Free QCE Psychology Flashcard Review

The CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord. It receives sensory information, processes it, and initiates motor responses; the command centre of the nervous system.

All neural structures outside the CNS. Includes the somatic nervous system (voluntary control) and autonomic nervous system (involuntary control). Connects the CNS to the body's organs and muscles.

Sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight; increases arousal) and parasympathetic nervous system (rest-and-digest; decreases arousal and promotes recovery).

The cell body of the neuron containing the nucleus and most organelles. Integrates signals from dendrites and generates action potentials.

Branch-like extensions of the soma that receive signals from other neurons. Transmit signals towards the soma (receptor sites for neurotransmitters).

A long, thin projection from the soma that transmits action potentials away from the cell body. Ends in axon terminals that form synapses with other neurons.

Fatty insulation around axons that speeds up action potential transmission along the axon. Gaps in myelin (nodes of Ranvier) allow saltatory conduction.

Chemical messengers that transmit signals across synapses. Examples: dopamine (reward, motor control), serotonin (mood, sleep), acetylcholine (learning, muscle contraction).

An inhibitory neurotransmitter in the CNS that reduces neural firing and promotes relaxation. Critical for reducing anxiety and preventing seizures.

The primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the CNS. Increases likelihood of action potentials and is essential for learning and memory formation.

Executive functions including planning, decision-making, impulse control, motor control, and Broca's area (speech production). Associated with personality and motivation.

Somatosensory cortex (touch, temperature, pain). Processes sensory information and spatial awareness. Located behind the frontal lobe.

Memory formation, auditory processing (Wernicke's area for language comprehension), emotion regulation, and object recognition. Located near the temples.

Primary visual cortex. Processes visual information including colour, motion, and pattern recognition. Located at the back of the brain.

Brain region controlling emotion, memory, and motivation. Key structures: amygdala (fear/emotion) and hippocampus (memory formation and spatial navigation).

Reception (light enters eye), transduction (photoreceptors convert light to neural signals), transmission (signals sent to brain), processing (neural interpretation in visual cortex), and perception (conscious visual experience).

A Gestalt principle where the visual field is organised into a figure (focus) that stands out against a background (ground). Essential for object recognition.

Tendency to group similar or nearby objects together. Includes proximity (nearby objects), similarity (alike objects), and continuity (continuous lines over broken ones).

Monocular cues: linear perspective, relative size, interposition. Binocular cues: stereopsis (retinal disparity from both eyes). Motion parallax also used.

The perception that objects remain constant despite changes in sensory input. Includes size constancy, shape constancy, and colour constancy enabling stable perception.