PSY 301 1st Edition Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture I Biopsychology introduction II Neuron III Types of Neurons IV Structure of a Neuron V Path of Transmission Outline of Current Lecture I Monoamines II Neuromodulators III Corpus Callosum IV Behavior Genetics Current Lecture Monoamines The following four monoamines have a similar basic molecular structure o Epinephrine o Norepinephrine o Serotonin o Dopamine These regulate arousal feelings and motivate behavior Neuromodulators Chemicals that modify the function of neurotransmitters There are two types 1 Agonist Function is to increase the effect of neurotransmitters by o Block the neurotransmitters synaptic reuptake o Counteracts the clean up enzyme o Mimic the neurotransmitters action An analogy of an agonist is when you are trying to clean up your room and your friend is there to help you clean up Your friend is the example of an agonist because he is helping you achieve your goal of cleaning your room 2 Antagonist Function is to decrease the effect of the neurotransmitter by o Blocks the release of neurotransmitters o Destroys neurotransmitters in the clef o Blocks absorption of neurotransmitters by receptors Instead of your friend helping you clean up your room he is distracting you making the process of cleaning your room up much slower In this case your friend is acting like an antagonist Endorphins An endogenous neurotransmitter Pain reliever It is an antagonist to Substance P the neurotransmitter that carries pain messages to the brain Spinal interneurons release endorphins which block receptors for substance P Endorphins prevent us from feeling pain by preventing the messages being sent to the brain to be delivered The Nervous System Central Nervous System CNS Brain and spinal cord o Contains neural networks which are complex interconnected neurons that modify with growth and experiences Peripheral Nervous System PNS The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body o Automatic System Controls self regulated action of internal organs and glands Sympathetic arousing Prepares the body for action in threatening situations Heart begins to race Metabolic rate stops Sometimes begin to sweat Parasympathetic calming helps the body return to a normal resting state o Somatic System Controls voluntary movements of skeletal muscles The Brain and the Corpus Callosum The two hemispheres of the brain are connected by this band of fibers known as the corpus callosum The lef hemisphere of the brain controls the right side of the body and these functions o Processing of speech and language o Reading o Perception of time relationships o Control of complex movement sequences The right hemisphere of the brain controls the lef side of the body and these functions o Processing emotion o Perception of non verbal patterns o Perception of music o Perception of spatial relationships o Perception of complex patterns o Perception of part to whole relationships The Brain can further be divided into four lobes o Occipital lobe vision o Temporal lobes new memories language math sound visual shape o Parietal lobes spatial processes somatosensory strip o Frontal Lobes speech reasoning emotion memory search motor cortex consciousness general intelligence Behavior Genetics Study of human differences and the relative effects of heredity and environment Genotype Complete set of an organisms genes Phenotype Overt characteristics and behaviors of an organism Heritability Ratio a statistic that summarizes how much of the variability in a population can be attributed to genetic differences among people asks how much of the phenotypic variance in a population is due to the genome Genetic Variance Heritability Total phenotypic variance 1 Ranges from 0 none of the phenotypic variability is due to the genome to 1 all of the phenotypic variability is due to the genome 2 Only provides information about the causes of variation within the population studied 3 Applies only to the environment in which the population was studied 4 Says nothing about the genetic influence on an individual s traits Twin studies compare monozygotic identical twins and dizygotic fraternal twins a monozygotic twins share 100 of their genes b dizygotic twins share 50 of their genes i same percentage as non twin siblings
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