Biopsychology Flashcards
What does the central nervous system include?
The brain and the spinal cord
What does the peripheral nervous system divide into?
Autonomic (involuntary and vital bodily functions) and the somatic (receives sensory information from receptors)
What does the autonomic divide into?
Sympathetic (fight or flight response) and parasympathetic (rest and digest)
What is the function of the endocrine system?
Hormones are secreted into the blood steam from glands and are transported to target cells and organs.
What identifies a motor neuron?
1 long axon covered in myelin sheath and nodes of Ranvier. Found in the CNS and control muscle movements.
What identifies a sensory neuron?
Sensory neurons are found in receptors such as the eyes, ears, tongue and skin, and carry nerve impulses to the CNS. When these nerve impulses reach the brain, they are translated into sensations. Also have the cell body in the middle pf the axon.
What identifies a relay neuron?
Only found in the CNS, no myelin sheath, allow sensory and motor neurons to communicate.
Summarise localisation of function in 1 sentence:
Certain areas of the brain have specific functions e.g. Broca’s area is responsible for speech production
Areas of the brain:
Motor = in the frontal lobe and regulates voluntary movements
Auditory = in the temporal lobe and is responsible for speech comprehension and production
Visual = in the occipital lobe and is responsible for processing visual information
Somatosensory = in the parietal lobe and processes sensory information
How does Petersen support LoF?
Found that Wernicke’s area is active during listening tasks and Broca’s area is active during reading (subvocal repetition). Confirms that language is localised.
How does Phineas Gage support LoF?
Damaged his frontal lobe and experienced drastic behavioural changes, showing that mood regulation is localised to the frontal lobe.
How does Lashley’s rat study challenge LoF?
When up to 50% of the rat’s cortex was removed, they could still navigate the maze, showing that more complex processes such as learning many not be localised to one specific area. If rats (less complex) are relatively unaffected, surely more complex humans would not have learning localised.
Outline plasticity in 1 sentence:
The brain’s ability to adapt and recover in response to trauma.
How does Maguire’s study of taxi drivers support plasticity?
Found the longer they had been taxi driver’s the more grey matter there was and they had better spatial/navigational skills.
Shows that plasticity is possible during adulthood.
How does Draganski support plasticity?
Medical students’ brain scans showed neurological changes in the posterior hippocampus after learning. Supports plasticity as learning leads to neural regeneration.
