AP Psychology

Nervous System
● Primary Function of the Nervous System
○ Enabling communication between brain and body
○ Controls Body Functions
● Central Nervous System
○ Brain and spinal cord
■ Spinal cord: Transmits info between brain and body. Controls reflexes,
transmitting motor and sensory information.
■ Brain:Processes info. Controls Thought and Emotions
● Peripheral Nervous System
○ Connects CNS to rest of Body
○ Somatic- Voluntary Control
○ Autonomic-Involuntary Control
■ Sympathetic
● Fight or flight
○ Releases adrenaline, stops digestion, speeds heartrate
■ Parasympathetic
● Rest and Digest
○ Calms you down, resumes digestion
● PNS and CNS interaction
○ PNS sends signal to CNS and muscles move
○ CNS sends out instructions, PNS carries them to body
○ PNS collects sensory info, Sends it to CNS for processing
○ PNS “ouch” CNS “help” PNS “ok” CNS “what happened”
● Types of Neurons
○ Sensory/Afferent
■ Carries signals from sensory receptors to CNS
○ Motor/Efferent
■ Carry instructions from CNS to muscle
○ Interneurons
■ Connects sensory and motor neurons, found in CNS (spinal cord)
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Neurons and Neural Firing

● Neurons
○ Highly complex cells that communicate by sending signals back and forth to each
other through a process called neural firing.
○ Communicate via spinal cord
■ The spinal cord relays these messages to rest of body through nerves
● Neural firing
○ Force that drives reactions and behaviors, allowing you to respond to stimuli in a
variety of ways.
● Brain
○ Central Control Unit
○ Regulates the functioning of other organs in your body by sending signals
throughout your body.
● Endocrine System
○ Nervous system communicates with the Endocrine system to produce hormones.
■ Hormones- chemical messengers produced by various glands in the
body, such as the ovaries and the pituitary gland.
● Agonist
○ A molecule that Increases Neurotransmitter’s action
● Reuptake
○ A neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron
● Refractory Period
○ Brief resting pause in which additional neural firing cannot occur until the axon
returns to its resting state after neuron firing.
● All the Parts of a Neuron
○ Axon
■ Segmented neuron extension that passes messages through its branches
to other neurons or to muscles or glands
○ Dendrite
■ Often bushy, branching extensions that receive and integrate messages,
conducting impulses toward the cell body
○ Cell body/soma
■ Contains the nucleus
■ Cell’s life-support center
○ End Bulbs
■ Make connections to other neurons
■ Where neurotransmitters are stored before being released into the
synaptic cleft
○ Myelin Sheath
■ 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
○ Neurotransmitters
■ Travels across the synapse, binds to receptor sites on the receiving
neuron, and determines whether that neuron will generate a neural
impulse
○ Receptor Sites
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■ Found within the plasma membrane of a cell
■ Acts as a boundary between the cell's internal and external environment
○ Synapse
■ Allows neurotransmitters from the sending neuron to pass to the receiving
neuron
■ Junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or
cell body of the receiving neuron
○ Transporters
■ Proteins that are involved in movement of ions and molecules across the
membrane
■ Role in synaptic transmission between neurons by rapid reuptake of
neurotransmitters.
○ Vesicles
■ Central role in synaptic transmission.
■ Key organelles involved in synaptic functions such as uptake, storage and
release of neurotransmitters.

Impact of Drugs
● Vocabulary
○ Depressants
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■ drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions
○ Substance use disorder
■ a disorder characterized by continued substance use despite resulting life
disruption
○ Tolerance
■ the diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug
■ requires the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the
drug’s effect
○ Withdrawal
■ the discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing an addictive drug or
behavior
○ Hallucinogens
■ Psychedelic (“mind-manifesting”) drugs that distort perceptions and evoke
sensory images in the absence of sensory input
○ Opioids
■ Opium and its derivative
■ Depress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety
○ Addiction
■ Compulsive substance use that continue despite harmful consequences
○ Stimulants
■ Drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions
○ Barbiturates
■ drugs that depress central nervous system activity, reducing anxiety but
impairing memory and judgment
○ Psychoactive drug
■ Chemical substance that alters the brain, causing changes in perception
and mood
● Caffeine
○ Psychoactive Drug
■ So many people use this “drug” every day and don’t realize its adverse
effects.
■ People get their “fix” on caffeine
● Can lead to substance use disorder if it begins to disrupt everyday
life.
● Withdrawal if they try to quit
● Depressants
○ Negatively affect memory and performance and reduce self-awareness
○ Alcohol
■ Depresses Neural Activity in brain and spinal cord
○ Barbiturates
○ Opiates
● Alcohol
○ Impairs memory and self-awareness.
○ Long-term effects on cognition by suppressing REM sleep.
○ Reduces self-awareness,
■ Those who want to suppress failures are more likely to drink.
● Stimulants
○ Increase energy and activity
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■ Coffee and Energy Drinks (Caffeine)
■ Nicotine
■ Ecstasy
● Triggers dopamine (increases a user’s pleasurable feelings)
● Dehydrating effects,
○ Overheating and increased blood pressure
■ Methamphetamine
● a powerfully addictive drug that stimulates the central nervous
system
● long-term use can change natural levels of dopamine
■ Cocaine
● a powerful and addictive stimulant derived from the coca plant
○ blocks the reuptake of dopamine, norepinephrine, and
serotonin, which affects the user’s mood, appetite, and
feelings of pleasure.
● Hallucinogens
○ Marijuana or LSD
■ Euphoric Highs
■ False perceptions
■ Sensitivity to sounds, taste, and smells
○ Create sensations within your body in response to stimuli that are not really
happening externally
○ Ecstasy
■ heightens emotions, decreases inhibition
● dehydration, overheating, depression, impaired brain and immune
function
○ Marijauna
■ heightened senses, pain relief, time distortion, relaxation
● impaired learning and recall, agitation, and potential hallucinations
○ LSD
■ creates a visual “trip”
● Panic attacks
Neuroplasticity
● Neuroplasticity
○ Brain’s ability to change as it develops in childhood
● Scans: Technology that allow them to study how the brain affects behavior
○ MRI
■ Magnetic resonance imaging
■ a technique that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce
computer-generated images of soft tissue; MRI scans show brain
anatomy
○ fMRI
■ functional magnetic resonance imaging
■ a technique for revealing blood flow and, therefore, brain activity
by comparing successive MRI scans; shows brain function as well
as structure
○ PET
■ positron emission tomography
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● Biological psychology
○ the scientific study of the links between biological and psychological
processes

Brain
● Cerebral Cortex
○ Outer Layer of the Brain
○ Higher order brain functions
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■ Language
■ Thoughts
■ Reasoning
○ Four lobes
■ Frontal
● Reasoning, Planning, Speech, Movement, EMotion, Problem
Solving
■ Parietal
● Processes Sensory information like touch, temperature, and pain.
■ Occipital
● Primarily Responsible for vision
■ Temporal
● Involved in hearing, memory, and speech
● The brains divisions
○ Hindbrain
■ Cerebellum, pons, and medulla
■ Brain Stem
■ Controls essential functions such as breathing and heart rate
○ MidBrain
■ Involved in motor movement, particularly eye movement, and auditory
visual processing. Connects Hindbrain and forebrain
■ Controls automatic/reflexing visual processing (conscious is occipital)
■ Regulation of movement/intensity (planning is frontal lobe)
○ Forbrain
■ Cerebral Cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus, pineal gland, limbic system.
● Brainstem (hindbrain)
○ Medulla
■ HR and Breathing
○ Pons
■ Helps regulate sleep
■ Facial Expressions
○ Reticular Formation
■ Nerve Network that controls arousal and attention

Notes- 9/17

Brain Definitions
● Thalamus
○ the forebrain’s sensory control center located on top of the brainstem; directs
messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to
the cerebellum and medulla
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● Medulla
○ the hindbrain structure that is the brainstem’s base; controls heartbeat and
breathing
● Hippocampus
○ neural center in the limbic system that helps process explicit (conscious)
memories of facts and events for storage
● Reticular Formation
○ a nerve network that travels through the brainstem into the thalamus; filters
information and plays an important role in controlling arousal
● Amygdala
○ two lima-bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion
○ Responds to scary images or situations
● Forebrain
○ consists of the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and hypothalamus; manages complex
cognitive activities, sensory and associative functions, and voluntary motor
activities
● Limbic System/ Old Brain
○ neural system located mostly in the forebrain — below the cerebral hemispheres
— that includes the amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, thalamus, and
pituitary gland; associated with emotions and drives
● Hindbrain
○ Consists of the medulla, pons, and cerebellum; directs essential survival
functions, such as breathing, sleeping, and wakefulness, as well as coordination
and balance
● Brainstem
○ the central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters
the skull; the brainstem is responsible for automatic survival functions
● Cerebellum
○ the hindbrain’s “little brain” at the rear of the brainstem; its functions include
processing sensory input, coordinating movement output and balance, and
enabling nonverbal learning and memory
● Midbrain
○ found atop the brainstem; connects the hindbrain with the forebrain, controls
some motor movement, and transmits auditory and visual information
● Hypothalamus
○ a limbic system neural structure lying below (hypo-) the thalamus; directs several
maintenance activities (eating, drinking, body temperature), helps govern the
endocrine system, and is linked to emotion and reward
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9/19 Notes

Brain Heals

● Corpus callosum
○ the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and
carrying messages between them
● Split-brain
○ a condition resulting from surgery that separates the brain’s two hemispheres by
cutting the fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum) connecting them
● Neurogenesis
○ the formation of new neurons
● Left Brain
○ Logic Reasoning
● Right Brain
○ Creativity
●