Brain Structures & Functions
What brain structure controls breathing and heart rate?
What is the medulla?
This area at the rear of the frontal lobes controls voluntary movement.
What is the motor cortex?
The body's fast electrochemical communication network.
What is the nervous system?
This long neuron structure carries action potentials away from the cell body.
What is the axon?
The body's roughly 24 hour biological clock.
What is a circadian rhythm?
The debate over the relative influence of genes and environment is called this.
What is nature versus nurture?
What brain structure is known as the "little brain" and helps coordinate balance and movement?
What is the cerebellum?
Damage to this area causes difficulty producing speech.
What is Broca's area?
The chemical messenger system that uses hormones.
What is the endocrine system?
These branchlike structures receive incoming information from other neurons.
What are dendrites?
The vivid sensation of falling that often occurs while drifting off to sleep.
What is a hypnagogic sensation?
Sleep researchers interested in measuring brain wave activity during different stages of sleep would most likely use this type of brain scan.
What is an EGG?
This structure relays sensory information to the appropriate areas of the cortex.
What is the thalamus?
Damage to this area is most likely to impair this important executive function of planning and impulse control.
What is prefrontal cortex?
This division activates the fight-or-flight response.
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
Chemical messengers released into the synapse.
What are neurotransmitters?
This sleep stage is associated with rapid eye movements and vivid dreams.
What is REM sleep?
An AP psychologist interested in how genetics influence behavior would most likely support this perspective.
What is the biological perspective?
Damage to this structure often reduces aggression and impairs fear responses.
What is the amygdala?
The awareness of ourselves and our environment is known as this.
What is consciousness?
This division calms the body after a stressful event.
What is the parasympathetic nervous system?
These neurons communicate only within the brain and spinal cord.
What are interneurons?
This theory proposes that dreams result from the brain trying to make sense of random neural activity.
What is activation-synthesis theory?
The approach that explains many human behaviors as adaptations that increased survival and reproduction.
What is evolutionary psychology?
This brainstem network helps regulate alertness and consciousness. Damage can result in a coma.
What is the reticular formation?
The split brain condition results from severing this structure.
What is the corpus callosum?
This gland is often called the "master gland" because it controls many other endocrine glands.
What is the pituitary gland?
These neurons decrease the likelihood that neighboring neurons will fire.
What are inhibitory neurons?
This stage of sleep is sometimes referred to as delta sleep because the brain produces slow, frequent waves while someone is in this sleep.
NREM stage 3
A student suffers damage to a brain structure that helps form new memories. What part of their brain is most likely effected?
What is the hippocampus