Vocab from Baron's AP Psychology prep book and Psychology, AP Edition with Discovery Psychology
Terms : Hide Images
| 650048077 | DNA | a long, complex molecule that encodes genetic characteristics | 0 | |
| 650048078 | gene | segment of a chromosome that encodes the directions for the inherited physical and mental characteristics of an organism; the functional units of chromosomes | 1 | |
| 650048079 | neuron | cell specialized to receive and transmit information to other cells in the body; also called nerve cell | 2 | |
| 650048080 | nerves | bundles of many neurons | 3 | |
| 650048081 | sensory neuron | nerve cell that carries messages from sense receptors toward the central nervous system; also called an afferent neuron | 4 | |
| 650048082 | motor neuron | nerve cell that carries messages away from the central nervous system toward the muscles and glands; also called an efferent neuron | 5 | |
| 650048083 | interneuron | a nerve cell that relays messages between nerve cells, especially in the brain and the spinal cord | 6 | |
| 650048084 | dendrite | a branched fiber that extends outward from the main cell body and carries information into the neuron | 7 | |
| 650048085 | soma | the part of a cell (such as a neuron) containing the nucleus, which includes the chromosomes; also called the cell body | 8 | |
| 650048086 | axon | in a nerve cell, an extended fiber that conducts information from the soma to the terminal buttons; information travels along the axon in the form of an electric charge called the action potential | 9 | |
| 650048087 | resting potential | the electrical charge of the action in its inactive state, when the neuron is ready to "fire" | 10 | |
| 650048088 | action potential | the nerve impulse caused by a change in the electrical charge across the cell membrane of the axon; when the neuron "fires," this charge travels down the axon and causes neurotransmitters to be released by the terminal buttons | 11 | |
| 650048089 | all-or-none principle | refers to the fact that all the action potential in the axon occurs either full-blown or not at all | 12 | |
| 650048090 | synapse | the microscopic gap that serves as a communications link between neurons; also occur between neurons and the muscles or glands they serve | 13 | |
| 650048091 | terminal buttons | tiny bulb-like structures at the end of the axon, which contain neurotransmitters that carry the neuron's message into the synapse | 14 | |
| 650048092 | synaptic transmission | the relaying of information across the synapse by means of chemical neurotransmitters | 15 | |
| 650048093 | dopamine | produces sensations of pleasure and reward; used by CNS neurons in voluntary movement; problems can cause schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease | 16 | |
| 650048094 | serotonin | regulates sleep and dreaming, mood, pain, aggression, appetite, and sexual behavior; problems can cause depression, certain anxiety disorders, and OCD | 17 | |
| 650048095 | norepinephrine | controls heart rate, sleep, sexual responsiveness, stress, vigilance and appetite; problems can cause high blood pressure and depression | 18 | |
| 650048096 | acetylcholine | primary transmitter used by neurons carrying messages from CNS; involved in some kinds of learning and memory; problems can cause certain muscular disorders, and Alzheimer's disease | 19 | |
| 650048097 | GABA | most prevalent inhibitory neurotransmitter in neurons of CNS; problems can cause anxiety and epilepsy | 20 | |
| 650048098 | glutamate | primary excitatory neurotransmitter in CNS; involved in learning and memory; problems can cause brain damage after stroke | 21 | |
| 650048099 | endorphins | control pleasurable sensations and control of pain; lowered levels resulting from opiate addiction | 22 | |
| 650048100 | hindbrain | oldest part of the brain; responsible for basic life functions, including breathing, respiration, and sleeping | 23 | |
| 650048101 | midbrain | second oldest brain structure; includes the reticular activating system/RAS and several neural centers that act as lower-level control centers for some limited motor, auditory, and visual functions | 24 | |
| 650048102 | forebrain | newest part of brain; contains cerebral cortex, thalamus, basal ganglia, and hippothalamus | 25 | |
| 650048103 | medulla | portion of brain stem associated with basic life functions, such as heartbeat and respiration | 26 | |
| 650048104 | pons | portion for brain stem that is involved in coordinating muscular action and facial expression | 27 | |
| 650048105 | cerebellum | portion of hindbrain that helps to control posture, balance, and muscle coordination | 28 | |
| 650048106 | limbic system | group of brain structures involved with emotions, the autonomic nervous system, and olfactory processing | 29 | |
| 650048107 | thalamus | portion of brain whose primary function is to relay information from sensory systems to the cerebral cortex | 30 | |
| 650048108 | hippothalamus | region of hindbrain involved in regulating hunger, thirst, sex drive, body temperature, and more; secretes hormone that triggers pituitary gland | 31 | |
| 650048109 | hippocampus | part of limbic system involved in long-term memory | 32 | |
| 650048110 | amygdala | portion of limbic system linked to emotions and forming long-term memories | 33 | |
| 650048111 | cerebral cortex | outer layer of nerve cells covering cerebrum that is responsible for most higher cognitive function | 34 | |
| 650048112 | corpus callosum | bundle of nerve fibers that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain | 35 | |
| 650048113 | central fissure | long, deep groove on the lateral surface of the cerebral cortex | 36 | |
| 650048114 | threshold | the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse | 37 | |
| 650048115 | reuptake | a neurotransmitter's reabsorption by the sending neuron | 38 | |
| 650048116 | somatic nervous system | the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles | 39 | |
| 650048117 | autonomic nervous system | the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs | 40 | |
| 650048118 | sympathetic nervous system | division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations | 41 | |
| 650048119 | parasympathetic nervous system | division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy | 42 | |
| 650048120 | reflex | a simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response | 43 | |
| 650048121 | nervous system | the body's speedy electrochemical communication network consisting of all the nerves of the peripheral and central nervous systems | 44 | |
| 650048122 | central nervous system | the brain and the spinal cord | 45 | |
| 650048123 | peripheral nervous system | the sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body | 46 | |
| 650048124 | lateral fissure | fissure that separates the different lobes of the cerebrum | 47 | |
| 650048125 | EEG | record the brain-wave pattern of electrical activity in different parts of the brain; can detect the activity of a single neuron | 48 | |
| 650048126 | CAT | a series of x-rays that, when combined, show a composite representation of horizontal slices of the brain | 49 | |
| 650048127 | MRI | displays high-resolution pictures of structures and different types of soft tissues deep inside the brain | 50 | |
| 650048128 | PET | provides color coded map of areas showing high activity in the brain | 51 | |
| 650048129 | pituitary gland | gland located at the base of the brain producing hormones that control other glands and affect metabolism, bone growth, and sexual maturity | 52 | |
| 650048130 | thyroid | an endocrine gland located in the necks of people and other vertebrates that secretes the hormones that control metabolism and growth | 53 | |
| 650048131 | pancreas | a gland situated near the stomach that secretes a digestive fluid into the intestine and produces the hormone insulin | 54 | |
| 650048132 | adrenal glands | small glands that produce steroid hormones, adrenaline, and noradrenaline, which help control heart rate, blood pressure, and other important bodily functions; there are two, one located on top of each kidney | 55 | |
| 650048133 | epinephrine | a hormone secreted by the adrenal medulla that is stimulated by the CNS in response to stress or fear; increases heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac output, and carbohydrate metabolism | 56 | |
| 650048134 | norepinephrine | hormone secreted by the adrenaline gland that increases blood pressure and rate and the depth of breathing, raises the level of blood sugar, and decreases activity in the intestines; main neurotransmitter of sympathetic nerve endings supplying the major organs and skin | 57 | |
| 650048135 | thymus | an organ, located at the base of the neck, that is involved in the development of cells of the immune system, particularly T cells | 58 | |
| 650048136 | gonads | sex organs in a male or female animal that make the cells needed to produce babies | 59 | |
| 650048137 | ovaries | pair of organs in a female's body that produce eggs | 60 | |
| 650048138 | testes | pair of male reproductive glands that produce sperm and are contained in the scrotum in most mammals | 61 | |
| 650048139 | chromosomes | structures made of DNA that contain genes; located in cell nucleus; humans normally have 23 pairs, or 46 total | 62 | |
| 650048140 | temperament | a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity | 63 | |
| 650048141 | behavior genetics | the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior | 64 | |
| 650048142 | genome | the complete instructions for making an organism consisting of all the genetic material in that organism's chromosomes | 65 | |
| 650048143 | heretability | the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes; may vary on particular traits, depending on the range of populations/environments studied | 66 | |
| 650048144 | interaction | the interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity) | 67 | |
| 650048145 | molecular genetics | the subfield of biology that studies the molecular structure and function of genes | 68 | |
| 650048146 | mutation | a random error in gene replication that leads to a change | 69 | |
| 650048147 | individualism | giving priority to one's own goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications | 70 | |
| 650048148 | collectivism | giving priority to goals of one's group (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly | 71 | |
| 650048149 | absolute threshold | the lowest amount of stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time | 72 | |
| 650048150 | accommodation | the process in which the lens of the eye changes shape in response to external conditions so that an object remains in focus | 73 | |
| 650048151 | adaptation | the process by which the eye adjusts to varying levels of light or color | 74 | |
| 650048152 | amplitude | the height of the sound waves developed by an auditory stimulus | 75 | |
| 650048153 | binocular cues | a visual depth cue that requires the use of both eyes | 76 | |
| 650048154 | blind spot | an area or direction in which a person's vision is obscured because no receptor cells are located there | 77 | |
| 650048155 | cochlea | the snail shaped, fluid filled organ in the inner ear that contains the basilar membrane | 78 | |
| 650048156 | conduction deafness | hearing loss related to problems with the ossicles, the bones of the inner ear | 79 | |
| 650048157 | cones | receptors in the retina that allow us to see color, but do not function as well in low light conditions | 80 | |
| 650048158 | confabulation | an imagined but plausible memory that fills in the gaps of what a person actually remembers | 81 | |
| 650048159 | convergence | a binocular cue that perceives depth; the eyes converge inwards when looking at an object | 82 | |
| 650048160 | cornea | the clear part of the eye that lies in front of the retina and is part of the eye's protective covering | 83 | |
| 650048161 | depth perception | the ability to visually perceive the world and understand spacial relationships in order to gauge the distance between objects | 84 | |
| 650048162 | eardrum | another term for the tympanic membrane | 85 | |
| 650048163 | feature detection cells | cells in the cortex of the brain that respond to different characteristics of a visual stimulus | 86 | |
| 650048164 | feature detection theory | an explanation for pattern recognition; the theory that we process images in terms of their constituent parts and then match the features of a pattern to those features stored in memory | 87 | |
| 650048165 | figure and ground | an aspect of perception where the perceived is separated into at least two parts, with different attributes, but influencing one another | 88 | |
| 650048166 | fovea | a depression near the center of the retina that is densely packed with cones; vision is most accurate here | 89 | |
| 650048167 | gate control theory | theory of pain perception that there is a spinal "gate" that can be closed by the brain; closed gate would prevent brain from feeling bodily pain | 90 | |
| 650048168 | frequency theory | a theory that sound is heard when pulses travel up the auditory nerve and carry the information to the brain for processing, and that the rate of this pulse exactly matches the frequency of whatever tone is heard | 91 | |
| 650048169 | gustation | sense of taste | 92 | |
| 650048170 | induced motion | an optical illusion in which a stationary object appears to be moving in one direction because of the movement of objects on either side in the opposite direction | 93 | |
| 650048171 | iris | the colored portion of the eye that controls how much light enters through the pupil | 94 | |
| 650048172 | kinesthetics | the sense of body position; also known as proprioception | 95 | |
| 650048173 | law of effect | proposed by Edward Thorndike; states that a behavior is more likely to be repeated if it maximizes pleasure and/or minimizes pain | 96 | |
| 650048174 | lens | the portion of the eye that changes shape to focus the visual image on the retina | 97 | |
| 650048175 | light adaptation | the changes that occur in the eye to permit vision when moving from darkness to light | 98 | |
| 650048176 | monocular cue | a visual depth cue that makes use of only one eye | 99 | |
| 650048177 | olfaction | the sense of smell | 100 | |
| 650048178 | opponent process theory | theory that opposing retina processes (red-green, black-white, blue-yellow) allow for color vision | 101 | |
| 650048179 | optic nerve | the cranial nerve that carries the visual impulse out of the back of the eye into the brain for further processing | 102 | |
| 650048180 | parallel processing | a feature of the visual system in which many different process are taking place simultaneously | 103 | |
| 650048181 | perception | the processing of organizing and interpreting sensory information | 104 | |
| 650048182 | photoreceptors | sense receptors for the visual system | 105 | |
| 650048183 | pitch | the frequency of a soundwave, which translates into the highness or lowness of sound | 106 | |
| 650048184 | proximity | a Gestalt principle of perception stating that all else being equal, objects near each other tend to be perceived as one unit | 107 | |
| 650048185 | pupil | the opening in the center of the eye that controls how much light is let into the eye | 108 | |
| 650048186 | retina | the layer of cells at the back of the eye where transduction of light waves into nerve cells takes place; contains photoreceptors and additional nerves | 109 | |
| 650048187 | rods | photoreceptors that respond to low levels of light | 110 | |
| 650048188 | semicircular canals | three fluid filled channels in the inner ear that are responsible for vestibular sense, or sense of balance; respond to changes in the position of the head and rate of movement | 111 | |
| 650048189 | sensation | the raw, unelaborated, result of stimulation | 112 | |
| 650048190 | sensory integration | the process of synthesizing information from two or more sensory systems | 113 | |
| 650048191 | subliminal | sensory stimulation below the threshold of perception, but may still influence us in some way | 114 | |
| 650048192 | tastebuds | sensory organs that contain the chemical receptors for taste | 115 | |
| 650048193 | threshold | the minimum sensory stimulation required for detection | 116 | |
| 650048194 | timbre (complexity) | the quality of a sound that is the result of its mixture of wavelengths in the sound | 117 | |
| 650048195 | transduction | the conversion of sensory stimuli into a form of information that can be processed by the sense receptors | 118 | |
| 650048196 | trichromatic (Young-Helmholtz) theory | a theory of color vision in which three types of color receptors produce the three basic colors of red, blue, and green | 119 | |
| 650048197 | vestibular sense | sense of balance | 120 | |
| 650048198 | visible spectrum | the part or range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye | 121 | |
| 650048199 | Weber's law | a rule that the just noticeable difference (JND) is proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulus | 122 | |
| 650048200 | activation-synthesis hypothesis | the hypothesis that explains dreams as the brain's attempt to make sense of random firings in the pons area of the brain | 123 | |
| 650048201 | alpha waves | brain waves on an EEG that are associated with being awake and quiet | 124 | |
| 650048202 | amphetamines | a stimulant to the CNS that increases energy and decreases appetite; used to treat narcolepsy and some forms of depression | 125 | |
| 650048203 | antidepressant | a drug used to treat depression; most work by increasing neurotransmitters, such as serotonin | 126 | |
| 650048204 | apnea | a sleep disorder in which the individual stops breathing several times in the night | 127 | |
| 650048205 | beta waves | brain waves on an EEG that are associated with conscious mental activity | 128 | |
| 650048206 | circadian rhythm | a metabolic and behavioral cycle that is aided by light cues; repeats about every 24 hours in humans | 129 | |
| 650048207 | delta waves | large, slow brain waves on an EEG that are associated with deep sleep | 130 | |
| 650048208 | insomnia | inability to sleep, which could be characterized by difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, and/or awakening too early | 131 | |
| 650048209 | melatonin | a hormone produced by the pineal gland that is associated with sleep onset | 132 | |
| 650048210 | methamphetamines | a highly psychologically addictive, illicit, synthetic stimulant that induces feelings of euphoria | 133 | |
| 650048211 | narcolepsy | a sleep disorder characterized by sudden attacks of REM sleep | 134 | |
| 650048212 | neurocognitive theories of dreaming | a group of theories that suggest that dreams are a byproduct of neural firings made by the brain during the night, which are our brain's attempt to make sense of those firings | 135 | |
| 650048213 | psychoactive drug | a substance that alters the functioning of the brain, resulting in changes of mood and behavior | 136 | |
| 650048214 | REM | a stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movement and nervous system arousal | 137 | |
| 650048215 | REM sleep | most dreaming occurs during this stage, when you experience rapid eye movement | 138 | |
| 650048216 | sleep paralysis | the state of being awake but unable to speak or move; often a symptom of narcolepsy | 139 | |
| 650048217 | stage 1 sleep | when one is first falling asleep; lasts about 5 minutes | 140 | |
| 650048218 | stage 2 sleep | during this stage, an EEG shows bursts of activity called spindles | 141 | |
| 650048219 | stage 3 sleep | this is the beginning of deep sleep; your breathing slows | 142 | |
| 650048220 | stage 4 sleep | deep sleep; it's difficult to awaken while in this stage; most sleepwalking, sleep-talking, and night terrors take place during this stage; delta waves predominate | 143 | |
| 650048221 | substance dependence | a pattern of drug use that is characterized by tolerance (needing increasing amounts of the drug to have the same effect), withdrawal symptoms upon stopping the drug, and/or numerous unsuccessful attempts to stop or reduce substance use | 144 | |
| 650048222 | tolerance | the capacity built up by regular use of a drug, where over time one must increase the amount of the drug taken to achieve the same level of effectiveness | 145 |
