Essentials of Psychology
First Edition
Learning Objectives
Explain the steps taken by the brain and body to prepare for a reaction.
- Outline how the sensory organs, muscles, and other parts of the body prepare for action.
- Identify the body’s communication networks, and discuss how the brain acts as a central command center.
Apply the parts of a neuron and neurotransmitters to the process of electrochemical communication.
- Explain what neurons are and how they are constructed.
- Discuss how neurons transmit information from one neuron to the other.
- Elaborate on how neurons transmit information throughout the body.
- Explain what neurotransmitters are and what they contribute to the process.
Summarize and synthesize the methods utilized to understand the parts and operation of the brain.
- Compare the methods psychologists use to study activity in the human brain.
- Evaluate whether different parts of the brain specialize in certain functions or operate as an integrated system.
- Interpret what it means to say we have two copies of the same brain. Explain how the two hemispheres uniquely process information.
Identify the nature of plasticity in the brain and how it can be applied to understanding brain injuries.
- Conclude whether the adult brain is fixed in its structure or has a capacity to change as a result of experience.
- Discuss whether it is possible for people to recover functions lost to brain damage.
- Summarize the evidence that healthy tissue can be transplanted from one brain into another.