Question 1

Who was Alois Alzheimer?

Accepted Answer

Discoverer of Alzheimer's disease

Question 2

Who was Thomas Bouchard?

Accepted Answer

American psychologist who studied identical twins

(identical twins were separated at birth, helping him determine effects of genetics and environments on traits)

Question 3

Who was Paul Broca?

Accepted Answer

French scientist who investigated speech disorders

Discovered Broca's area

Question 4

What work did Sigmund Freud do with dreams?

Accepted Answer

Freud believed dreams revealed insights about a person's mind

(part of psychoanalysis)

Question 5

Who was Francis Galton?

Accepted Answer

English scientist and eugenicist who founded the field of behavioral genetics

Popularized the phrase "nature vs. nurture"

Question 6

Who was Michael Gazzaniga?

Accepted Answer

American neuroscientist who researched split-brain patients

Question 7

Who was Roger Sperry?

Accepted Answer

American neuropsychologist who helped Gazzaniga research split-brain patients

Question 8

Who was Carl Wernicke?

Accepted Answer

German scientist who studied speech disorders

Wernicke's area is named after him

(pronounced: vur-ni-kuh)

Question 9

What is non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep?

Accepted Answer

A period of dreamless sleep

(seperated into four stages)

Question 10

What is rapid eye movement (REM) sleep?

Accepted Answer

Period of sleep where dreams most often occur

Question 11

What are hypnagogic hallucinations?

Accepted Answer

Sensory phenomena (visions and sounds) that a sleeper percieves when transitioning between being awake and being asleep

Question 12

What are sleep spindles?

Accepted Answer

Bursts of neural activity during sleep

(theorized to be important for forming memories)

Question 13

What is slow wave sleep?

Accepted Answer

Stages 3 and 4 of NREM sleep where brain activity is the lowest

Question 14

What is paradoxical sleep?

Accepted Answer

Another name for REM sleep, where the brain is active yet the body is at rest

Question 15

What is latent content?

Accepted Answer

Unconscious desires underlying the manifest content in dreams

(part of Freud's work)

Question 16

What are night terrors?

Accepted Answer

A sleep disorder that causes fear and screaming while asleep

Question 17

What is insomnia?

Accepted Answer

A sleep disorder that makes it hard to fall asleep

Question 18

What is sleep apnea?

Accepted Answer

A sleep disorder, where breathing starts and stops during sleep

Question 19

What is narcolepsy?

Accepted Answer

A sleep disorder with irregular sleep patterns

(inability to control sleep and wakefulness)

Question 20

What is somnambulism?

Accepted Answer

A sleep disorder where individuals walk during their sleep

(commonly: "sleep walking"; som = dream, ambulism = walking)

Question 21

What are psychoactive drugs?

Accepted Answer

Drugs that affect the chemical and physical function of the brain

Alters perception and behavior

Question 22

What are depressants?

Accepted Answer

Drugs that slow neural activity

Question 23

What are stimulants?

Accepted Answer

Drugs that excite neural activity

(speed up heart and respiration rates)

Question 24

What are hallucinogens?

Accepted Answer

Drugs that alter mood, distort perceptions, and evoke sensory images

Question 25

What is an altered state of conciousness?

Accepted Answer

A temporary state that differs from the regular state of conciousness

(sleep, meditation, coma, hypnosis, drugs)

Question 26

What is the concious level?

Accepted Answer

Everything an individual is aware of at the moment

Question 27

What is the nonconscious level?

Accepted Answer

The body's automatic biological responses, such as breathing and heatbeat

(controlled by brain, but outside of awareness)

Question 28

What is the preconscious level?

Accepted Answer

Part of Freud's psychoanalytic theory: all memories and thoughts you can recall easily

Question 29

What is the unconscious level?

Accepted Answer

Part of Freud's psychoanalytic theory: thoughts, desires, and urges outside of awareness

Question 30

What is the subconscious level?

Accepted Answer

A feeling or thought just below your consciousness

(hoping your friend does worse on a test than you)

Question 31

What is priming?

Accepted Answer

When exposure to a stimulus affects your response to another stimulus

Question 32

What is the mere-exposure effect?

Accepted Answer

Preference for familiar stimuli over new stimuli

(even if it happens unconsciously)

Question 33

What are neurons?

Accepted Answer

Fundamental units of our nervous system

Responsible for receiving sensory input from the external world, sending motor commands to our muscles, and transforming and relaying the electrical signals at every step in between

Question 34

What is the soma/cell-body?

Accepted Answer

The part of a neuron that contains its nucleus

Question 35

What are dendrites?

Accepted Answer

Thin fibers on a neuron that accept incoming signals from other neurons

(attached to the neuron's soma)

Question 36

What is the axon?

Accepted Answer

A long, tube-like structure in neurons, that transmits action potentions

Question 37

What is the myelin sheath?

Accepted Answer

A fatty substance that coats axons

Question 38

What is the purpose of the myelin sheath?

Accepted Answer

Insulates that axon and makes it transmit action potentials faster

Question 39

What are terminal-buttons/axon-terminals?

Accepted Answer

Branching structures at the end of axons that release neurotransmitters

Question 40

What are synapses?

Accepted Answer

Junctions between neurons where the neurons communicate

(pronounced: si-nap-suhz, singular: si-naps)

Question 41

What is the synaptic cleft?

Accepted Answer

The small gap seperating neurons

(neurons never touch)

Question 42

What is action potential?

Accepted Answer

The electrical impulse sent along an axon

Question 43

What causes an action potential to be formed?

Accepted Answer

When the dendrites of a neuron are excited

Question 44

What are neurotransmitters?

Accepted Answer

Specialized chemical messengers that send signals between neurons

Question 45

What are excitatory neurotransmitters?

Accepted Answer

Neurotransmitters that cause the next neuron to be more active

Question 46

What are inhibitory neurotransmitters?

Accepted Answer

Neurotransmitters that cause the next neuron to be less excited

Question 47

What is summation in neurons?

Accepted Answer

Adding together multiple incoming signals in neurons

If there are enough excitatory signals, and not too many inhibitory signals, an action potential is released

Question 48

What is acetylcholine?

Accepted Answer

A neurotransmitter involved in learning, memory, and muscle contraction

Question 49

What is dopamine?

Accepted Answer

"feel-good neurotransmitter", involved in mood, movement, attention, and learning

Question 50

What is serotonin?

Accepted Answer

A neurotransmitter that regulates mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness

(also helps with sleeping and eating)

Question 51

What is gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)?

Accepted Answer

The primary inhibitory neurotransmitter

Question 52

What is norepinephrine/noradrenaline?

Accepted Answer

A neurotransmitter that controls alertness, wakefulness, mood, and attention

Question 53

What is glutamate?

Accepted Answer

The primary excitatory neurotransmitter; important for learning and memory

Question 54

What are agonists?

Accepted Answer

Drugs that mimic a specific neurotransmitter, mirroring its effects

Question 55

What are antagonists?

Accepted Answer

Drugs that block a neurotransmitter, canceling its effects

Question 56

What are reuptake inhibitors?

Accepted Answer

Drugs that prevent a neurotransmitter from being reabsorbed by the presynaptic neuron

Causes greater activation of the postsynaptic neuron

Question 57

What are presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons?

Accepted Answer

The presynaptic neuron is the one sending a signal

The postsynaptic neuron is the one receiving a signal

Question 58

What are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)?

Accepted Answer

Drugs that prevent reabsorption of serotonin

Causes greater activation of serotonin receptors

Question 59

What is the role of the nervous system?

Accepted Answer

Govern reception, processing, and transmission of information in the body

Question 60

What are nerves?

Accepted Answer

Bundles of fibers that transmit:

Sensations from muscles to the brain

Signals from the brain to the muscles

Question 61

What is the central nervous system (CNS)?

Accepted Answer

The brain and spinal cord

Question 62

What is the hindbrain?

Accepted Answer

The lowest segment of the brain

Consists of the cerebellum, medulla, pons, and reticular formation

Question 63

What is the hindbrain responsible for?

Accepted Answer

Regulating basic body functions

(breathing, motor activity, sleep, etc.)

Question 64

What is the cerebellum responsible for?

Accepted Answer

Regulating motor coordination

Unit 2: Biological Bases of Behavior, AP Psychology Flashcards