AP®︎ Psychology: Topic 1.4 Flashcards
Master key terms and definitions for Topic 1.4 of AP Psychology – The Brain to help you prep for quizzes and the AP exam.
Localization of Function
The principle that particular brain regions are especially associated with particular functions, although behavior usually depends on integrated networks
The principle that particular brain regions are especially associated with particular functions, although behavior usually depends on integrated networks
The structure connecting the spinal cord to the rest of the brain that generally controls basic life-sustaining functions
The part of the brain stem that automatically regulates breathing and heart rate
A brain-stem network that regulates alertness, arousal, attention, eye movement, and some voluntary movement
Interconnected brain regions whose activity makes experiences rewarding, reinforces associated behavior, and contributes to motivation, learning, cognition, and emotion
The lower-rear brain structure that coordinates smooth voluntary movement, balance, and some procedural learning
The brain’s folded outer layer, divided into two hemispheres, that supports sensory processing, voluntary movement, language, reasoning, and planning
The lobes at the rear of the cerebral cortex that primarily process visual information
The lobes on the sides of the cerebral cortex that primarily support auditory and linguistic processing
The lobes near the upper rear of the cortex that organize and integrate information and contain the somatosensory cortex
Cortical regions that integrate and organize information rather than receiving one basic sensory signal or issuing one basic motor command
A strip at the front of each parietal lobe that processes touch and other body sensations, mainly from the opposite side
The lobes behind the forehead that support language, voluntary movement, higher-order thinking, and executive functioning
Higher-order processes including planning, judgment, attention control, problem solving, impulse inhibition, and goal-directed regulation
The front portion of the frontal lobes that is especially important for planning, judgment, impulse control, and behavioral regulation
A strip at the rear of each frontal lobe that controls most skeletal movement, mainly on the opposite side of the body
An interconnected system including the thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, hippocampus, and amygdala that supports memory, emotion, motivation, and internal regulation
The major relay station that directs incoming sensory information, except smell, to appropriate cortical areas
A structure that regulates hunger, thirst, body temperature, and other homeostatic processes and directs the pituitary gland
The hypothalamus-regulated gland that releases hormones influencing bodily processes and the activity of other endocrine glands
A limbic structure essential for processing and consolidating new explicit memories
A limbic structure involved in emotional significance, emotional learning, fear, threat detection, and aggression
The large bundle of axons that connects the cerebral hemispheres and allows them to exchange information
The tendency for some functions to be more strongly associated with one cerebral hemisphere than the other
The organization in which each cerebral hemisphere primarily processes or controls information from the opposite side
A region usually in the left frontal lobe responsible for speech production; damage commonly causes slow, effortful, nonfluent speech
A region usually in the left temporal lobe responsible for language comprehension; damage can cause fluent but incoherent speech and poor understanding
An impairment of language production, comprehension, or both caused by brain damage
Research on patients with severed corpus callosa that presents stimuli to one visual field to reveal contralateral processing and hemispheric specialization
The brain’s ability to modify, strengthen, weaken, or create neural connections through development, experience, learning, or recovery from injury
A noninvasive scalp recording of electrical brain activity with high temporal resolution but limited spatial precision
A noninvasive method that indirectly maps brain activity through blood-oxygen and blood-flow changes, with strong spatial but weaker temporal resolution
An intensive investigation of one person or a few unusual cases that provides detail but has limited control and generalizability
Damaged or destroyed brain tissue studied to infer a region’s function from the behavioral capacities that change or remain intact
Applying stimulation to exposed brain tissue during medically justified surgery to observe responses and map functions
A railroad foreman whose frontal-lobe injury was followed by changes in judgment, impulse control, personality, and social behavior
A patient whose bilateral hippocampal surgery severely impaired new explicit-memory formation while leaving some older memories and procedural learning intact
