting and organizing random flashes of brain activity,
What is activation synthesis theory?
Schizophrenia is most closely linked with excess of this neurotransmitter, and Parkinson's disease is linked to a deficit in it.
What is dopamine?
The principle that, to be percieved as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage
What is Weber's Law?
Alcohol is this type of drug
What is a depressant?
An amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface
What is an EEG
It is during this stage that we often experience hypnagogic sensations.
What NREM 1?
This occurs before a neurotransmitters fires again.
What is the refractory period?
Our diminished sensitivity to constant or routine odors, sounds, and touches, to focus our attention on information changes in stimulation.
What is Sensory Adaptation
Drugs like LSD and marijuana that distort perceptions of reality.
What are hallucinogens?
In neural transmission, electrical signals travel down this.
What is an axon
Part of the brain that is responsible for understanding language
What is Wernicke's Area
What happened when people used Darwin's evolutionary theory and natural selection to support selective human breeding?
What is Eugenics?
Theory that dreams help us sort out the day's events and consolidate our memories
Information processing theory
Neurotransmitter that is found to decrease up to 90% in patients with Alzheimer's.
What is Acetylcholine (ACh)?
The deminsion of color that is determined by the wavelength of light.
What is hue?
The naturally occurring opiate that the brain produces.
What are endorphins?
The space between two neurons (nerve cells) that allows information to pass from one nerve cell to another
What is the Synapse
Bridge of fibers in the brain that connects the right and left hemisphere
What is the corpus callosum?
This word relates to the environmental influences that can change gene expression WITHOUT changing DNA
What is epigenetics?
Large slow brain waves associated with deep sleep
What are delta waves?
The reabsorption of neurotransmitters after sending a message.
What is reuptake?
This is the name for the 3 bones in our middle ear.
What are the ossicles?
Type of drug that reduces neurotransmission and temporarily lessons pain and anxiety.
What are opiates?
In this disease, the myelin sheath is attacked.
What is Multiple Sclerosis (MS)?
The lobe responsible for vision
What is the occipital lobe
When Mary was younger she fell off the swing and had a metal plate placed in her head. Mary cannot get these two types of brain scans.
What are MRI and fMRI?
During REM sleep, we experience paradoxical sleep, which can be described as
What is our brains remain active but our bodies cannot move.
This occurs when as a neurotransmitter is firing after the threshold has been reached, before the action potential.
What is depolarization.
This theory refers to the idea that our spinal cord contains a neurological “gate” that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain
What is Gate Control theory?
Substance that blocks the reuptake of dopamine, serotonin & norepinephrine creating an agonist effect that leads to an immediate feeling of a rush. Causes dependence
What is cocaine?
Part of the brain responsible for balance and body part perception
What is a cerebellum
This is the extent to which variation among individuals can be attributed to their differing genes
What is heritability?
During Nrem - 2, we experience these sudden burst of brain activity that are associated with memory. We call them this.
Sleep Spindles
What hormone influences bonding and social behavior?
What is oxytocin?
These two types of photoreceptors are located in your retina, the area specifically important for transduction.
What are rods and cones?
Cocaine acts as this by keeping serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine in the synaptic gap, thereby increasing the effects by ensuring they are more likely to bond repeatedly to the receiving neuron.
What is an agonist?