PSY-0001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sickle-Cell Disease, Encephalization, Mutation
22 Sep 2015
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Sept. 24 first exam (next week thursday) *all material in the textbook is fair game for class even if it wasn"t mentioned in class. Ex. sickle cell anemia (blood cells are mutated in such a way that they don"t process oxygen as efficiently) Psychological traits evolved along side physical ones. 2 primary traits that allowed us to exploit environment: bipedalism (moving with two legs, encephalization (bigger brain = higher cognitive thought processes) Utility of encephalization working in communities, thinking about morality, governed by principles of higher-order, communicate via symbols (language) and mathematical symbols. Function of neuron = sending signals in real time (it never stops) Dendrites - receive neurotransmitters: ex. acetylcholine (muscle contraction/movement) Myelin sheath speeds up the transferring of information by making it possible for transmitters to skip across the nodes of ranvier. Terminal buttons at the end of the signal; release neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft. At a resting neuron, sodium is outside.
