pudendal nerve

transmits tactile stimulation from the pubic area to the brain

part of the anterior hypothalamic area that is distinctly larger in males than in females; the exact importance is unclear; stimulation of this area increases male sexual behavior but lesions produce only mild deficits in sexual behavior

the inability to have an erection; caused by impaired blood circulation

periodic variation in hormones and fertility over the course of about 28 days

follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)

released by the anterior pituitary gland at the end of a menstrual cycle; promotes the growth of a follicle in the ovary

luteinizing hormone (LH)

released from the anterior pituitary gland; combines with FSH to cause the follicle to release an ovum

periovulatory period

the days around the middle of the menstrual cycle; time of maximum fertility and high estrogen levels

oxytocin

pituitary hormone which stimulates contractions of the uterus during delivery of a baby and stimulates the mammary gland to release milk; released by sexual pleasure especially at orgasm which causes a state of complete relaxation; strong releases facilitate formation of pair bonds between mating partners; related to formation of a pair bond between mother and infant

steroid hormones

contain 4 carbon rings; derived from cholesterol; exert their effects by

1. binding to membrane receptors (neurotransmitters) and exerting rapid effects

2. entering cells and activating certain kinds of proteins in the cytoplasm

3. binding to receptors that bind to chromosomes, where they activate or inactivate certain genes

androgens

male hormones (including testosterone)

female hormones (including estradiol)

progesterone

predominantly female hormone which prepares the uterus for implantation of a fertilized ovum and promotes the maintenance of pregnancy

organizing effects of sex hormones

determine whether the brain and body will develop female or male characteristics; occur before birth in humans

activating effects of sex hormones

a hormone temporarily activates a particular response; can occur anytime in life; last longer than the hormone remains in an organ

found on the Y chromosome; causes primitive gonads to develop into testes

testes

sperm-producing organs

testosterone

produced by developing testes; an androgen; increases the growth of the testes which causes them to produce more testosterone

Wolffian ducts

caused by testosterone to develop into seminal vesicles and the vas deferens

saclike structures that store semen

a duct from the testis into the penis

causes degeneration of the Mullerian ducts

precursors to the female oviducts, uterus, and upper vagina

early period when hormones have long-lasting effects

a ring of 6 carbon atoms containing 3 double bonds; an enzyme found in the brain which can aromatize testosterone into estradiol

protein present in immature mammals during the early sensitive period; binds with estradiol and prevents it from affecting the fetus; because testosterone does not bind to alpha-fetoprotein, enzymes at strategic points within a cell can convert it into estradiol

how we idenfity sexually; what we call ourselves

sex differences

biological differences between males and females

gender differences

differences that result from people's thinking about themselves as male or female

congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH)

overdevelopment of the adrenal glands from birth

• normally the adrenal gland has a negative feedback relationship with the pituitary gland; the pituitary gland secretes adrenocorticotropic hormone which stimulates the adrenal gland, the adrenal gland secretes cortisol which feeds back to decrease the release of ACTH
• some people have a genetic limitation in their ability to produce cortisol, the pituitary gland secretes excess ACTH, the adrenal gland secretes excess hormones including testosterone
• causes no problems in genetic males; causes various degrees of masculinization of the external genitals in genetic females

individuals who appear to be a mixture between male and female

individual with a testis on one side of the body and an ovary on the other, or a mixture of testis and ovary tissue on each side

people whose sexual development is intermediate or ambiguous

condition in which individuals with an XY chromosome have the genital appearance of a female

• people with this condition produce normal amounts of androgens but lack the androgen receptor which enables it to activate the genes in a cell's nucleus
• development proceeds as if the level of testosterone and related hormones was very low
• effects range from a smaller than average penis to genitals like a female
• puberty occurs like a normal female except menstruation does not occur because there are internal testes

condition in which genetic males are born with a very small penis as a result of a defect of pelvis development

autonomic arousal and skeletal actions come first, an emotion is the label we give to our response

output from the autonomic nervous system to the body fails either completely or almost completely; heart beat and other organ activities continue but the nervous system no longer regulates them; when a person with pure autonomic failure stands up, the autnomic system does not increase the heart rate or constrict veins in the head therefore the person faints easily; a person with pure autonomic failure does not react to stressful experiences with changes in heart rate, blood pressure, or sweating therefore, according to the James-Lange theory, these people should feel no emotions (they actually do have emotions but feel their emotions less intensely than before)

spontaneous extreme nervous sytem arousal

condition in which people are unable to move their facial muscles to make a smile; does not affect their experiences of happiness or amusement but does affect their ability to make friends

forebrain areas surrounding the thalamus; critical for emotion

brain area which is strongly activated by disgust; primary taste cortex; damage to the insula causes people to be unable to recognize disgust

associated with activity of the frontal and temporal lobes of the left hemisphere; low to moderate autonomic arousal; tendency to approach which characterizes either happiness or anger

Behavioral Inhibition System

associated with activity of the frontal and temporal lobes of the right hemisphere; increases attention and arousal, inhibits action, and stimulates emotions such as fear and disgust

monoamine oxidase A (MOAa)

enzyme which breaks down the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin lowering the available amounts; effects of the gene which produces MOAa interact with childhood experience - among children who were seriously maltreated in childhood, the rate of antisocial behavior was significantly higher for those with low MAOa activity (increased MAOa may be linked to increased aggression)

amount of neurotransmitter that neurons released and replaced

serotonin's main metabolite; turnover is measured in the cerebrospinal fluid

enzyme that converts tryptophan into serotonin; people with less active forms of this enzyme are more likely to report frequent anger and aggression and more likely to make violent suicide attempts

response to an unexpected loud noise

• auditory information goes to the cochlear nucleus in the medulla and then to an area in the pons which commands the tensing of the muscles, especially the neck muscles
• more vigorous if you are already tense
• a stimulus associated with shock enhances the startle reflex, a stimulus associated with pleasantry decreases the startle reflex
• the amygdala is most important for enhancing the startle reflex

parasite that has evolved a way to exploit the consequences of amygdala damage; affects many mammals but reproduces only in cats

effect of amygdala damage in monkeys; monkeys are tame and placid, display less than normal fear of snakes or dominant monkeys

rare genetic disorder which causes skin lesions and also causes calcium to accumulate in the amygdala until it wastes away

most commonly used anti-anxiety drugs

benzodiazepines bind to GABA receptors; includes a site that binds to GABA as well as sites that modify the sensitivity of the GABA site

chemical that binds to the same sites as benzodiazepines; blocks the behavioral effects of diazepam and other benzodiazepines

proteins that cause effects opposite of benzodiazepines (endogenous anti-benzodiazepines)

pairing 2 stimuli changes the response to one of them: present the CS (which initially elicits no response) and then present the UCS which elicits the UCR, eventually the animal will make a learned response - CR, sometimes the CR is the same as the UCR

individual's response leads to a reinforcer or punishment

any event that increases the future probability of the response

any event that suppresses the frequency of the response

physical representation of what has been learned; a connection between 2 brain areas would be a possible example of an engram for Pavlov's proposal that classical conditioning reflects a strengthened connection between a CS center and a UCS center

all parts of the cortex contribute equally to complex behaviors such as learning, and any part of the cortex can substitute for any other

the cortex works as a whole and more cortex is better

nucleus of the cerebellum; essential for learning

alternative to the concept of short term memory; temporary storage is not a station on the route to long-term memory but the way we store information while we are working with it

common test of working memory; responding to something you saw or heard a short while ago

memory loss

inability to form memories for events that happened after brain damage

loss of memory for events that occurred before the brain damage

memories of single events (hippoccampal damage causes a person to be unable to remember events that occurred after the damage)

deliberate recall of information that one recognizes as memory

influence of recent experience on behavior, even if one does not recognize that influence

the ability to state a memory in words (hippocampal damage causes declarative memory to be impaired)

the development of motor skills and habits (hippocampal damage does not affect procedural memory)

an animal sees an object (the sample) and then, after a delay gets a choice between 2 objects, from which it must choose the one that matches the sample

same procedure as matching-to-sample task except animal must choose the object that is different from the sample

maze with 8 or more arms, some of which have a bit of food or other reinforcer at the end so that a rat placed in the center can find food by exploring each arm once and only once (rats with hippocampal damage often enter the same arm twice because they forget which arms they have already tried)

test of spatial memory in which a rat must swim through murky water to find a rest platform that is just under the surface (rats with hippocampal damage learn slowly and become disoriented if they have to start from a different location or the platform is moved; if the rat has learned to find the platform and then suffers hippocampal damage, the rat acts as if it doesn't know there is a platform at all)

important for remembering the details and context of an event (short term memory)

brain damage caused by prolonged thiamine deficiency (the brain needs thiamine to metabolize glucose; leads to a loss or shrinkage of neurons throughout the brain; one of the areas most affected is the dorsomedial thalamus which is the main source of input to the prefrontal cortex; symptoms are similar to those of people with prefrontal cortex damage - apathy, confusion, memory loss; difficulty in reasoning about their memories; confabulation is another symptom)

patients guess to fill in memory gaps - guess on questions to which they are expected to know the answer, answers are generally more pleasant than the true answers

cause of memory loss; better procedural than declarative memory; memory and alertness vary substantially from time to time - problems result from malfunctioning neurons not just the death of neurons; gradually progresses to more serious memory loss, confusion, depression, restlessness, hallucinations, delusions, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite; becomes more common with age; people with Down syndrome almost definitely get Alzheimer's disease if they survive into middle age; genes controlling early onset Alzheimer's disease cause amyloid-B to accumulate inside and outside neurons; accumulate an abnormal portion of the tau protein; current treatment is drugs that stimulate acetylcholine receptors or prolong acetylcholine release - increased arousal; possible treatment is to decrease amyloid-B production by increased consumption of antioxidants

protein which accumulates inside and outside neurons and causes damage to axons and dendrites which cluster into plaques and cause atrophy in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and other areas; it may be possible to treat Alzheimer's disease by decreasing production of amyloid B by increasing consumption of antioxidants; curcumin which is a component of turmeric (a spice in Indian curries) reduces amyloid B levels and plawues

part of the intracellular support structure of neurons; patients with Alzheimer's disease accumulate an abnormal portion of the tau protein; produces tangles (structures formed from degenerating structures within neurinal cell bodies

loss of semantic memory; caused by damage to the anterior and inferior regions of the temporal lobe; causes people to be unable to remember the appearance of some animals or the color of certain fruits and vegetables

synapse that increases in effectiveness because of simultaneous activity in the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons

marine invertebrate related to the common slug; popular animal for studies of the physiology of learning because it has few and large neurons; withdrawal response - if you touch the siphon, mantle, or gill of an aplysia, it will withdraw the stimulated structure

decrease in response to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly and accompanied by no change in other stimuli (if you repeatedly stimulate an aplysia's gills it will eventually stop responding)

an increase in response to mild stimuli as a result of exposure to more intense stimuli

one or more axons connected to a dendrite bombard it with a brief but rapid series of stimuli which causes synapses to be potentiated for minutes, days, or weeks

if some of the synapses onto a cell have been highly active and others have not, only the active ones become strengthened; establishing LTP at one synapse briefly facilitates the formation of LTP at nearby synapses on the same dendrite

nearly simultaneous stimulation by 2 or more axons produces LTP much more strongly than does repeated stimulation by just one axon

pairing a weak input with a strong input enhances later response to the weak input

a prolonged decrease in response at a synapse; occurs when axons have been less active than others

excited by the neurotransmitter glutamate but can also respond to a drug called AMPA

excited by the neurotransmitter glutamate but can also respond to NMDA; response depends on the degree of polarization across the membrane -- when gluatamate attaches to an NMDA receptor while the membrane is at its resting potential, the ion channel is usually blocked by magnesium ions (because magnesium ions are usually positively charged and attracted to the negative charge inside the cell), channel opens if the membrane is depolarized and the magnesium leaves

released by extensive stimulation of a postsynaptic cell; travels back to the presynaptic cell to modify it - presynaptic neuron decreases its threshold for producing action potentials, increases its release of neurotransmitter, expands its axon, and releases its transmitter from additional sites along its axon; usually nitric oxide