AP Psychology terms taken from the Princeton Review study book. Chapter 5 - Biological Basis of Behavior
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| 1392221518 | Physiological Psychology | The study of behavior as influenced by biology. | 1 | |
| 1392221519 | Electroencephalogram (EEG) | Device that measures subtle changes in brain electrical activity through electrodes placed on the head. This has allowed psychologists to map brain activity during various cognitive states or tasks. | 2 | |
| 1392221520 | Computerized Axial Tomography Scans (CAT Scans) | Device that generates cross-sectional images of the brain using a series of X-ray pictures at different angles. | 3 | |
| 1392221521 | Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) | Device that uses powerful electromagnets and radio waves to get structural information from the brain. They capture "snapshots" of the brain, but can't observe the brain over time. | 4 | |
| 1392221522 | Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) | Device that rapidly sequences MRI scans to allow a view of the brain "in motion." | 5 | |
| 1392221523 | Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scans | Device that provides images via diffusion of radioactive glucose in the brain—areas in the brain with more glucose indicate a higher activity. | 6 | |
| 1392221524 | Neurons | The basic unit of the nervous system, also called nerve cells. | 7 | |
| 1392221525 | Central Nervous System | Nervous system consisted of the brain and spinal cord. | 8 | |
| 1392221526 | Peripheral Nervous System | Nervous system comprising all nerves in the body except for the brain and spinal cord. | 9 | |
| 1392221527 | Afferent Neurons | Neurons which send sensory information to the brain. | 10 | |
| 1392221528 | Efferent Neurons | Neurons which convey motor information from the brain to the PNS. | 11 | |
| 1392221529 | Reflex | A quick and involuntary response to environmental stimuli which is not controlled by the brain but transmits directly from afferent to efferent cells in the spinal cord. | 12 | |
| 1392221530 | Somatic Nervous System | The part of the PNS which is responsible for voluntary movement of skeletal muscles. | 13 | |
| 1392221531 | Autonomic Nervous System | The part of the PNS which controls the nonskeletal, involuntary, smooth muscles, like in the heart and digestive tract. | 14 | |
| 1392221532 | Sympathetic Nervous System | The part of the ANS associated with energy-burning processes, mainly the heightened state of arousal from the fight-or-flight reaction. | 15 | |
| 1392221533 | Fight-or-flight Reaction | A reaction carried out by the sympathetic nervous system which is characterized by an increase in heart rate and respiration, with a decrease in digestion and salivation. | 16 | |
| 1392221534 | Parasympathetic Nervous System | The part of the ANS which is responsible for conserving energy. After a fight-or-flight reaction, this system kicks in sends blood to the stomach for digestion, slows heart rate, and conserves energy, returning the body to homeostasis. "Rest and digest". | 17 | |
| 1392221535 | Hindbrain | The oldest region of the brain to develop, evolutionarily speaking. Composed of the cerebellum, medulla oblongata, reticular activating system (RAS), pons, and thalamus. | 18 | |
| 1392221536 | Cerebellum | Part of the hindbrain which controls muscle tone and balance. | 19 | |
| 1392221537 | Medulla Oblongata | Part of the hindbrain which controls involuntary, basic life functions. (E.g. breathing, digestion, heart rate, swallowing). | 20 | |
| 1392221538 | Reticular Activating System | Part of the hindbrain which controls arousal—wakefulness and alertness. | 21 | |
| 1392221539 | Pons | Part of the hindbrain which acts as a way station, passing neural messages from one brain region to another. "Bridge" in Latin. | 22 | |
| 1392221540 | Thalamus | Part of the hindbrain which relays sensory information; it receives and directs sensory information from visual and auditory systems. | 23 | |
| 1392221541 | Midbrain | The region of the brain which has its major components as the tectum and tegmentum, which govern visual and auditory reflexes, such as orienting to a sight or sound. | 24 | |
| 1392221542 | Tectum | Part of the midbrain which acts as the midbrain's roof. | 25 | |
| 1392221543 | Tegmentum | Part of the midbrain which acts as the midbrain's floor. | 26 | |
| 1392221544 | Forebrain | Region of the brain which contains the limbic system (hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus). | 27 | |
| 1392221545 | Hippocampus | Part of the forebrain which is involved in processing and integrating memories. Forms memories which are then stored in the neocortex. | 28 | |
| 1392221546 | Amygdala | Part of the forebrain which is involved in the expression of anger and frustration. | 29 | |
| 1392221547 | Hypothalamus | Part of the forebrain which controls the temperature and water balance of the body, controls hunger and sex drives, and activates the sympathetic nervous system and endocrine system. | 30 | |
| 1392221548 | Lateral Hypothalamus | The "on switch" for eating. A lesion to this part of the hypothalamus will lead to decreased hunger drive. | 31 | |
| 1392221549 | Ventromedial Hypothalamus | The "off switch" for eating. A lesion to this part of the hypothalamus would cause obesity or even death from overeating. | 32 | |
| 1392221550 | Limbic System | The emotional center of the brain. It resides in the forebrain and is composed of the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus. | 33 | |
| 1392221551 | Cerebral Cortex | The thin, wrinkled, gray outer layer of the brain, involved with higher cognitive functions like thinking, planning, language, and fine motor control. | 34 | |
| 1392221552 | Cerebral Hemispheres | Two symmetrical-like sides of the brain covered by the cortex. | 35 | |
| 1392221553 | Left Hemisphere | The hemisphere of the brain specialized for language processing. | 36 | |
| 1392221554 | Right Hemisphere | The hemisphere of the brain specialized for processing certain kinds of visual and spatial information. | 37 | |
| 1392221555 | Corpus Callosum | The band of connective nerve fibers joining the two hemispheres. | 38 | |
| 1392221556 | Broca's area | Located in the left hemisphere, it controls speaking ability. Damage to this area results in expressive aphasia. | 39 | |
| 1392221557 | Expressive Aphasia | The loss of the ability to speak. | 40 | |
| 1392221558 | Wernicke's Area | An area in the left temporal lobe which is involved in comprehending speech. Damage to this area results in receptive aphasia. | 41 | |
| 1392221559 | Receptive Aphasia | The inability to comprehend speech. | 42 | |
| 1392221560 | Contralateral Processing | When stimuli is processed on the opposite side where it was detected: e.g. Information from the left half of the visual field is detected by the right half of each retina and is processed by the right hemisphere of the brain, and vice versa for left visual field. | 43 | |
| 1392221561 | Roger Sperry | The person who performed experiments on split-brain patients to demonstrate that the two hemispheres of the brain can operate independently. | 44 | |
| 1392221562 | Frontal Lobe | The lobe of the brain which is responsible for higher-level thought and reasoning, such as working memory, paying attention, solving problems, making plans, forming judgments, and performing movements. | 45 | |
| 1392221563 | Parietal Lobe | The lobe of the brain which handles somatosensory information (home to the primary somatosensory cortex). It receives information about temperature, pressure, texture, and pain. | 46 | |
| 1392221564 | Temporal Lobe | Lobe of the brain which handles auditory input and processes speech. | 47 | |
| 1392221565 | Occipital Lobe | Lobe of the brain which processes visual input, which goes from the eyes across the optic chiasma to this lobe. | 48 | |
| 1392221566 | Association Areas | Areas responsible for associating information in the sensory and motor cortices. Damage to these areas can lead to many dysfunctions. | 49 | |
| 1392221567 | Apraxia | The inability to organize movement. | 50 | |
| 1392221568 | Agnosia | A difficulty in processing sensory input. | 51 | |
| 1392221569 | Alexia | The inability to read. | 52 | |
| 1392221570 | Soma | The cell body of the neuron (fancy name). | 53 | |
| 1392221571 | Dendrites | Branching out structures from the cell body of a neuron, they receive input from other neurons. | 54 | |
| 1392221572 | Axon | Long, tube-like structure that responds to input from the dendrites and soma and transmits neural signals to other cells. | 55 | |
| 1392221573 | Myelin Sheath | Fatty coating of some axons which insulates electrical impulses and makes them faster. | 56 | |
| 1392221574 | Nodes of Ranvier | Small gaps in a myelin sheath which help speed up impulse transmission. | 57 | |
| 1392221575 | Terminal Buttons | Ending knobs of an axon, almost touch the next neuron (but separated by a synapse). | 58 | |
| 1392221576 | Neurotransmitters | Substances released by terminal buttons which act as chemical messengers, sent across synapses, where they bind to receptors on dendrites. | 59 | |
| 1392221577 | Synapse | The gap between the end of an axon and the dendrites of another neuron. | 60 | |
| 1392221578 | Threshold | A certain level of stimulation that must be met in a cell for an action potential to occur. | 61 | |
| 1392221579 | Action Potential | The "nerve impulse" which occurs after threshold is met. A neuron "fires", causing the permeability of the cell membrane to change, letting ions of potassium and sodium to pass through. | 62 | |
| 1392221580 | Excitatory | Messages from neurotransmitters that serve to excite the cell or cause it to fire (and pass along an impulse). | 63 | |
| 1392221581 | Inhibitory | Messages from neurotransmitters that tend to stop cell firing, or decrease the chance for another action potential to occur. | 64 | |
| 1392221582 | Reuptake | The process of absorbing a released neurotransmitter after it has passed on the signal back into the cell that released it. | 65 | |
| 1392221583 | Acetylcholine | Neurotransmitter that affects memory function, and muscle contraction (especially in the heart). | 66 | |
| 1392221584 | Serotonin | Neurotransmitter related to arousal, sleep, pain sensitivity, and mood and hunger regulation. | 67 | |
| 1392221585 | Dopamine | Neurotransmitter associated with movement, attention, and reward. | 68 | |
| 1392221586 | GABA | The main inhibitory neurotransmitter. | 69 | |
| 1392221587 | Norepinephrine | Neurotransmitter which affects levels of alertness. A lack of this is connected to depression. Also known as noradrenaline, secreted by the adrenal glands. | 70 | |
| 1392221588 | Endorphins | Neurotransmitters which are the body's natural painkillers. | 71 | |
| 1392221589 | Glutamate | An excitatory neurotransmitter, the counterpart to GABA. | 72 | |
| 1392221590 | Endocrine System | System which provides another way for parts of our bodies to relay information to one another. It works through a system of glands, which release hormones. | 73 | |
| 1392221591 | Hormones | Released by glands of the endocrine system; they are released throughout the body through the bloodstream and trigger wide ranger of responses for long periods of time, and affect cell growth and proliferation. | 74 | |
| 1392221592 | Pituitary Gland | Known as the master gland. It releases hormones which control hormonal release by many other glands. In stressful situations, the pituitary gland releases adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). | 75 | |
| 1392221593 | Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH) | Hormone released by the pituitary gland under stressful situations. It stimulates the adrenal glands, resulting in flight-or-flight reactions. | 76 | |
| 1392221594 | Adrenal Glands | Glands that, when stimulated (by ACTH), carries out the fight-or-flight reaction. They secrete epinephrine and norepinephrine. | 77 | |
| 1392221595 | Epinephrine | The hormone known more commonly as adrenaline. | 78 | |
| 1392221596 | Thyroid Gland | Gland located at the front of the neck, produces thyroxine. | 79 | |
| 1392221597 | Thyroxine | Hormone produced by the thyroid which regulates cell metabolism. | 80 | |
| 1392221598 | Traits | Distinctive characteristics or behavior patterns that are determined by genetics. | 81 | |
| 1392221599 | Genes | The basic biological elements responsible for carrying information about traits between successive generations. They reside on rod-shaped chromosomes, 46 in total in humans, with one set of 23 from each parent. | 82 | |
| 1392221600 | Genotype | The genetic makeup of an organism. | 83 | |
| 1392221601 | Phenotype | The set of observable traits. | 84 | |
| 1392221602 | Heritability | The degree of variance among individuals that can be attributed to genetic variations. | 85 | |
| 1392221603 | Environmentality | The degree to which a trait's expression is caused by the surrounding environment. | 86 | |
| 1392221604 | Down Syndrome | Disease which occurs when there are three copies of the 21st chromosome, which causes some mental retardation. | 87 | |
| 1392221605 | Huntington's Chorea | A disorder that results in muscle impairment that doesn't usually occur until after age 40. It is caused by degeneration of the basal ganglia, and it is fatal. It is often passed down to next generations before its symptoms are seen. | 88 |
