Psychology

A branch of psych. concerned with the links between biology and behavior.

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

The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body.

The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands.

A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons.

A neuron impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon.

The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse.

The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron.

Chemical messengers that traverse the synaptic gaps between neurons.

A neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and also triggers muscle contraction.

"Morphine within" Natural, opiatelike neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.

The body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous system.

The brain and spinal cord.

The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body.

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.

Neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system.

Neurons that carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands.

Central nervous system neurons that internally communicate and intervene between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.

The division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles.

The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs.

The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations.

The division of the autonomic nervous system that clams the body, conserving its energy.

A simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus such as knee-jerk response.

Interconnect neural cells. With experience, networks can learn, as feedback strengthens or inhibits connections that produce certain results.

The body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set of glans that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.

chemical messengers, mostly those manufactured by the endocrine glands, that are produced in one tissue and affect another.

A pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys.

The endocrine system's most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands.

Tissue destruction.

An amplified recording of the waves of electrical activity that sweep across the brain's surface.

A visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task.

A technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce computer-generated images that distinguish among different typed of soft tissue. Allows us to see structures within the brain. Show brain anatomy.

A technique for revealing blood flow and therefore brain activity by comparing successive MRI scans. She brian function