The Human Mind

Parts Of The Brain  Hind:  Structure that is on top of the spinal cord  Controls our basic biological structures  Medulla: Located just above the spinal cord  It is involved in the control of breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure The Puns: Located just above the Medulla connects the Hind brain, The Mid brain, and the Hind brain.  It is involved in facial expressions The Cerebellum: It is the bottom rear of the brain It is known as the little brain It coordinated fine muscle movements  The Midbrain:  Coordinates simple movements with sensory information  Most known as the reticular formation. Controls arousal and the ability to control our attention.    Forebrain  What makes us human  It is the largest part of the brain  It is made up of the thalamus, the limbic system and the cerebral cortex Thalamus   Switchboard of the brain  It receives ...

Ways We Study The Brain  Accident Lesions  EEG  CAT Scan  PET Scan  MRI  Functional MRI  Accidents  Phineas Gage Story  Personality changed after the accidents  what does this tell us? This tells us that different parts of the brain control different aspects of who we are  Lesions  Removal or destruction of some part of the brain  Frontal Lobotomy   Electroencephalogram  EEG  Detects brain waves through their electrical output  Used mainly in sleep research  Computerized Axial Tomography  CAT Scan  3D X-Ray of the brain  Good for tumor locating, but tells us nothing about function  Magnetic Resonance Imaging  MRI  More detailed picture of brain using magnetic field to knock electrons off axis  Takes many still pictures and images into a movie like production  Positron Emission Tomography  ...

Drugs can be Agonist- make neuron fire  Antagonist- stop neural firing  Reuptake Inhibitors- block neurotransmitters from entering the Bryon  Central Nervous System  The brain and spinal cord  CNS  Peripheral Nervous System  All nerves that are not encased in bone  Everything but the brain and spinal cord  Is divided into two categories. Somatic and autonomic  Somatic Nervous System  Controls voluntary muscle movement.  Uses motor (efferent neurons)  Autonomic Nervous System  Controls the autonomic functions of the body  Divided into two categories.. the sympathetic and parasympathetic    Sympathetic Nervous System  Fight or Flight response  Automatically accelerates heart rate, breathing, dilates pupils, slows down digestion.  Parasympathetic Nervous System  Automatically slows the body down after a stressful event  Heart ra...

Neurotransmitters:          Chemical message released by terminal buttons through the synapse.  1.    Acetylcholine: (ACH) It's function is to motor movement and memory Too much and you will have depression  Not enough and you will have Alzheimer's 2. Dopamine  It's function is to motor movement and alertness.  Lack of dopamine is associated with Parkinson's disease.  Over abundance is associated with schizophrenia  3. Serotonin Function deals with mood control . Does affect with hunger, sleep and arousal  Lack of serotonin has been linked with depression  4. Endorphins  Function deals with pain control and pleasure  We become addicted to endorphin causing feelings  5. GABA  A major transmitter  An under of Gaba is linked to seizures, trimmers and insomnia  6. Norepinephrine  Associated with alertness and arous...

Hindsight Bias:  the tendency to believe, after learning the outcome, that you knew it all along. Overconfidence:   we tend to think we know more than we do.  The Barnum Effect:  it is the tendency for people to accept very general or vague characterization of themselves and take them to me accurate.  Applied v. Basic research:  applied research has clear, practical applications.  Practical applications:  Applied : has clear practical applications, you can see it!!! Basic : explores questions that you may be curious about, but not intended to be.  Independent variable:  whatever is being manipulated in the experiment, hopefully brings out change.  operational definitions: explain what you mean in your hypothesis.  dependent variable: whatever is being measured in the experiment, it is the dependent of the independent.  Experimental method:  looking to prove ca...