Serotonin is a neurotransmitter primarily found in the brain, intestines, and blood. In psychology, serotonin plays a significant role in mood regulation, emotional well-being, sleep, appetite, and cognitive functions. Abnormalities in serotonin levels or its neural pathways are often associated with mood disorders like depression and anxiety.| Simply Psychology
The thalamus is a structure of the brain that processes and transmits sensory (except for smell) and motor information from the body to the cerebral cortex.| Simply Psychology
The prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for planning, impulse control, and decision-making—doesn’t fully mature until around age 25. While a child’s brain grows rapidly in size during early childhood, the prefrontal cortex continues developing in complexity and function well into early adulthood.| Simply Psychology
The frontal lobe is one of the most important and largest parts of your brain. Located directly behind your forehead, it's critical for many complex activities that make us uniquely human, such as reasoning, planning, and social interaction.| Simply Psychology
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain associated with pleasure, reward, motivation, and motor control. In psychology, it's linked to feelings of gratification and is implicated in mood disorders, addiction, and certain behaviors when its levels are imbalanced.| Simply Psychology
The nucleus accumbens (NAcc) is a small but powerful structure in the brain’s basal forebrain. It acts as a hub for processing reward, motivation, and pleasure. Think of it as the brain’s motivational switchboard—it helps us decide what feels good, what’s worth pursuing, and what behaviors to repeat.| Simply Psychology
In psychology, the hippocampus is a crucial structure within the brain's medial temporal lobe. It plays a vital role in forming and retrieving memories, spatial navigation, and emotional responses. Damage to the hippocampus can lead to memory impairments and difficulty forming new memories, highlighting its importance in learning and cognition.| Simply Psychology
Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that play a vital role in how your brain and body communicate. They affect everything from your mood and memory to your heartbeat and breathing.| Simply Psychology
The Skinner box, otherwise known as an operant conditioning chamber, is a laboratory apparatus used to study animal behavior within a compressed time frame.| Simply Psychology
The amygdala is a complex structure of cells nestled in the middle of the brain, adjacent to the hippocampus (which is associated with memory formation). It is part of the limbic system and plays a key role in processing emotions and emotional reactions.| Simply Psychology
A neuron is a nerve cell that processes and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals in the nervous system. Neurons consist of a cell body, dendrites (which receive signals), and an axon (which sends signals). Synaptic connections allow communication between neurons, facilitating the relay of information throughout the body.| Simply Psychology
