part 2

Question 1

What are motor (efferent) neurons?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What are interneurons?

Answer 2

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

Question 3

What is the somatic nervous system?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What is the autonomic nervous system (ANS)?

Answer 4

The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms.

Question 5

What is the sympathetic nervous system?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

What is the parasympathetic nervous system?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

What is a reflex?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What is a neuron?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What is the cell body of a neuron?

Answer 9

The part of a neuron that contains the nucleus; the cell’s life-support center.

Question 10

What are dendrites?

Answer 10

A neuron’s often bushy, branching extensions that receive and integrate messages, conducting impulses toward the cell body.

Question 11

What is an axon?

Answer 11

The segmented neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands.

Question 12

What is the myelin sheath?

Answer 12

A fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons of some neurons; it enables vastly greater transmission speed as neural impulses hop from one node to the next.

Question 13

What are glial cells (glia)?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

What is an action potential?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

What is a threshold?

Answer 15

The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.

Question 16

What is a refractory period?

Answer 16

In neural processing, 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 17

What is an all-or-none response?

Answer 17

A neuron’s reaction of either firing (with a full-strength response) or not firing.

Question 18

What is a synapse?

Answer 18

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 19

What are neurotransmitters?

Answer 19

Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gap 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 20

What is reuptake?

Answer 20

A neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron.

Question 21

What are endorphins?

Answer 21

Natural, opioid-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.

Question 22

What is an agonist?

Answer 22

A molecule that increases a neurotransmitter’s action.

Question 23

What is an antagonist?

Answer 23

A molecule that inhibits or blocks a neurotransmitter’s action.

Question 24

What is the endocrine system?

Answer 24

The body’s “slow” chemical communication system; a set of glands and fat tissue that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.

Question 25

What are hormones?

Answer 25

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

Question 26

What is a psychoactive drug?

Answer 26

A chemical substance that alters the brain, causing changes in perceptions and moods.

Question 27

What is substance use disorder?

Answer 27

A disorder characterized by continued substance use despite resulting life disruption.

Question 28

What are depressants?

Answer 28

Drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions.

Question 29

What is tolerance?

Answer 29

The diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug’s effect.

Question 30

What is addiction?

Answer 30

An everyday term for compulsive substance use (and sometimes for dysfunctional behavior patterns, such as out-of-control gambling) that continue despite harmful consequences.

Question 31

What is withdrawal?

Answer 31

The discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing an addictive drug or behavior.

Question 32

What are barbiturates?

Answer 32

Drugs that depress central nervous system activity, reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgment.

Question 33

What are opioids?

Answer 33

Opium and its derivatives; they depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety.

Question 34

What are stimulants?

Answer 34

Drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions.

Question 35

What are hallucinogens?

Answer 35

Psychedelic drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input.

Question 36

What is a near-death experience?

Answer 36

An altered state of consciousness reported after a close brush with death; often similar to drug-induced hallucinations.

Question 37

What is biological psychology?

Answer 37

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

Question 38

What is the biopsychosocial approach?

Answer 38

An integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis.

Question 39

What are levels of analysis?

Answer 39

The differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon.

Question 40

What is neuroplasticity?

Answer 40

The brain’s ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.

Question 41

What is a lesion?

Answer 41

Tissue destruction. Brain lesions may occur naturally (from disease or trauma), during surgery, or experimentally.

Question 42

What is an EEG (electroencephalogram)?

Answer 42

An amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity sweeping across the brain’s surface. These waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp.

Question 43

What is MEG (magnetoencephalography)?

Answer 43

A brain-imaging technique that measures magnetic fields from the brain’s natural electrical activity.

Question 44

What is a CT (computed tomography) scan?

Answer 44

A series of X-ray photographs taken from different angles and combined by computer into a composite representation of a slice of the brain’s structure.

Question 45

What is a PET (positron emission tomography)?

Answer 45

A technique for detecting brain activity that displays where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task.

Question 46

What is an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)?

Answer 46

A technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images of soft tissue. MRI scans show brain anatomy.

Question 47

What is fMRI (functional MRI)?

Answer 47

A technique for revealing blood flow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans.

Question 48

What is the hindbrain?

Answer 48

Consists of the medulla, pons, and cerebellum; directs essential survival functions, such as breathing, sleeping, and wakefulness, as well as coordination and balance.

Question 49

What is the midbrain?

Answer 49

Found atop the brainstem; connects the hindbrain with the forebrain, controls some motor movement, and transmits auditory and visual information.

Question 50

What is the forebrain?

Answer 50

Consists of the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and hypothalamus; manages complex cognitive activities, sensory and associative functions, and voluntary motor activities.

Question 51

What is the brainstem?

Answer 51

The central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions.