Nervous System Structures
This structure in the hindbrain controls balance, coordination, and motor skills.
What is the cerebellum?
A specific version of a gene.
What is an allele?
This drug mimics or strengthens the effects of a neurotransmitter.
What is an agonist?
This imaging technique uses x-rays to create detailed images of the brain.
What is a CT scan?
This gland sits atop the kidneys and secretes hormones related to stress.
What is the adrenal gland?
The major extension of the soma that transmits electrical impulses away from the cell body.
What is the axon?
A mutation that leads to two identical alleles for a gene.
What is homozygous?
This type of drug blocks or impedes the normal activity of a neurotransmitter.
What is an antagonist?
This MRI technique shows changes in metabolic activity in the brain over time.
What is an fMRI?
This part of the endocrine system regulates metabolism, growth, and appetite.
What is the thyroid?
This is the strip of cortex in the temporal lobe responsible for processing auditory information.
What is the auditory cortex?
This concept explains how our genes influence our environment, and the environment can influence gene expression.
What is genetic-environmental correlation?
The phenomenon where the incoming signal from another neuron either reaches the threshold of excitation or doesn't.
What is the all-or-none principle?
This non-invasive method records the electrical activity of the brain using electrodes on the scalp.
What is an EEG?
This gland is considered the "master gland" because it regulates many other endocrine glands.
What is the pituitary gland?
The thick band of neural fibers that connects the brain's two hemispheres.
What is the corpus callosum?
These twins develop from two different eggs fertilized by two different sperm, meaning their genetic material varies like that of non-twin siblings.
What are fraternal twins?
The process by which neurotransmitters are pumped back into the neuron that released them.
What is reuptake?
This imaging technique involves injecting a mildly radioactive substance to monitor blood flow in the brain.
What is a PET scan?
The system responsible for secreting hormones that regulate bodily functions such as reproduction, growth, and stress response.
What is the endocrine system?
This brain structure is involved in processing emotions and forming memories.
What is the amygdala?
This type of allele will only express its phenotype if both alleles are the same.
What is a recessive allele?
This neurotransmitter is associated with mood, reward, and addiction and is produced in the ventral tegmental area.
What is dopamine?
This brain imaging technique uses magnetic fields to create images of the brain's tissue.
What is an MRI?
This gland, located in the forebrain, helps regulate body temperature, hunger, and sexual behavior.
What is the hypothalamus?