Biological bases of behavior
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| Biological psychology | A branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior.
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| Neuron | A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.
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| Dendrite | The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.
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| Axon | In a nerve cell, an extended fiber that conducts information in the form of an electric charge called the action potential from the soma to the terminal buttons.
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| Myelin sheath | A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next.
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| Action potential | A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon. The action potential is generated by the movement of positively charged atoms in and out of channels in the axon’s membrane.
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| Threshold | The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.
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| Synapse | The microscopic gap between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron that serves as a communications link between neurons. Synapses also occur between neurons and the muscles or glands they serve.
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| Neurotransmitters | Chemical messengers that relay neural messages across the synapse. Many neurotransmitters are also hormones.
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| Acetylcholine (Ach) | A neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and also triggers muscle contraction.
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| Endorphins | “Morphine within”—natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.
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| Nervous system | The body’s speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.
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| Central nervous system (CNS) | The brain and spinal cord.
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| Peripheral nervous system (PNS) | All parts of the nervous system lying outside the central nervous system including the autonomic and somatic nervous systems.
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| Nerves | Neural cables containing many axons. These bundled axons, which are part of the peripheral nervous system, connect the central nervous system with muscles glands, and sense organs.
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| Sensory neurons (afferent neurons) | Neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system.
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| Motor neurons (efferent neurons) | Neurons that carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands.
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| Interneurons | A nerve cell that relays messages between nerve cells, especially in the brain and spinal cord.
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| Somatic nervous system | The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles. Also called the skeletal nervous system.
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| Autonomic nervous system | 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.
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| Sympathetic nervous system | The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations.
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| Parasympathetic nervous system | The division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body, conserving its energy.
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| Reflex | A simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response.
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| Neural networks | Interconnected neural cells. With experience, networks can learn, as feedback strengthens or inhibits connections that produce certain results. Computer simulations of neural networks show analogous learning.
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| Endocrine system | The body’s “slow” chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.
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| Hormones | Chemical messengers, mostly those manufactured by the endocrine glands, that are produced in one tissue and affect another.
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| Adrenal glands | A pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys. The adrenals secrete the hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline), which help to arouse the body in times of stress.
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| Pituitary gland | The “master gland” attached to the brain’s hypothalamus, from which it takes its orders, that produces hormones influencing the secretions of all other endocrine glands, as well as a hormone that influences growth.
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| Lesion | Tissue destruction. A brain lesion is a naturally or experimentally caused destruction of brain tissue.
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| Electroencephalogram (EEG) | An amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain’s surface. These waves are measured by electrodes placed on the scalp.
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| PET (positron emission tomography) | A visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task.
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| MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) | A technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images that distinguish among different types of soft tissue; allows us to see structures within the brain.
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| fMRI (functional MRI) | A technique for revealing blood flow and, therefore, brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans show brain anatomy; fMRI scans show brain function.
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| Brainstem | The most primitive part of the brain’s three major layers, it includes the medulla, pons, and reticular formation.
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| Medulla | A brain-stem structure that controls breathing and heart rate. The sensory and motor pathways connecting the brain to the body cross in the medulla.
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| Reticular formation | A pencil-shaped structure forming the core of the brain stem that arouses the cortex to keep the brain alert and attentive to new stimulation.
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| Thalamus | The brain’s sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem; it directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.
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| Cerebellum | The “little brain” attached to the rear of the brainstem; its functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance.
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| Limbic system | A doughnut-shaped system of neural structures at the border of the brainstem and cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions such as fear and aggression and drives such as those for food and sex. Includes the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus.
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| Amygdala | A limbic system structure involved in memory and emotion, particularly fear and agression.
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| Hypothalamus | A limbic structure lying below (hypo) the thalamus; it serves as the brain’s blood-testing laboratory, directing several maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helping govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland.
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| Cerebral cortex | The thin gray-matter covering of the cerebral hemispheres, consisting of a ¼-inch layer dense with cell bodies of neurons. This structure carries on the major portion of our “higher” mental processing, including thinking and perceiving.
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| Glial cells | Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, protect, and bind the neurons together. These cells also provide an insulating covering (the myelin sheath) of the axon for some neurons, which facilitates the electrical impulse.
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| Frontal lobes | The portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments.
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| Parietal lobes | Cortical areas lying toward the back and top of the brain; involved in touch sensation and in perceiving spatial relationships (the relationships of objects in space).
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| Occipital lobes | The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes the visual areas, which receive visual information from the opposite visual field.
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| Temporal lobes | Cortical lobes lying roughly above the ears that process sounds, including speech; includes the auditory areas, each of which receives auditory information primarily from the opposite ear. These lobes are probably involved in storing long-term memories.
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| Motor cortex | A narrow vertical strip of cortex in the frontal lobes, lying just in front of the central fissure; controls voluntary movement.
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| Sensory cortex | The area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.
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| Association areas | Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning remembering, thinking, and speaking.
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| Aphasia | Impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding).
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| Broca’s area | Controls language expression—an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.
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| Wernicke’s area | Controls language reception—a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe.
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| Plasticity | The brain’s capacity for modification, as evident in brain reorganization following damage (especially in children) and in experiments on the effects of experience on brain development.
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| Corpus callosum | The large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them.
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| Split brain | A condition in which the two hemispheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the connecting fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) between them.
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| Neuroscience | A relatively new interdisciplinary field that focuses on the brain and its role in psychological processes.
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| Soma (cell body) | The part of a cell (such as a neuron) containing the nucleus, which includes the chromosomes.
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| Resting potential | The electrical charge of the axon in its inactive state, when the neuron is ready to “fire.”
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| All-or-none principle | Refers to the fact that the action potential in the axon occurs either full-blown or not at all.
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| Terminal buttons | Tiny bulblike structures at the end of the axon, which contain neurotransmitters that carry the neuron’s message into the synapse.
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| Synaptic vesicle | A small “container” holding neurotransmitter molecules that then connects to the presynaptic membrane, releasing the neurotransmitter into the synapse.
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| Agonist | Drug or other chemical that enhances or mimics the effects of neurotransmitters.
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| Antagonist | Drug or other chemical that inhibits the effects of neurotransmitters.
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| Neural pathway | Bundle of nerve cells that follow generally the same route and employ the same neurotransmitter.
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| CT scanning (computerized tomography) | A computerized imaging technique that uses X rays passed through the brain at various angles and then combined into an image.
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| Pons | A brain-stem structure that regulates brain activity during sleep and dreaming. The name derives from the Latin word for “bridge.”
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| Hippocampus | A component of the limbic system, involved in establishing long-term memories.
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