The Brain (College Board AP® Psychology): Flashcards
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What functions does the medulla control?
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Cards in this collection (24)
What functions does the medulla control?
The medulla controls essential autonomic functions including breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and swallowing.
Define cerebellum.
The cerebellum is a hindbrain structure that coordinates muscle movement, balance, and posture, and supports some procedural learning.
True or False?
The cerebellum initiates voluntary movement.
False.
The cerebellum does not initiate movement; it fine-tunes and coordinates movement that is initiated elsewhere in the brain.
What role does the reticular activating system play in the midbrain?
The reticular activating system acts as the brain's gatekeeper, controlling alertness and wakefulness by filtering incoming sensory information.
Which structure in the midbrain's reward center is heavily involved in addiction?
The nucleus accumbens is heavily involved in pleasure, reward, and motivation, and many addictive drugs trigger dopamine release here.
Damage to the ____________________ impairs the ability to form new long-term memories.
Damage to the hippocampus impairs the ability to form new long-term memories.
What is the main function of the amygdala?
The amygdala processes emotions, especially fear and aggression, and plays a key role in the fear response and emotional memory.
True or False?
The limbic system includes the thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala.
True.
These four structures are the key interconnected structures of the limbic system, which plays a central role in emotion, memory, and motivation.
What happens when the corpus callosum is severed?
When the corpus callosum is severed, the left and right hemispheres can no longer communicate directly, producing a split-brain patient.
Define lateralization.
Lateralization is the specialization of the left and right hemispheres of the brain for different functions.
What happens when a person has damage to Broca's area?
Damage to Broca's area causes Broca's aphasia, in which a person understands language but cannot produce fluent speech.
Which lobe of the cerebral cortex processes visual information?
The occipital lobes, located at the rear of the brain, process visual information.
Define fMRI.
fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) is a brain scanning technique that measures brain activity by detecting changes in oxygenated blood flow.
What is the main limitation of fMRI's temporal resolution?
fMRI has poor temporal resolution, with approximately a five-second delay between actual brain activity and its detection.
True or False?
EEG has better spatial resolution than fMRI.
False.
EEG has poor spatial resolution and can only detect surface brain activity, while fMRI can identify active regions to within about 1mm.
What does an EEG measure?
An EEG measures electrical activity in the brain via electrodes placed on the scalp.
EEG detects changes in brain activity every ____________________, giving it excellent temporal resolution.
EEG detects changes in brain activity every millisecond, giving it excellent temporal resolution.
What did HM's case reveal about the hippocampus?
HM's case showed that removing the hippocampus causes anterograde amnesia, providing evidence for its role in forming new memories.
Why can case studies not establish causation?
Case studies are non-experimental, so researchers cannot randomly assign participants or manipulate variables, meaning causation cannot be established.
True or False?
Findings from a single case study always generalize well to the wider population.
False.
Findings from a single individual may not generalize, since brain damage in case studies is rarely identical across individuals, limiting external validity.
Define lesioning.
Lesioning is a surgical procedure in which specific brain tissue is deliberately destroyed or removed in order to observe its behavioral effects.
What did Phineas Gage's case reveal about the frontal lobes?
Phineas Gage's case showed that damage to the frontal lobes can cause dramatic personality change, including impulsivity and emotional instability.
Lesioning in humans is never performed purely for research purposes; it only occurs when ________________ necessary.
Lesioning in humans is never performed purely for research purposes; it only occurs when medically necessary.
Why is lesioning in humans considered ethically problematic?
Lesioning is irreversible, so damage caused cannot be undone, which raises serious ethical concerns about harm to participants.
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