The Adult Attachment Interview was developed and designed by Mary Main and co-workers to measure individual differences in representations of attachment figures in adults. Four patterns of attachment experience are covered in narratives: dismissing (rejected or neglected by parents during childhood; predictive of anxious-avoidant infant attachments), autonomous (supportive parents and a strong value placed on attachment; predictive …
Author Archives: Brian Hopkins
Adrenal glands
In mammals, they are two triangle-shaped endocrine glands, one each located on top of each kidney (see figure below). They consist of the adrenal cortex that secretes about 30 different steroid hormones (e.g., cortisol, oestrogen) and the adrenal medulla that secretes epinephrine. When the glands produce too many or too few hormones, disease conditions can …
Adrenal medulla
The innermost part of the adrenal gland derived from neural crest cells of the ectoderm that releases the catecholamine hormones epinephrine (adrenalin) and norardrenalin (norepinephrine) into the blood stream in response to stress and fear. See figure below for location of adrenal cortex and medulla in an adrenal gland situated on the top of the …
Adrenal cortex
The outermost layer of the adrenal gland derived from mesoderm situated on top of the kidneys that releases corticosteroid hormones into the blood stream in response to stress. Some cells in the adrenal cortex form part of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. See Adrenal medulla, Androgen, Autonomic nervous system (ANS), Corticosteroids, Cortisol, Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), Estrogen, Hormones, …
Adolescent growth spurt
The acceleration in the rate of growth in height that starts in late childhood and reaches a maximum (peak height velocity) during adolescence. Rate of growth in height decelerates after the peak and eventually ceases in late adolescence or young adulthood (see figure below). The growth spurt in girls is oestrogen induced, and begins coincidentally …
Adolescent voice change
Under the influence of androgens, the change in voice pitch that occurs in adolescent males is because of a growth spurt in the larynx. The growth of the larynx is more evident in boys, leading to a drop in the male voice of about one octave. The larger vocal folds of males are probably responsible …
Adolescent egocentrism
A self-centered view of the world involving a belief that all the world is looking at you (as if on stage with an imaginary audience), or the feeling of being very special and invulnerable. See Self-perception
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
A nucleotide molecule that is the supplier of energy for all cells. In animals, it is formed by the breakdown of glucose molecules, usually obtained from carbohydrate intakes in a series of reactions involving hydrolysis. ATPase activity in myosin is the driving force behind the contraction of muscles. Dephosphorylation results in a release of energy. …
Adhesion molecules
Involved in forming contacts between cells (focal contacts) and between them and the extracellular matrix. Several families of such molecules have been identified by Gerald M. Edelman and colleagues, among others. Cell-cell adhesion molecules (CAMS) can be either calcium dependent or independent, the former including cadherins, inter grins and selections, and which appear to be …
Adenine
One of four base molecules that form part of the base pairs of the nucleic acids of DNA, RNA and some nucleotides, as well as their derivatives. In DNA, it is always paired with the purine thymine and in RNA with the pyrimidine uracil. See DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), Methylation, Nucleic acid, Nucleotide, Purines, Pyrimidines, RNA …