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Psychology Stress and NS Flashcards

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1
Q

Central nervous system

A

Consists of the brain and spinal cord. It processes and coordinates responses to sensory stimuli.

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2
Q

Brain

A

A complex structure that receives and processes sensory information from the body and coordinates responses including voluntary movements, emotions and conscious thought.

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3
Q

Spinal Cord

A

A dense bundle of nerves that carries sensory information from the body to the brain and motor information from the brain to the body.

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4
Q

Spinal reflex

A

An involuntary and unconscious response to the stimulus involving the spinal cord, which occurs without input from the brain.

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5
Q

Sensory receptor

A

A sensory nerve ending that produces an afferent or sensory impulse when stimulated.

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6
Q

Sensory neuron

A

A nerve cell that carries sensory signals throughout the nervous system.

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7
Q

Interneuron

A

A nerve cell in the spinal cord that connects motor and sensory neurons by relaying information between the two.

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8
Q

Motor neuron

A

A nerve cell that transmits motor impulses from the spinal cord to the skeletal and smooth muscles.

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9
Q

Peripheral nervous system

A

All nerves located outside of the brain and spinal cord, that carry information between the central nervous system and muscles, organs, and glands throughout the body.

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10
Q

Somatic nervous system

A

The somatic nervous system carries messages from sensory neurons to the central nervous system then transmits information from the Central nervous system along motor neurons.

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11
Q

Autonomic nervous system

A

The subdivision of the peripheral nervous system that controls the bodies internal environment in an automatic or self regulated manor.

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12
Q

Sympathetic nervous system

A

A subdivision of the autonomic nervous system that increases a person arousal and carries messages of flight, fight or freeze response in stressful situations.

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13
Q

Parasympathetic nervous system

A

A subdivision of the autonomic nervous system that controls the bodies internal temperature (around 37.5 C) and activates the rest and digest response after dangerous/ stressful situations pass.

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14
Q

Unconscious response

A

Any reaction of our nervous system that occurs without active thinking. Responses that do not require conscious thought.

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15
Q

Conscious response

A

Any response of your nervous system that requires active thought/ awareness.

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16
Q

Neuron

A

An individual nerve cell that is specialised to receive, process and/or transmit information within the nervous system.

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17
Q

Neural transmissions

A

An electrical impulse that occurs when a neuron is activated/ fires.

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18
Q

Neurotransmitters

A

Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons to carry messages to other neurons or cells within the nervous system, including muscles, organs and glands.

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19
Q

Synapse

A

A point of communication between two neurons or between a neuron and a cell such as a muscle or a gland.

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20
Q

Synaptic vesicle

A

A membrane-bound sphere filled with neurotransmitter molecules.

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21
Q

Synaptic gap

A

The gap between the axon terminal of a presynaptic neuron and the membrane of a postsynaptic neuron.

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22
Q

Receptor site

A

A membrane protein on the dendrites of neurons that receive and detect specific neurotransmitters.

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23
Q

Excitatory effect

A

The increased likelihood that a post-synaptic neuron will fire an action potential or neuron impulse.

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24
Q

Glutamate

A

The main excitatory neurotransmitter in the nervous system which is involved with learning and memory.

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25
Inhibitory effect
The decreased likelihood that post-synaptic neurons will fire an action potential or neural impulse.
26
Gamma-aminobutyric acid
The main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the nervous system, associated with anxiety, specific phobias and Parkinson's disease.
27
Neuromodulator
A subclass of neurotransmitters that alter the strength of neural transmissions, by increasing or decreasing the responsiveness of neurons to neurotransmitter signals.
28
Dopamine
A multifunctional neurotransmitter with both excitatory and inhibitory effects, that is involved in many central nervous system functions such as movement, pleasure, attention, mood cognition and motivation.
29
Reward pathway
A group of structures in the brain that are activated by reward or reinforcing stimuli.
30
Serotonin
An inhibitory neurotransmitter that also acts as a neuromodulator influencing a variety of brain activities.
31
Serotonin Pathway
serotonin's neuromodulatory system, which originates in the brainstem and extends to almost all areas of the cerebrum including the cerebral cortex.
32
Synaptic plasticity
Specific changes that occur within the synapse, between neurons.
33
Long-term potentiation
The somewhat permanent strengthening of synaptic connections as a result of repeated stimulation of a neural pathway.
34
Long-term depression
The somewhat permanent weakening of synaptic connections due to limited stimulation of a neural pathway.
35
Sprouting
Sprouting is when existing neurons form new axon terminals + dendrites to allow new connections to be made.
36
Dendritic Spine
A dendrite fiber that that grows by sprouting on the post-synaptic neuron.
37
Filigree appendage
A fibre that grows by sprouting from the axon terminal of the presynaptic neuron.
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Synaptogenesis
The formation of new synapses that result from the process of sprouting.
39
Rerouting
When a nearby healthy neuron creates alternative pathways when the previous connection is lost due to injury.
40
Pruning
The removal of unused synapses/ neuron connections to increase efficiency of neuronal transmissions.
41
Stressor
Any event that causes stress or is perceived as a threat and a challenge to our ability to cope.
42
Stress
A state of mental, emotional and physiological tension, resulting from a stressor, or factors that are perceived as a challenge or threaten our ability to cope.
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Internal stressors
A cause of stress that originates within an individual, can be both psychological and biological/ physiological.
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External stressor
A cause of stress that originates from outside of an individual, such as an event or environmental extreme.
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Acute Stress
Stress that usually occurs because of a sudden threat and only lasts for a short time.
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Chronic stress
Stress that lasts for a long time.
47
Fight-fight or freeze response
An automatic biological response to perceived stressor that increases our chances of survival in our environment.
48
Cortisol
A hormone produced by the adrenal glands that regulate a wide variety of bodily processes, including metabolism, and is released in response to stress.
49
Gut-brain axis
The connection between the central nervous system and enteric nervous system, that enables bidirectional communication between the brain and gastrointestinal tract.
50
Enteric nervous system
A subdivision of the autonomic nervous system. It consists of nerve cells lining the gastrointestinal tract and controls the digestive system.
51
Vagus nerve
A nerve that connects the brain (CNS) to organs within the autonomic nervous system, via nerve fibers that directly link organs such as the lungs, heart, oesophagus and intestinal tract.
52
Gut
The gastrointestinal tract or long tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus.
53
Gut microbiota
The microbe population found in the gut (digestive system).
54
Microbe
A microscopic living thing found in water, soil and the air.
55
General adaptation syndrome
A biological model of stress that proposes we have a no specific biological response to stress that occurs in three stages.
56
Alarm reaction stage
The first stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome in which we become aware of the stressor; it consists of two phases- shock and countershock.
57
Shock
The first phase of the alarm reaction stage of the general adaptation syndrome, in which the body's ability to deal with the stressor falls below normal.
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Countershock
The second phase of the general adaptation syndrome, in which the body's ability to deal with the stressor rises above normal.
59
Resistance stage
The second stage of the general adaptation syndrome, in which the stressor persists, and the body's resources are maximized to cope and adapt over time.
60
Exhaustion stage
The third stage of the general adaptation syndrome, in which the continued depletion of energy stores and high levels of hormones such as cortisol decrease resistance to the stressor and impair the immune system.
61
Appraisal
The process of categorization an event on the basis of it's perceived significance and how it may affect our wellbeing.
62
Transactional model of stress and coping
A model that suggests a stress response is only elicited if an event is perceived to exceed our ability to cope and is based on our appraisal of the situation.
63
Primary Appraisal
When an individual determines whether a situation or event is significant to them and stressful, or not.
64
Irrelevant
Describes a situation or event that has no implications for an individual's wellbeing because nothing will be gained or lost, or they are not invested in the situation.
65
Benign/positive
Describes a situation or event that is perceived as having a positive outcome for an individual i.e. it either maintains (benign) or enhances their wellbeing (positive).
66
Threat
The anticipated harm/loss in the future because of an event.
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Harm/loss
The damage to the individual that has already occurred as a result of a stressor.
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Challenge
The perceived potential for personal gain or growth from an event.
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Secondary appraisal
When an individual considers the available resources and their own coping strategies, to decide the best way of dealing with a stressor.
70
Coping
All things we do to manage and reduce the stress we experience.
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Coping strategy
A method that we use to manage or reduce the stress produced by a stressor.
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Coping flexibility
The ability to modify our coping strategies to adapt and meet the demands of different stressful situations.
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Context-specific effectiveness
When a coping strategy matches or is appropriate to the stressful situation.
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Approach strategy
An effort to confront a stressor and deal directly with it and its effects.
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Avoidance strategy
An effort to avoid a stressor and not deal directly with it and its effects.
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Learning
The process of acquiring knowledge or skills resulting from experience, there are many approaches.
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Behavioral approach
An approach to learning that states that behaviors are learned through interactions with the environment.
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Conditioning
The learning process by which the behavior of an organism becomes dependent on an event occurring in its environment.
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Stimulus
An environmental event that triggers a response in an organism.
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Response
A behavioral reaction to a stimulus.
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Classical conditioning
A simple form of learning that occurs through repeated associations between two stimuli to produce a conditioned response.
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Before conditioning
The first stage of classical conditioning; at this stage no learning has occurred.
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Unconditioned stimulus
A stimulus that consistently produces a naturally occurring automatic response.
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Unconditioned response
A response that occurs automatically/involuntary when the unconditioned stimulus is presented.
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Neutral stimulus
A stimulus (prior to conditioning) that doesn't produce a response.
86
During conditioning
The second stage of classical conditioning, in which learning occurs through association.
87
Acquisition
The process during which an organism learns to associate two events (the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus).
88
After conditioning
The final stage of classical conditioning.
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Conditioned stimulus
A stimulus that was previously neutral but now, as a result of repeated associations with the unconditioned stimulus, produces a conditioned response.
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Conditioned response
A learned behavior that is similar to the unconditioned response and is now triggered by the conditioned stimulus as a result of conditioning.
91
Operant conditioning
A learning process in which the likelihood of a voluntary behavior occurring is determined by its consequences.
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Antecedent
An environmental stimulus that triggers an action.
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Behavior
Any observable action by an organism.
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Consequence
Something that makes a behavior more or less likely to occur again.
95
Reinforcement
A stimulus from the environment that increases the likelihood of a response occurring in the future.
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Positive reinforcement
When a behavior is followed by adding a desirable stimulus, increasing the likelihood of the behavior occurring again.
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Negative reinforcement
When a behavior is followed by the removal of an undesirable stimulus, increasing the likelihood of the behavior occurring again.
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Punishment
A stimulus from the environment that decreases the likelihood of a behavior occurring again.
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Positive punishment
When a behavior is followed by adding an undesirable stimulus, decreasing the likelihood of the behavior happening again.
100
Negative punishment
When a behavior is followed by the removal of a desirable stimulus, decreasing the likelihood of the behavior occurring again.

Psychology (1 decks)

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