AP Psychology

A branch of psychology concerned with the links between biology and behavior

A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.

The bushy, branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the body cell

The extension of a neuron, ending in branching terminal fibers, through which messages pass to other neurons or to muscles or glands

A layer of fatty tissue segmentally encasing the fibers of many neurons; enables vastly greater transmission speed of neural impulses as the impulse hops from one node to the next.

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

The junction between the the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron.

Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.

A neurotransmitter that enables learning and memory and also triggers muscle contraction

"morphine within"--natural, opiate like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and to pleasure.

The body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.

Brain and spinal cord

The sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body

Neural "cables" containing many axons. These bundled axons, which are part of the peripheral nervous system, connect to the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sense organs.

Neurons that carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the central nervous system.