Chapter 12

Question 1

Emotion

Answer 1

Cognitive interpretation of subjective experiences that can influence thought and behavior

Question 2

Androgens

Answer 2

Hormones that are related to masculine characteristics and that play a role in levels of sexual interest in humans

Question 3

Innate releasing mechanism (IRM)

Answer 3

Hypothetical mechanism that detects specific sensory stimuli and directs an organism to take a particular action

Question 4

Evolutionary psychology

Answer 4

Discipline that seeks to apply the principles of natural selection to understand the causes of human behavior

Question 5

Reinforcer

Answer 5

In operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

Question 6

Learned taste aversion

Answer 6

Acquired association between a specific taste or odor and illness; leads to an aversion to foods that have the taste or odor

Question 7

Preparedness

Answer 7

Predisposition to respond to certain stimuli differently from other stimuli

Question 8

Motivation

Answer 8

Internal state of an organism that acts to initiate or energize behavior; from the Latin motivus, meaning a moving cause

Question 9

Regulatory behavior

Answer 9

Behavior motivated to meet an animal’s survival needs

Question 10

Homeostatic mechanism

Answer 10

Process that maintains critical body functions within a narrow, fixed range

Question 11

Nonregulatory behavior

Answer 11

Behavior unnecessary to an animal’s basic survival needs

Question 12

Pituitary gland

Answer 12

Endocrine gland attached to the bottom of the hypothalamus; its secretions control the activities of many other endocrine glands; associated with biological rhythms

Question 13

Medial forebrain bundle (MFB)

Answer 13

Tract that connects brainstem structures with various parts of the limbic system; forms the activating projections that run from the brainstem to the basal ganglia and frontal cortex

Question 14

Releasing hormone

Answer 14

Peptide released by the hypothalamus that increases or decreases hormone release from the anterior pituitary

Question 15

Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)

Answer 15

Prefrontal cortex behind the eye sockets (the orbits); receives projections from the dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus; central to a variety of emotional and social behaviors, including eating; also called orbital frontal cortex

Question 16

Pheromone

Answer 16

Odorant biochemical released by one animal that acts as a chemosignal and can affect the physiology or behavior of another animal

Question 17

Obesity

Answer 17

Excessive accumulation of body fat

Question 18

Anorexia nervosa

Answer 18

An eating disorder characterized by exaggerated concern with being overweight that leads to inadequate food intake and often excessive exercising; can lead to severe weight loss and even starvation

Question 19

Aphagia

Answer 19

Failure to eat; may be due to an unwillingness to eat or to motor difficulties, especially with swallowing

Question 20

Hyperphagia

Answer 20

Overeating that leads to significant weight gain

Question 21

Osmotic thirst

Answer 21

Thirst that results from a high concentration of dissolved chemicals, or solutes, in body fluids

Question 22

Hypovolemic thirst

Answer 22

Thirst produced by a loss of overall fluid volume from the body

Question 23

Activating effects

Answer 23

Hormonal actions that influence activities in the adult brain

Question 24

Organizing effects

Answer 24

Hormonal actions that influence the organizational development of the fetal brain

Question 25

Sexual dimorphism

Answer 25

Differential development of brain areas in the two sexes

Question 26

Sexual orientation

Answer 26

A person's pattern of sexual attraction - to the opposite sex, to the same sex, or to both sexes

Question 27

Gender identity

Answer 27

An individual's concept of self as male, female, neither, or both

Question 28

Hippocampus

Answer 28

From the Greek word for seahorse; distinctive allocortical structue lying in the medial temporal lobe; participates in species-typical behaviors, memory, and spatial navigation and is vulnerable to the effects of stress

Question 29

Amygdala

Answer 29

The part of the brain that participates in species-typical behaviors, emotion, and emotional memory; from the Greek word for almond, reflecting the general shape in the medial temporal lobe

Question 30

Klüver-Bucy syndrome

Answer 30

Behavioral syndrome, characterized especially by hypersexuality, that results from bilateral injury to the temporal lobe

Question 31

Psychosurgery

Answer 31

Any neurosurgical technique intended to alter behavior