Home›Psychology›Biological Psychology
🧠 Psychology · Biological Psychology

Neuroscience tricks that make the brain stick

Brain structures, neurotransmitters, and the nervous system — mastered.

Community
📋
Biological Psychology Forum
Ask questions · Share tricks
💬
Biological Psychology Chatroom
Live · Study together now
🧬 Neuroscience

Memory tricks

Proven mnemonics — fast to learn, hard to forget.

Feel-Good Neurotransmitters
DOPE: Dopamine Oxytocin Phenylethylamine Endorphins — feel-good chemicals
Feel-Good Neurotransmitters
Four neurotransmitters associated with positive emotion and reward
Dopamine: reward and motivation. Oxytocin: bonding and trust. Phenylethylamine: romantic excitement. Endorphins: pain relief and euphoria (runner's high).
D
Dopamine — reward, motivation
O
Oxytocin — bonding, trust
P
Phenylethylamine — romantic excitement
E
Endorphins — pain relief, euphoria
Difficulty: Beginner
Language Brain Areas
Broca's = speaking. Wernicke's = understanding.
Language Brain Areas
Two key language areas — and how to never mix them up
Broca's area (frontal lobe): speech production. Damage = Broca's aphasia — understands but can't produce fluent speech. Wernicke's area (temporal lobe): comprehension. Damage = fluent but nonsensical speech.
Broca's
Frontal lobe — speech production
Wernicke's
Temporal lobe — comprehension
Difficulty: Intermediate
Autonomic Nervous System
Sympathetic: Fight or Flight. Parasympathetic: Rest and Digest.
Autonomic Nervous System
Two branches of the ANS — opposites that keep each other in balance
Sympathetic: stress response — heart rate up, pupils dilate, blood to muscles. Parasympathetic: calm — heart rate down, digestion active, pupils constrict.
Sympathetic
Fight or flight — accelerates body
Parasympathetic
Rest and digest — calms and restores
Difficulty: Beginner
Limbic System
Limbic system HHAC: Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Amygdala, Cingulate
Limbic System
Four key structures that govern emotion and memory
Hippocampus: memory formation. Hypothalamus: hunger, thirst, temperature, hormones. Amygdala: fear and emotion. Cingulate cortex: attention and error detection.
H
Hippocampus — memory
H
Hypothalamus — homeostasis
A
Amygdala — fear/emotion
C
Cingulate — attention
Difficulty: Intermediate
Neuron Structure and Function
Neurons: dendrites receive, cell body integrates, axon transmits, synapse releases
Neuron Structure and Function
The basic unit of the nervous system — how a signal travels
Dendrites: receive signals from other neurons. Cell body (soma): integrates signals. Axon: transmits signal to terminals. Synapse: junction where neurotransmitters are released to the next neuron. All-or-nothing firing principle.
Difficulty: Beginner
Brain Lobes and Functions
Brain lobes: Frontal (thinking, planning), Parietal (touch, spatial), Occipital (vision), Temporal (hearing, memory)
Brain Lobes and Functions
Four lobes of the cerebral cortex and what each does
Frontal lobe: executive functions — planning, decision-making, impulse control, working memory, motor cortex. Parietal lobe: somatosensory cortex (touch, pain, temperature), spatial awareness. Occipital lobe: visual processing. Temporal lobe: auditory processing, language (Wernicke's area), memory (hippocampus beneath).
Frontal
Planning, decision-making, motor control
Parietal
Touch, spatial processing
Occipital
Visual processing
Temporal
Hearing, language, memory
Difficulty: Beginner
Key Neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters: serotonin (mood), dopamine (reward), norepinephrine (arousal), GABA (inhibition), glutamate (excitation)
Key Neurotransmitters
Five neurotransmitters every psychology student must know
Serotonin: mood, sleep, appetite — low levels linked to depression. SSRIs block reuptake, increasing serotonin. Dopamine: reward, motivation, movement — excess linked to schizophrenia, deficiency to Parkinson's. Norepinephrine: arousal, fight-or-flight. GABA: main inhibitory NT — alcohol and benzodiazepines enhance it. Glutamate: main excitatory NT.
Serotonin
Mood, sleep — low = depression
Dopamine
Reward, movement
Norepinephrine
Arousal, stress response
GABA
Inhibitory — calms neural activity
Glutamate
Excitatory — activates neurons
Difficulty: Intermediate
Action Potential
Action potential: all-or-nothing. Resting potential: -70mV. Depolarization → fires. Refractory period = brief pause.
Action Potential
How neurons fire — the all-or-nothing electrical signal
Resting: -70mV inside relative to outside (Na⁺ out, K⁺ in). Threshold: stimulus sufficient → Na⁺ rushes in → depolarization. Propagates down axon. Repolarization: K⁺ rushes out. Refractory period: brief inability to fire again. All-or-nothing: either fires fully or not at all — no partial signals.
Difficulty: Advanced
Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity: brain reorganizes itself. Hebbian learning: neurons that fire together wire together.
Neuroplasticity
The brain's ability to change and reorganize throughout life
The brain is not static — it changes with experience. Hebbian learning: repeated activation of two neurons together strengthens their connection. London taxi drivers: enlarged hippocampus from spatial navigation demands. Stroke recovery: neighboring areas take over functions of damaged areas. Learning builds new synaptic connections.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Brain Lateralization
Hemispheric specialization: left (language, logic, detail). Right (spatial, holistic, creativity). Connected by corpus callosum.
Brain Lateralization
How the two hemispheres divide their functions
Left hemisphere: language (in most people), analytical thinking, detail processing, sequential. Right hemisphere: spatial processing, holistic thinking, face recognition, emotion processing. Contralateral control: left brain controls right side of body and vice versa. Corpus callosum: the bridge connecting hemispheres — severed in split-brain patients.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Endocrine System and Behavior
Endocrine system: hormones travel through blood. Slower than nervous system but longer-lasting effects.
Endocrine System and Behavior
How hormones influence psychology and behavior
Pituitary gland: 'master gland' — regulates other glands. Adrenal glands: cortisol (stress, immune suppression), adrenaline (fight-or-flight). Thyroid: metabolism and energy. Gonads: estrogen and testosterone — sexual development, mood, aggression. Pineal gland: melatonin — sleep-wake cycles.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Sleep Stages
Sleep stages: NREM 1-3 (light to deep sleep) → REM (dreaming, memory consolidation). Cycle repeats ~90 min.
Sleep Stages
The sleep cycle and what each stage does
NREM Stage 1: light sleep, hypnic jerks. Stage 2: sleep spindles, K-complexes, consolidation begins. Stage 3 (slow-wave): deepest sleep, restoration, growth hormone release, hardest to wake. REM: rapid eye movement, vivid dreams, memory consolidation, muscle paralysis. ~4-5 cycles per night, REM lengthens toward morning.
Difficulty: Intermediate