Term
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Definition
| basic building blocks of the nervous system |
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Definition
| collect messages from neighboring neurons and send them on to the cell body |
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Definition
| conducts electrical impulses away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands |
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Term
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Definition
| negative charge of the inside of a cell, -70 millivolts |
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Definition
| electrical shift in the interior of a cell to +40 millivolts, also called nerve impulse |
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| absolute refractory period |
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Definition
| cell membrane is not excitable and cannot discharge another impulse |
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Term
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Definition
| action potentials occur at a uniform and maximum intensity, or do not occur at all |
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Term
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Definition
| changes in the negative resting potential that do not reach the +50 millivolt action potential threshold |
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Term
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Definition
| whitish fatty insulation layer covering many axons |
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Term
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Definition
| tiny gap between the axon terminal and the next neuron |
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Definition
| chemical substances that carry messages across the synaptic space to other neurons, muscles, or glands |
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Term
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Definition
| chambers within the axon terminals |
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Term
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Definition
| large protein molecules embedded in the receiving neuron's cell membrane |
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Term
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Definition
| transmitter molecules are taken back into the presynaptic axon terminals |
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Term
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Definition
| neurotransmitter involved in muscle activity and memory |
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Term
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Definition
| neurotransmitter that has a more wide spread and generalized influence on synaptic transmission |
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Term
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Definition
| chemicals that produce alterations in consciousness, emotion, and behavior |
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Term
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Definition
| drug that increases the activity of a neurotransmitter |
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Term
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Definition
| drug that inhibits or decreases the activity of a neurotransmitter |
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Term
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Definition
| carry input messages from the sense organs to the spinal cord and brain |
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Term
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Definition
| transmit output impulses from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and organs |
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Term
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Definition
| perform connective or associative functions within the nervous system |
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Term
| peripheral nervous system |
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Definition
| all the neural structures that lie outside of the brain or spinal cord |
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Term
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Definition
| sensory neurons that are specialized to transmit messages from the eyes, ears, and other sensory receptors, and motor neurons that send messages from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles that control voluntary movements |
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Term
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Definition
| senses the body's internal functions and controls the glands and the smooth (involuntary) muscles that form the heart, the blood vessels, and the lining of the stomach and intestines |
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Term
| sympathetic nervous system |
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Definition
| has an activation or arousal function, tends to act as a whole unit |
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Term
| parasympathetic nervous system |
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Definition
| slows down body processes and maintains a state of tranquility |
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Term
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Definition
| delicately balanced or constant internal state |
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Term
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Definition
| connects most parts of the peripheral nervous system with the brain |
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Term
| electroencephalograph(EEG) |
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Definition
| measures the activity of large groups of neurons |
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Term
| computerized axial tomography (CT or CAT scan) |
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Definition
| uses x-ray technology to study brain structures |
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Term
| magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) |
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Definition
| creates images using a magnetic pulse |
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Term
| positron-emission tomography(PET scan) |
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Definition
| measures brain activity, including metabolism, blood flow, and neurotransmitter activity |
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Term
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Definition
| can produce pictures of blood flow in the brain taken less than a second apart |
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Term
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Definition
| lowest and most primitive level of the brain |
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Definition
| supports vital life functions |
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Definition
| plays an important role in vital body functions such as heart rate and respiration |
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Definition
| carries nerve impulses between higher and lower levels of the nervous system |
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Definition
| controls muscular movement coordination, also plays a role in learning and memory |
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Term
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Definition
| contains clusters of sensory and motor neurons |
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Term
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Definition
| alerts higher centers of the brain that messages are coming, either blocks or allows the messages |
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Term
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Definition
| brain's most advanced portion from an evolutionary standpoint |
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Term
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Definition
| two large hemispheres, a left and right side, contained in the forebrain |
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Definition
| organizes inputs from sensory organs and routes them to the appropriate areas of the brain |
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Definition
| plays a major role in many aspects of motivation and emotion, including sexual behavior, temperature regulation, sleeping, eating, drinking, and aggression |
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Definition
| helps coordinate behaviors needed to satisfy motivational and emotional urges that arise in the hypothalamus, also involved in memory |
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Definition
| involved in forming and retrieving memories |
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Definition
| organizes motivational and emotional response patterns, particularly those linked to aggression and fear |
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Definition
| forms the outermost layer of the human brain |
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Definition
| controls the 600 or more muscles involved in voluntary body movements |
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Definition
| associated with sensations of heat , touch, and cold and our sense of balance and body movement |
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Definition
| primarily involved in speech comprehension |
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Definition
| mainly involved in the production of speech |
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Definition
| involved in many important mental functions, including perception, language, and thought |
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Definition
| involved in executive functions, mental abilities such as goal setting, judgment, strategic planning, and impulse control |
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Term
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Definition
| neural bridge that is a major communications link between the two hemispheres of the brain |
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Term
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Definition
| refers to the relatively greater localization of a function in one hemisphere or the other |
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Term
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Definition
| partial or total loss of the ability to communicate |
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Term
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Definition
| the ability of neurons to change in structure and function |
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Term
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Definition
| production of new neurons in the nervous system |
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Term
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Definition
| immature "uncommitted" cells that can mature into any type of neuron or glial cell needed by the brain |
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Term
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Definition
| numerous hormone-secreting glands distributed throughout the body |
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Term
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Definition
| chemical messengers secreted from glands into the bloodstream |
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Term
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Definition
| hormone factories that produce and secrete about 50 different hormones |
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Term
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Definition
| foreign substances that trigger a biomechanical response from the immune system |
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