1. Unit 3A: Biological Bases of Behavior: Neural Processing and the Endocrine System

2. What does this mean to you?...
Everything Psychological is simultaneously Biological!

3. Biological Psychology: a branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior.
Some biological psychologists call themselves
behavioral neuroscientists,
neuropsychologists,
behavior geneticists,
physiological psychologists, or
biopsychologists.

4. I. Neural Communication

5. A. Neurons
A Nerve cell
Basic building block of nervous system

6. Sensory Neurons Carry incoming information:
from body’s tissues and sensory organs to brain and spinal cord for processing

7. Motor Neurons Instructions! Carry outgoing information
From brain and spinal cord to body’s tissues

8. Interneurons
Information is processed via the Brains internal communication system
Billions and billions!

9. Parts of a Neuron Dendrite
Bushy, branching extensions
Receive information and conduct impulses toward the cell body
LISTEN

10. Parts of a Neuron Axon Passes the message along to other SPEAKS
Neurons
Muscles
Glands
SPEAKS

11. Parts of a Neuron Myelin Sheath
Layer of fatty tissue
Insulates the axons
Helps speed their impulses

12. MS

13. Neurons

14. How Neurons Communicate

15. Threshold
The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

16. Action Potential
A neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon

17. Neurotransmitters Chemical messengers Cross synaptic gaps
Released by sending neuron
Bind to receptor sites on receiving neuron

18. Action Potential

19. How Neurons Communicate

20. Synapse
Junction
axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite of the receiving neuron.
Tiny gap
Synaptic gap
Synaptic cleft.

21. Reuptake
a neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron.

22. Identify these parts of the neuron!
Axon
Myelin Sheath
Dendrites
Cell Body
Terminal branches

23. How Neurotransmitters Influence Us
Acetylcholine (ACh)
Dopamine
Serotonin
Norepinephrine
GABA
Glutamate
Endorphins

26. Endorphins Brain produces naturally occurring opiate
Linked to pain control and pleasure
Vigorous exercise
“Runner’s High”
Acupuncture
Severely injured

27. How Neurotransmitters influence us:
Agonists versus antagonists
Agonists-”excites or mimics”
Antagonists- “blocks or prevents”

28. Agonists and Antagonists

29. II. The Nervous System

30. Nervous System Speedy, electrochemical communication network
All nerve cells:
Peripheral NS
Central NS

31. Nerves Bundled axons that form neural “cables”
Connects the CNS with muscles, glands, and sense organs.

32. The Central Nervous System
Brain and spinal cord
Neural networks
Spinal cord
Reflex
a simple, autonomic response to a sensory stimulus such as the knee-jerk response.

33. A Simple Reflex

34. Nervous System Peripheral Nervous System Central Nervous System (CNS)
the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system (CNS) to the rest of the body.
the brain and spinal cord.

35. Nervous System Autonomic Nervous System Somatic Nervous System
Controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (heart)
Controls the body’s skeletal muscles
Also called the skeletal nervous system

36. The Nervous System

37. Nervous System Sympathetic Nervous System
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Division of the autonomic nervous system
Arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations
Division of the autonomic nervous system
Calms the body, conserving its energy

39. III. The Endocrine System

40. Endocrine System “slow” chemical communication system
set of glands that secrete hormones
Hormones
chemical messengers
travel through bloodstream and affect other tissues.

41. Endocrine System Adrenal glands pair of endocrine glands
sit just above the kidneys
secrete hormones that help arouse the body in times of stress.
Epinephrine and norepinephrine
Adrenaline and noradrenaline
Fight or flight response

42. Pituitary Gland Most influential gland
Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth & controls other endocrine glands.

44. The End