Serotonin		psychologists who try to discover the basic principles of behavior and mind
Centralnervoussystem		the tiny electrical charge in place between the inside and the outside of the resting neuron
Standarddeviation		when behavior changes as a result of the observation process
Psychiatrists		the network of nerves that links the central nervous system with the rest of the body
Thalamus		the tiny swellings at the end of the axon that contain chemicals important to neural transmission
Peripheralnervoussystem		a method for measuring how radioactive substances are absorbed in the brain; it can be used to detect how specific tasks activate different areas of the living brain
Terminalbuttons		an indication of how much individual scores differ or vary from the mean
Mind		: identical twins, who share genetic material, are compared to fraternal twins in an effort to determine the roles heredity and environment play in psychological traits
Parietal lobe		an early technique used to study the mind; systematic introspection required people to look inward and describe their own experiences
Survey		experimental participants do not know to which condition they have been assigned (e.g. experimental versus control); it’s used to control for subject expectancies
Scientificmethod		one of four anatomical regions of each hemisphere of the cerebral cortex, located roughly on the top middle portion of the brain; it contains the somatosensory cortex, which controls the sense of touch
Randomsampling		an insulating material that protects the axon and helps to speed up neural transmission
Pituitarygland		the cell body of a neuron
Placebo		bundles of axons that make up neural “transmission cables”
Neurons		largely automatic body reactions – such as the knee jerk – that are controlled primarily by spinal cord pathways
Refractoryperiod		one of for anatomical regions of each hemisphere of the cerebral cortex, located at the back of the brain; visual processing is controlled here
Psychology		definitions that specify how concepts can be observed and measured
Systematicintrospection		a method for measuring how radioactive substances are absorbed in the brain, it can be used to detect how specific tasks activate different areas of the living brain
Randomassignment		the brain and the spinal cord
Psychoanalysis		a multistep technique that generates empirical knowledge – that is, knowledge derived from systematic observations of the world
Somaticsystem		a neurotransmitter that has been linked to sleep, dreaming, and general arousal and may also be involved in some psychological disorders such as depression and schizophrenia
PETscan		a term used by Freud to describe his theory of mind and system of therapy
Nerves		observable actions such as moving about, talking, gesturing, and so on; can also refer to the activities of cells and to thoughts and feelings
Naturalisticobservation		the period of time following an action potential when more action potentials cannot be generated
Researchpsychologists		a descriptive research technique designed to gather limited amounts of information from many people, usually by administering some kind of questionnaire
Phenotype		inactive or inert, substance that resembles an experimental substance
Reactivity		a technique ensuring that each participant in an experiment has an equal chance of being assigned to any of the conditions in the experimen
Variability		a kind of master gland in the body that controls the release of hormones in response to signals from the hypothalamus
Occipitallobe		an interdisciplinary field of study directed at understanding the brain and its relation to behavior
Soma		a descriptive research technique that records naturally occurring behavior as opposed to behavior produce in the laboratory
Neurotransmitters		a measure of how much the scores in a distribution of scores differ from one another
Operationaldefinition		one of four anatomical regions of each hemisphere of the cerebral cortex, located roughly on the sides of the brain; it’s involved in certain aspects of speech and language perception
Reflexes		a person’s observable characteristics, such as red hair. The phenotype is controlled mainly by the genotype, but it can also be influenced by the environment
Myelinsheath		cells that carry environmental messages toward the spinal cord and brain
Sensoryneurons		the contents and processes of subjective experience: sensations, thoughts, and emotions
PET		a relay station in the forebrain thought to be an important gathering point for input from the senses
Behavior		the scientific study of behavior and mind
Singleblindstudy		an early school of psychology; structuralists tried to understand the mind by breaking it down into basic parts, much as a chemist might try to understand a chemical compound
Restingpotential		chemical messengers that relay information from one neuron to the next
Twinstudies		the cells in the nervous system that receive and transmit information
Structuralism		the collection of nerves that transmits information toward the brain and connects to the skeletal muscles to initiate movement; part of the peripheral nervous system
Neuroscience		medical doctors who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems
Temporallobe		a procedure guaranteeing that everyone in the population has an equal likelihood of being selected for the sample
Synapse		the small gap between the terminal buttons of a neuron and the dendrite or cell body of another neuron
Range		the difference between the largest and smallest scores in a distribution