Psychology Midterm Cheat Sheet by kateleschyshyn

Charles Darwin - Theory of evolution

Natural selection and fitness

Evolution is a slow process

not good enough that you survive, must pass traits on

obtain food for yourself

camo

passing on genes to the next genera­tions

make animals more desirable to the opposite sex

are then passed on with greater frequency due to their associ­ation with greater mating sucess

pressure on males to succeed

in this process, if members of one sex are attracted to certain qualities in mates

female can select the winner

first brain cell: 700 mya

starts getting collection of brain cell to work together and produce basic brain function

first primate brain: 7 mya

modern humans are relatively recent in geological record

irst primate to show distinctly human charac­ter­istics

spending a lot of time on the ground than in trees on 2 legs

judged by tool use and tool making

austra­lop­ith­ecus, could also not make them, but could use them

homo habilis (handy human) manufa­cture simple stone tools

neande­rthals - better stone tools and higher intell­igence

adapta­tions to a changing enviro­nment

change in diet -> smaller facial muscles and teeth

allows cooking to soften the meal, we don't have big teeth = everything gets smaller

small changes to mouth, more room for vocal track

cognitive ability

social organi­zation -> culture

every cell in an organisms body contains the genetic blueprint for that organism

gene -> protein -> expression

phenotype - the physical expres­sions of the genotype example: person has blue eyes

four basic bases, which are linked to each other

cytosine bonds with quanine

the sequence of bases in gene determines which amino acids are used to build the specified protein

bases -> amino acids -> proteins

amino acids

a polype­ptide amino acids chain forms a protein

proteins typically degrade within days

transc­ription and traslation

translates into different amino acids that need to be built

codon codes for a specific amino acid

golgi body is packaged into vesicles and transp­orted into different parts of the cell

introduce or remove genes of an embryo

knock in : mouse that is supposed to have white fur, introduce genes for black fur

genetic disorder, develop treatment, common practice in neuros­cience

the mammalian brain is struct­urally similar across species

introduce a gene into a rat then you can test treatment and you are not dealing with human subjects

"maze bright­" and "maze dull rats"

maze bright = rats that picked up learning the maze well

only breed maze bright

completed in 2003

4 bases that make it all up

genetics vs. what are you doing

studying genetic disorders in identical twins

share the same genetic code

indivi­duals experi­ences

can it be explained by genes or enviro­nment

behavi­oural genetics are used to study genetic influence on a host of different behaviours

how a person experience can effect their gene

epigenetic drift - differ­ences

older in lifem you start to see differ­ences. similarity start to become epigenetic drift because the different experinces they are having in life

having their effects in this process

histone modifi­cation - DNA does not get transc­ribed like it should. results in the protein that was not intended

they all represent how the plan can be changed

silent genes to let it develop into a mature gene

diseases linked to enviro­nmental exposure are difficult to track

person may not have a geneti­cally exposed to lung cancer but if they take up smoking