Glossary
Physical Components and Capacities of the Brain
Amygdala – almond shaped set of neurons located deep in the brain’s medial temporal lobe. Plays a key role in processing emotions, particularly fear and pleasure.
Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) – lies in the medial wall of each cerebral hemisphere, above and adjacent to the corpus callosum. It connects to both the emotional and cognitive systems of the brain.
Brain Waves – electrical activity in the brain consisting of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Theta waves which differ in amplitude and frequency
Corpus Callosum – bundle of fibers that connects the left and right brain hemispheres.
Glial Cells – non-neuron brain cells, previously thought to be supportive of neurons but now understood to have more active roles.
Gray matter – portion of the brain composed on the nuclei of neurons.
Hippocampus – seahorse shaped set of neurons located in the brain’s medial temporal lobes near the center of the brain. It is involved with creation of long-term and spatial memory but also involved with emotions.
Neuron – also known as nerve cells, highly specialized cells with the ability to be stimulated and to conduct impulses. They composed primarily of the nucleus (cell body), axons (passageways for transmissions), and dendrites (receptors for impulses from other neurons.
Neurotransmitters – chemical substances that transmit nerve impulses across synapses
Temporoparietal Junction (TPJ) - Area 0f the brain where the temporal and parietal lobes meet. Plays a key role in self perception and association of emotions to events. Allows for moral and ethical judgments.
White matter – portion of the brain composed of the connective components of the brain, particularly the axons.
Psychosocial Behaviors
Anchoring - During decision making, anchoring occurs when individuals use an initial piece of information to make subsequent judgments. Once an anchor is set, other judgments are made by adjusting away from that anchor, and there is a bias toward interpreting other information around the anchor. The anchor may be from memory or provided externally.
Association – If two things are juxtaposed and we like one, we tend to like the other and vice versa
Executive Control – more accurately executive functioning and cognitive control - set of cognitive processes – including attentional control, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, as well as reasoning, problem solving, and planning – that are necessary for the cognitive control of behavior
Expected Outcome - sum of the values of each possible occurrence times the probability of that occurrence
Framing Effects – unjustified influences of formulation on beliefs and preferences
Heuristic – an approach to problem solving, learning, or discovery that employs a practical method not guaranteed to be optimal or perfect, but sufficient for the immediate goals.
Intuitive Heuristic – Concept developed by Kahneman and Tversky applying heuristics to human thinking. It is a heuristic we apply intuitively without conscious thought. It is the tendency to, “when faced with a difficult question, to answer an easier one instead, often without noticing the substitution”.
Nudge Theory - Employs positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions to try to achieve non-forced compliance to influence the motives, incentives, and decision making of groups and individuals
Priming Effect - an implicit memory effect in which exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another stimulus
Other Words and Concepts
A Postoreori - Based on experience or empirical evidence, inductive reasoning
A Priori - Independent of experience or based on deductive reasoning
Complexity - Quality or condition where many aspects or parts of specific entities or systems interact or form patterns with each other in varying ways.