Module 3

Question 1

biological psychology

Answer 1

the scientific study of the links between biological (genetic, neural, hormonal) and psychological processes.

Question 2

neuron

Answer 2

a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.

Question 3

dendrites

Answer 3

a neuron’s often bushy branching extensions that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.

Question 4

axon

Answer 4

the neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands

Question 5

myelin sheath

Answer 5

a fatty tissue layer sentimentally encasing the axon of some neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed as neural impulses hop from one node to the next.

Question 6

glial cells

Answer 6

cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons; they may also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory.

Question 7

action potential

Answer 7

a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon

Question 8

threshold

Answer 8

the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

Question 9

refractory period

Answer 9

a brief resting pause that occurs after a neuron has fired subsequent action potentials cannot occur until the axon returns to its resting state.

Question 10

all-or-nothing response

Answer 10

a neuron’s reaction of either firing or not firing

Question 11

synapse

Answer 11

the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at this junction is called the synaptic gap or synaptic cleft.

Question 12

neurotransmitters

Answer 12

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.

Question 13

reuptake

Answer 13

a neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron.

Question 14

endorphins

Answer 14

“morphine within”—natural opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.

Question 15

agonist

Answer 15

a molecule that increases a neurotransmitter’s action

Question 16

antagonist

Answer 16

a molecule that inhibits or blacks a neurotransmitter’s actions.

Question 17

nervous system

Answer 17

the body’s speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.

Question 18

central nervous system

Answer 18

the brain and spinal cord

Question 19

peripheral nervous system

Answer 19

the sensory and motor neurons that connect to the central nervous system to the rest of the body

Question 20

nerves

Answer 20

bundled axons that form neural cables connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs

Question 21

sensory (afferent) neurons

Answer 21

neurons that carry incoming information from the sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord

Question 22

motor (efferent) neurons

Answer 22

neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands

Question 23

interneurons

Answer 23

neurons within the brain and spinal cord; communicate internally and process information between the sensory inputs and motor outputs

Question 24

somatic nervous system

Answer 24

the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles. Also called the skeletal nervous system

Question 25

autonomic nervous system

Answer 25

the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs. it sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms.

Question 26

sympathetic nervous system

Answer 26

the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy.

Question 27

parasympathetic nervous sytem

Answer 27

the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy.

Question 28

reflex

Answer 28

a simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response

Question 29

endocrine system

Answer 29

the body's "slow" chemical communication system a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream

Question 30

hormones

Answer 30

chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues.

Question 31

adrenal glands

Answer 31

a pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones that help arouse the body in terms of stress

Question 32

pituitary glands

Answer 32

the endocrine system's most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands.