the biological basis of behavior
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| 34802834 | Nervous System | The brain, the spinal cord, and the netword of nerve cells that transmit messages throughout the body | |
| 34802835 | Nerve or Tract | Group of axons bundled together | |
| 34802836 | Myelin Sheath | White fatty covering found on some axons | |
| 34802837 | sensory or afferent neurons | neurons that carry messages from sense organs to the spinal cord or brain. | |
| 34802838 | Motor or effertent neurons | meurons that carry messages from teh spinal cord or brain to the muscles and glands | |
| 34803377 | Interneurons | neurons that carry messages from one neuron to another and do most of the work of the nervous system | |
| 34803378 | Endrocrine System | Internal netword of glands that release hormones directly into the blood stream to regulate body functions | |
| 34803379 | Neurons | Individual Cells that are the smallest unit of the nervous system | |
| 34803380 | dendrites | Short fibers that branch out from the cell body and pick up incoming messages | |
| 34803381 | Axon | Single long fiber extending from the cell body; it caries outgoing messages | |
| 34972812 | Graded Potential | A shift in the electrical charge in a tiny area of a neuron | |
| 34972813 | Threshold of excitation | th level an impulse must exceed to cause a neuron to fire | |
| 34972814 | Absolute refractory period | a period after firing when a neuron is returning to its normal polarized state and will fire again only if the incoming message is much stronger than usual | |
| 34972815 | All-or-none law | Principle that the action potential in a neuron does not vary in strength; the neuron either fires at full strength or it does not fire at all. | |
| 34972816 | Neural impulse or action potential | The fire of a nerve cell. | |
| 34972817 | Receptor Site | A location on a receptor neuron into which a specific neurotransmitter fits like a key into a lock | |
| 34972818 | Plasticity | The ability of the brain to change in response to experience | |
| 34972819 | Central Nervous System | Division of the nervous system that consists of the brain and spinal cord | |
| 34972820 | Peripheral nervous system | Division of the nervous system that connects the central nervous system to the rest of the body | |
| 34972821 | Long-term potentiation | A long-lasting change in the structure or function of a synapse that increases teh efficiency of neural transmission | |
| 34974312 | Hindbrain | Area containing the medulla, pons, and cerebellum | |
| 34974313 | Medulla | Part of the hindbrain that controls such functions as breathing, ehart rate, and blood pressure | |
| 34974314 | Pons | Part of the hindbrain that connects the cerebral cortex at the top of the brain to the cerebellum | |
| 34974315 | Cerebellum | Structures in the hindbrain that control certain reflexes and coordinate the body;s movements. | |
| 34974316 | Brain Stem | The top of the spinal column; it widens out to form the hindbrain and midbrain. | |
| 34974317 | Midbrain | Region between the hindbrain and the forebrain; it is important for hearing and sight and it is one of the several places in the brain where pain is registered | |
| 34974318 | Forebrain | Top part of the brain, including the thalamus, hypothalamus, and cerebral cortex. | |
| 34974319 | Thalamus | Forebrain region that relays and translates incoming messages from teh sense receptors, except for those for smell | |
| 34974320 | Hypothalamus | Forebrain region that governs motivation and emotional repsonses. | |
| 34974321 | Cerebral cortex | the outer surface of the two cerebral hemispheres that regulate most complex behaviors. | |
| 34978254 | Association Areas | Areas of the cerebral cortex where incoming messages from separate senses are combined into meaningful impressions and outgoing messages from the motor areas are integrated | |
| 34978255 | Occipital Lobe | Part if teg cerebral hemisphere that recieves and interprets visual infromation | |
| 34978256 | Temporal Lobe | Part of the cerebral hemisphere that helps regulate hearing, smell, balance, and equilibrium, and certain emotions and motivations | |
| 34978257 | Parietal Lobe | Part of the cerebral cortex that receives sensory information from throughout the body | |
| 34978258 | Primary somatosensory cortex | areas of hte parietal lobe where message from the sense receptors are registered | |
| 34978259 | Frontal lobe | Part of the cerebral cortex that is responsible for voluntary movement; it is also important for attention, goal-directed behavior and appropriate emotional experiences | |
| 34978260 | Motor Projection areas | Area of the cerebral cortex where response messages from the brain to the muscles and glands begin | |
| 34978261 | corpus callosum | Thick band of nerve fibers that connects the left and right cerebral cortex | |
| 34978262 | reticular formation | Network of neurons in teh hindbrain, midbrain and part of the forebrain whose primary function is to alert and arouse the higher parts of the brain | |
| 34978263 | limbic system | ring of structures around the brain stem; it plays a role in learning and emotional behavior. | |
| 34978264 | Spinal Cord | Complex cable of neurons that runs down the spine, connections the brain to most of the rest of the body | |
| 34978265 | Somatic nervous system | The part of the peripheral nervous system that carries messages from the senses to the central nervous system and between the central nervous system and the skeletal muscleds | |
| 34978266 | autonomic nervous sysetm | The part of the peripheral nervous system that carries messages between the central nervous system and the internal organs | |
| 34978267 | sympathetic division | branch of the autonomic nervous system, it prepares the body for quick action in an emergency | |
| 34978268 | parasympathetic division | Branch of the autonomic nervous system; it calms and relaxes the body | |
| 34978269 | Hormones | Chemical substances released by the endocrine glands, they help regulate bodily activites | |
| 34978270 | Endocrine glands | glands of the endocrine system that release hormones into teh bloodstream | |
| 34978271 | thyroid gland | Endocrine gland located below teh voice box; it produces the hormone thyroxin | |
| 34978272 | thyroxin | Hormone that regulates the body's rate of metabolism | |
| 34978273 | parathyroids | four tiny glands embedded in the thyroid; they secrete parathormone | |
| 35155001 | Recessive Gene | Member of a gene pair that can control the appearance of a certain trait only if it is praired with another recessive gene | |
| 35155002 | Ploygenic inheritance | Process in which several genes interact to produce a certain trait; responsible for our most important traits | |
| 35155003 | strain studies | studies of teh heritability of behavioral traits using animals that have been inbred to produce strains that are genetically similiar to one another | |
| 35155004 | selection studies | studies that estimate the heritability of a trait by breeding animals with other animals that have the same trait | |
| 35155005 | family studies | studies of heritability in humans based ont eh assumption that if genes influence a certain trait, close relatives should be more similar on that trait than distant relatives | |
| 35155006 | twin studies | Studies of identical and fraternal twins to determine the relative influence of heredity and environment on human behavior | |
| 35155007 | identical twins | Twins developed from a single fertilized ovum and therefore identical in genetic makeup at the time of conception | |
| 35155008 | fraternal twins | twins developed from tow seperate fertilized ova and therefore different genetic makeup | |
| 35155009 | adoption studies | research carried out on children adopted at birth by parents not realted to them, to determine the relative influence of herdity and enviroment on human behavior | |
| 35155010 | natural selection | the mechanism propsed by DArwin in his theory of evolution. which states that organisms best adapted to their enviroment tend to survive, transmiting their genetic characteristics to offspring | |
| 35155011 | Glial Cell | cell that forms myelin sheath that insulates the neurons and supplies neurons, removing waste products, and preventing harmful substances from moving from the blood stream into the brain | |
| 35155012 | ions | electrically charged particles found both inside and outside the neuron | |
| 35155013 | resting potential | electrical charge across a neuron membrane when sodium ions concentrate on the outside and potassium ions concentrate on teh inside | |
| 35155014 | polarization | the condition of a neuron when the inside is negatively charged relative to the outside; for example when the neuron is at rest. | |
| 35155015 | neural impulse or action potential | the firing of a nerve cell | |
| 35155016 | Terminal button or synoptic knob | Knob at the end of an axon terminates branch | |
| 35155017 | synaptic space or synaptic cleft | tiny gap between the axon terminal one neuron and dendrites or cell body of the next neuron | |
| 35155018 | neurotransmitters | Chemicals released by teh synaptic vesicales that transmist across the synaptic space and affect adjacent neurons | |
| 35155019 | synaptic vesicles | tiny sacs in a synaptic knob that release chemicals into the synapse | |
| 35158166 | nature versus nurture | A debate surronding the relative importance of herdity (nature) and enviroment (nurture) in determing behavior | |
| 35158167 | behavior genetics | study of the relationship between heredity and behavior | |
| 35158168 | evolutionary psychology | a subfield of psychology concerned with teh orgins of behaviors and mental processes, their adaptive value and the purposes they continue to serve | |
| 35158169 | genetics | study of how traits are passed from one generation to the next | |
| 35158170 | traits | characteristics on which organisms differ | |
| 35158171 | heredity | the transmission of traits from one gerneration to the next | |
| 35158172 | genes | elements that control the transmission of traits; they are found on the chromosomes | |
| 35158173 | chromosomes | pairs of threadlike bodies within the cell nucleus that contain the genes | |
| 35158174 | DNA | complex molecule that is the main igredient of chromosomes and genes and forms the code for all genetic information | |
| 35158175 | dominant gene | member of a gene pair that controls the appearance of a certian trait | |
| 35158176 | Pineal gland | a gland located roughly int eh center of the brain that appears into regulate the activity levels ober hte course of a day | |
| 35158177 | pancreas | organ lying between the stomahc and samll intestine; it secretes insulin and glucagon | |
| 35158178 | pituitary gland | gland located on teh underside of hte brain; it produces the largest number of the body's hormones | |
| 35158179 | posterior pituitary | part of the pituitary that affetcs thirst, sexual behavior, and prehaps paternal and maternal behavior | |
| 35158180 | anterior pituitary | part of the pituitary known as the "master gland" because it produces many hormones that trigger that actions of other glands; it regulates body growth and also effects motiviation and emotions | |
| 35158181 | gonads | the reproductive gland- testes in males and ovaries in females | |
| 35158182 | adrenal glands | two endocrine glands located just above the kidneys | |
| 35158183 | adrenal cortex | outer covering of the two adrenal glands; the adrenal cortex releases hormones important for dealing with stress | |
| 35158184 | adrenal medulla | inner core of the adrenal glands that also releases hormones to deal with stress | |
| 35158185 | beta endorphin | one of the endorphins a natural painkiller released by the body. |
