CHAPTER 2 Vocab (N-Z)

Question 1

The branch of the autonomic nervous system that generally conserves bodily resources

Answer 1

Parasympathetic division

Question 2

What each sex invests - in terms of time, energy, survival risk, and forgone opportunities - to produce and nurture offspring

Answer 2

Parental investment

Question 3

Left-right imbalances between the cerebral hemispheres in the speed of visual or auditory processing

Answer 3

Perceptual asymmetries

Question 4

All those nerves that lie outside the brain and spinal cord

Answer 4

Peripheral nervous system

Question 5

The ways in which a person’s genotype is manifested in observable characteristics

Answer 5

Phenotype

Question 6

The “master gland” of the endocrine system; it releases a great variety of hormones that fan out through the body, stimulating actions in the other endocrine glands

Answer 6

Pituitary gland

Question 7

A mating system in which each female seeks to mate with multiple males, while each male mates with only one female

Answer 7

Polyandry

Question 8

Characteristics that are influenced by more than one pair of genes

Answer 8

Polygenic traits

Question 9

A mating system in which each males seeks to mate with multiple females, while each female mates with only one male

Answer 9

Polygeny

Question 10

The larger collection of animals or people from which a sample is drawn and that researchers want to generalize about

Answer 10

Population

Question 11

A voltage change at the receptor site on a postsynaptic cell membrane

Answer 11

Postsynaptic potential (PSP)

Question 12

The sexual structures necessary for reproduction

Answer 12

Primary sex characteristics

Question 13

The period of early adolescence marked by rapid physicl growth and the development of of sexual (reproductive) maturity

Answer 13

Puberty

Question 14

A gene whose influence is masked when paired genes are different

Answer 14

Recessive gene

Question 15

A time following orgasm during which males are largely unresponsive to further stimulation

Answer 15

Refractory period

Question 16

The stable negative charge of a neuron when it is inactive

Answer 16

Resting potential

Question 17

A process in which neurotransmitters are sponged up from the synaptic cleft by the presynaptic neuron

Answer 17

Reuptake

Question 18

Physical features that are associated with gender but are not directly involved in reproduction

Answer 18

Secondary sex characteristics

Question 19

The cell body of a neuron; contains the nucleus and much of the chemical machinery common to most cells

Answer 19

Soma

Question 20

The system of nerves that connect to voluntary skeletal muscles and to sensory receptors

Answer 20

Somatic nervous system

Question 21

A procedure in which the bundle of fibers that connects the cerebral hemispheres (the corupus callosum) is cut to reduce the severity of epileptic seizures

Answer 21

Split-brain surgery

Question 22

The branch of the autonomic nervous system that mobilizes the body’s resources for emergencies

Answer 22

Sympathetic division

Question 23

A junction where information is transmitted from one neuron to the next

Answer 23

Synapse

Question 24

A microscopic gap between the terminal button of a neuron and the cell membrane of another neuron

Answer 24

Synaptic cleft

Question 25

Small knobs at the end of axons that secrete chemicals

Answer 25

Terminal buttons

Question 26

A structure in the forebrain through which all sensory information (except small) must pass to get to the cerebral cortex

Answer 26

Thalamus

Question 27

A research design in which hereditary influence is assessed by comparing the resemblance of identical twin and fraternal twins with respect to a trait

Answer 27

Twin studies

Question 28

A one-celled organism formed by the union of a sperm and an egg

Answer 28

Zygote