General Psychology Chapter 2 Vocabulary

What is Biological Psychology?

• the scientific study of the links between biological (genetic, neural, hormonal) and psychological processes. Some biological psychologists call themselves behavioral neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, behavior geneticists, physiological psychologists, or biopsychologists.

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

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

• the part of a neuron that contains the nucleus; the cell's life-support center

the brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience=

• Plasticity

• Neuron

• Cell Body

• Dendrites

What is a Neuron?

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

• the part of a neuron that contains the nucleus; the cell's life-support center

• a neuron's often bushy, branching extensions that receive and integrate messages, conducting impulses toward the cell body.

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

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

• Cell Body

• Dendrites

• Axon

• Myelin Sheath

What are Dendrites?

• a neuron's often bushy, branching extensions that receive and integrate messages, conducting impulses toward the cell body.

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

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

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

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

• Axon

• Myelin Sheath

• Glial Cells (Glia)

• Action Potential

What is a Myelin Sheath?

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

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

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

• the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.

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

• Glial Cells (Glia)

• Action Potential

• Threshold

• Refractory Period

What is Action Potential?

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

• the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.

• 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.

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

The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse=

• Threshold

• Refractory Period

• All-or-None Response

• Synapse