AP Psychology Vocabulary List #4 2025

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

• Axon

• Cell body

• Dendrites

• Myelin sheath

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

• Axon

• Cell body

• Soma

• Dendrites

A long neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands.

• Axon

• Myelin sheath

• Dendrite

• Terminal button

A layer of fatty tissue that segmentally encases the axons of some neurons, enabling faster transmission of impulses.

• Axon

• Cell body

• Dendrites

• Myelin sheath

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

• Neurotransmitter

• Glial cell

• Neuron

• Axon

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

• Independent variable

• Control variable

• Confounding variable

• Dependent variable

A factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in an experiment.

• Confounding variable

• Control variable

• Random variable

• Placebo

The group not exposed to the treatment; used as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.

• Experimental group

• Control group

• Placebo group

• Confounding group

A research method in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.

• Naturalistic observation

• Survey

• Case study

• Experiment

A graphed cluster of dots representing the values of two variables.

• Histogram

• Scatterplot

• Bar graph

• Pie chart