1. Chapter 2

2. What does biology have to
do with psychology?
 Everything psychological is simultaneously
biological .
 Reciprocal relationship between biology and
behaviors and mental processes.
 Chemistry
 Electrochemical
 Hormonal
 Genetics

3. What is the nervous system?
 Electrochemical communication system
 Gathers and processes/integrates information
 Produces responses to stimuli
 Coordinates working of cells
 Brain, Spinal Cord, Nerves, Neurons
 Sensory information in, processing,
commands out

4. How is the nervous system
organized?
Parasympathetic
(Calming)
Nervous System
Central Nervous
System
Peripheral Nervous
System
Somatic
(Voluntary)
Autonomic
(Involuntary)
Sympathetic
(Arousing)
Brain Spinal Cord

5. What do the different
branches do?
 CNS
 Brain
 Spinal cord
 PNS
 Somatic
 Autonomic
 Sympathetic
 Parasympathetic

6. How do the different
branches communicate?
 Electrochemical impulses
 Specialized cells
 Neurons – send, carry, receive messages
 Glial cells – provide support to neurons, maintain
neural environment

7. What does a neuron look
like?

8. What else is involved in
neural communication?
 Glial cells
 Oligodendrocytes – brain
 Schwann cells – body
 Nerves – clusters of axons
 Myelin
 Neurilemma – membrane
 Only in PNS

9. How do these cells
communicate?
 Resting potential
 Semipermeable membrane
 Negative ions inside
 Positive ions outside
 Action potential
 Threshold, all-or-none principle
 Reverse charge

10. What stimulates
communication?
 Neurotransmitters – chemical messenger
 Synaptic vesicles – sacs of neurotransmitters
 Receptor sites – binding site on receiving cell
 Neuron or muscle/gland
 Synapse – junction between two neurons

11. Neural Communication

12. Neural Communication

13. What happens after the
neuron fires?
 Cleaning up the synapse
 Reuptake – sucks NTs back up into the pre-
synaptic neuron
 Enzymes break down NTs in the synapse

14. What prevents neurons from
firing all the time?
 Excitatory synapse
 Inhibitory synapse
 Multiple synapses with each cell
 Effect is based upon combination

15. What are the different
neurotransmitters?
 Acetylecholine (Excitatory)
 Skeletal muscle
 Memory, arousal, attention
 Glutamate (Excitatory)
 Learning, memory
 Synaptic plasticity

16. What are the different
neurotransmitters?
 GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid; Inhibitory)
 Inhibit neural communication
 Maintain
 Serotonin (Excitatory or Inhibitory)
 Produced in brain stem
 Sleep, mood, appetite

17. What are the different
neurotransmitters?
 Dopamine (Excitatory or inhibitory)
 Movement (Parkinson’s)
 Pleasure/reward (learning, motivation)
 Mood
 Endorphins (Neural peptide)
 Analgesic
 Endogenous opiods

18. Can substances act like
neurotransmitters?
 Agonists – drugs that mimic or increase effect
of neurotransmitter
 Binds to receptor and activates
 Antagonists – drugs that block the effect of
the neurotransmitter
 Blocks receptor/absorption
 Abuse and withdrawal

19. What controls our body?
 CNS
 Brain
 Spinal Cord
 Purposes
 Processing/integration
of information
 Decision making
 Commanding other
systems

20. Sensory nerve root
(Carries information in)
Motor nerve root
(Carries commands out)
White Matter
(Axons, carry information
to/from brain)
Gray matter
(cell bodies)

21. Can the spinal cord work
independent from the brain?
 Pain - Reflex Arc
 Sensory neurons – carry sensory information to
the spinal cord
 Interneurons – connect sensory and motor
neurons
 Motor neurons – carry commands out to
muscles/glands

22. What is the peripheral
nervous system (PNS)?
 All parts of the nervous systems other than
the brain and spinal cord
 Somatic nervous system – senses and
voluntary movement
 Autonomic nervous system – organs, glands,
involuntary muscle movement

23. What makes up the somatic
nervous system?
 Sensory pathway – all incoming sensory
information
 Motor pathway – commands to skeletal
muscles

24. What are the branches of
the autonomic nervous
system? Sympathetic – arousal, threat
 Parasympathetic – restore/maintain normal
functioning
 Cooperative systems

25. What do the two systems do
to the body?
Sympathetic Parasympathetic
Dilates pupils Contracts pupils
Increased Heart Rate Decreases heart rate
Activates sweat glands Deactivates sweat glands
Stimulate release of stress
hormones
Signal adrenals to stop releasing
stress hormones
Increased respiration Slows respiration
Inhibits digestion and excretion Activates digestion and excretion

26. Why are we talking about
hormones?
 Hormones – chemical messengers
manufactured by endocrine glands
 Travel within the bloodstream
 Affect muscles, organs, glands, and brain activity
 Slower but longer lasting action

27. What are the major glands
and hormones?
 Pituitary Gland – master gland
 Adrenal Glands
 Stress response
 Epinephrine & Norepinephrine – sympathetic
arousal
 Cortisol – stimulates release of glucose (brain) and
fatty acids (muscles) to provide energy during stress
response

28. Through what path does a
stress response occur?
 Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis
 Hypothalamus stimulates pituitary
 Pituitary stimulates adrenal glands
 Adrenal cortex releases stress hormones that
increase metabolic activity (fight or flight
response)

29. Are there other important
glands?
 Pineal Gland – melatonin
 Thyroid Gland – thyroxin, metabolism
 Pancreas – insulin and glucagons, regulates
blood sugar
 Gonads – sexual behavior and reproduction

30. What are the different
parts of the brain?
 Hindbrain
 Limbic system
 Cerebrum

31. Cerebrum
Limbic
System
Hindbrain

32. What are the different
parts of the hindbrain?
 Medulla
 Pons
 Reticular formation
 Cerebellum

33. What are the functions of
the medulla?
 Spinal cord entry
 Heart rate
 Breathing,Waking,
Swallowing
 Sensory crossover

34. What is the purpose of the
pons?
 Links cerebellum and cortex
 Motor nerves crossover
 Coordinates movements of
left and right sides of the
body
 Sleep, dreaming, arousal

35. Pons
Medulla

36. What is the purpose of the
reticular formation?
 Network of neurons
that go from the spinal
cord to the cortex
 Alertness, arousal
 Selective attention

37. What is the purpose of the
cerebellum?
 Involuntary, rapid, fine
motor movement (e.g.,
sitting upright, balance)
 Coordinates voluntary rapid
muscle movements (e.g.,
typing)
 Reflexes, skills, habits

38. Cerebellum
Reticular
Formation

39. What are subcortical
structures?

40. What makes up the limbic
system?
Amygdala
Emotional control and expression, emotional
memories, fear, recognition of emotions

41. What makes up the limbic
system?
Hippocampus
Memory storage, acquiring new memories,
organizing memories, learning

42. Amygdala &
Hippocampus

43. What makes up the limbic
system?
Thalamus
Sensory relay station (except smell)

44. What makes up the limbic
system?
Hypothalamus
Eating, drinking, sex, emotion, stress, sleep, body
temp, fear, endocrine system

45. Thalamus &
Hypothalamus

46. What makes up the limbic
system?
Basal Ganglia
Coordinates voluntary muscle movement with
cerebellum and cortex (inhibition)

47. Basal Ganglia

48. What is the cortex?
 The outermost layer
 Higher order functions
 Executive functioning – thoughts, planning
 Association areas – connects sensory info and
memory

49. How is the cerebrum
divided?
 Hemispheres (Left & Right)
 Corpus Collosum
 Lobes
 Occipital
 Frontal
 Temporal
 Parietal

50. What do the different lobes
do?
Lobe Functions and areas
Occipital Primary visual cortex - Processes visual information that comes
in from the eyes
Visual association cortex – helps identify and make sense of
visual information
Parietal Somatosensory cortex – receives sensory information from skin
& muscles (touch, temperature, pressure)
Temporal Primary auditory cortex & auditory association area – processing
and making sense of auditory stimuli
Frontal Higher mental functions – planning, personality, memory
storage, complex decision making, language, control of
emotions
Motor cortex – controls voluntary muscle movements

51. Are the two halves
different?
 Both hemispheres work in tandem
 Left side:
 language (ability to produce meaningful
sounds/gestures),
 analytical processing (bit by bit)
 Right side:
 Holistic processing (global patterns)
 Creative and integrative/fluid processing

52. Can the brain change?
 Plasticity – rewiring, recovery
 Lateralization does not mean that the other
side can’t do it if it needs to
 Can train the brain

53. Plasticity

54. Conclusion
 Biologically, behaviors are influenced by a
combination of
 Neurotransmitter levels
 Brain functioning/structures
 Hormones
 Biology + environment + personal + cognition
= behavior