Ch.3

What is the difference between genotype and phenotype?

Genotype is the genetic constitution determined at the moment of conception

Phenotype is observable physical characteristicts that result from both genetic and enviormental influences.

Distinctions among motor neurons sensory neurons and interneurons.

Sensory neurons detect information from the physical world and pass that informatoin along to the brain.

Motor neurons control movements by telling the muscles what to do.

Interneurons communicate only with other neurons.

What is dopamine?

A monoamine neurotransmitter involved in reward, motivation, and motor control.

The amygdale and what it does.

A brain structure that serves a vital role in our learning to associate things with emotional responses and in processing emotional information.

How learning may be represented in the brain.

Learning is represented in the brain through the cortex.

What are monozygotic and dizygotic twins, and how can we compare them to determine whether some behavior is partly caused by genetic factors?

Monozygotic twins result from a fertilized egg which means they both have the same chromosomes and and the same genes.

Dizygotic twins are two eggs fertilized at the same time but there genes are no similar then normal brother and sisters.

What is the difference between axons and dendtrites, and what functions do they serve?

Dendrites are branch like extensions of the neuron that detect information from other neurons. Dendrites short branchlike appendages increase the neuron’s receptive field and detect chemical signals from neighboring neurons.Axons are long narrow outgrowth of a neuron by which information is transmitted to other neurons. One the incoming information from many other neurons has been integrated in the cell body, electrical impulses are transmitted along a long narrow growth, which it the axon.

Describe the resting potential and action potential. What ion movements occur during the action potential?

Resting membrane potential is the electrical charge of a neuron when it is not active.Action potential is the neural impulse that passes along the axon and subsequently causes the release of chemicals from the terminal buttons.

How do neurotransmitters allow one neuron to communicate with another?

Neurotransmitters communicate with one another , once there released into the synapse, they continue to fill and stimulate the receptor, and they block new signals until their influence is terminated.

List the four lobes that form each brain, hemisphere, and describe the areas of the cortex that process seeing, hearing, touch and movement?

The four lobes of the brain are frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and the temporal lobe. The frontal lobe is where movement happens. Parietal lobe is what allows you to touch. The temporal lobe is what lets you hear. Finally the occipital lobe is what allows you to see.