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(edexcel) psychology a level > 3.1 content (biological) > Flashcards

3.1 content (biological) Flashcards

1
Q

what are genes?

A

instructions on how to make proteins

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2
Q

what are hormones?

A
  • chemical messengers that travel in the blood
  • it is slow
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3
Q

what are neurotransmitters?

A
  • chemical messengers that act in the synapse
  • very fast
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4
Q

what is the definition of aggression?

A
  • behaviour that is intended to cause injury, both physical and psychological
  • way to assert or maintain dominance
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5
Q

what is the frontal lobe responsible for?

A

higher order reasoning, decision making and impulse control

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6
Q

what is the parietal lobe responsible for?

A

sensation and movement

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7
Q

what is the temporal lobe responsible for?

A

emotion and memory processing

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8
Q

what is the occipital lobe responsible for?

A

vision

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9
Q

what is the limbic system?

A
  • contains amygdala which regulates emotional responses
  • role in memory and learning
  • connects cortical and subcortical regions of the brain
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10
Q

what does the hypothalamus do?

A
  • hunger, thirst and sex motivational drives
  • role in body’s fight or flight stress response
  • maintains functions in the endocrine system by secreting hormones and manipulating pituitary gland
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11
Q

what does the spinal cord do?

A
  • long, tubelike structure that starts at the end of brain stem and finishes at the bottom of the spine
  • consists of nerves that carry messages between the brain and rest of body
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12
Q

what is the function of cell body in a neuron?

A

contains nucleus which contains the genetic material of the cell

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13
Q

what is the function of dendrites?

A
  • receives neurotransmitters from neighbouring neurons towards the cell body
  • it has receptors which bind to specific neurotransmitters
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14
Q

what is the function of the axon?

A
  • tube like structure that carries an electrical impulse in the cell body
  • impulse generated in the axon hillock
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15
Q

what is the function of the myelin sheath?

A

insulate the axon and make impulses travel faster

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16
Q

what is the function of terminal buttons?

A
  • ends of the axon
  • involved in communicating with neighbouring neurones by releasing neurotransmitters into the synapse
17
Q

what’s the function of a neurone vesicle?

A

neurotransmitters are stored here

18
Q

what are the steps of neurotransmitters travelling through neurons?

A
  1. dendrites have receptors which receive neurotransmitters, they are attached to the cell body
  2. electrical impulse travels down the axon, it is generated at the axon hillock
  3. axon is covered in myelin sheath which speeds up impulses
  4. it travels down the terminal button. terminal button has vesicles filled with neurotransmitters
  5. neurotransmitters diffuse down the synapse
19
Q

what is the function of a sensory neuron?

A

carries sensory information from the body to the brain

20
Q

what is the function of the motor neuron?

A

carries signal from the brain that makes muscles in the body move

21
Q

what is the relay neuron?

A

connects to motor and sensory neurons

22
Q

what is excitation?

A

signals from neighbouring neurones that make the neuron’s charge more positive

23
Q

what is inhibition?

A

signals sent from neighbouring neurones that make the neurons charge more negative

24
Q

what is cancellation?

A

excitatory and inhibitory signals from neighbouring neurones cancel each other out

25
Q

what is spatial summation?

A

many neighbouring neurones send excitatory signals to the neurone

26
Q

what is temporal summation?

A

one neighbouring neurone send many excitatory signals to the neurone

27
Q

how does cocaine work?

A
  • affects the dopamine reward system in the brain
  • mimics the structure of dopamine molecules and blocks receptors at the terminal buttons leading to dopamine molecules staying in the synapse
  • leads to a large build up of dopamine binding to the postsynaptic neurone
  • person feels pleasure but it leads to body’s dopamine system being deregulated leading to weight loss and dry mouth
28
Q

how does heroin work?

A
  • affects endorphins and natural painkillers in the brain
  • mimics structure of endorphin molecules in the neurons, leading to many mu receptors being activated
  • this produces excess levels of endorphins leading to pleasure experienced by the person
  • leads to pain after being high as body lowers the endorphin levels to compensate
29
Q

what’s the function of the amygdala?

A
  • part of the brain that processes emotion regulation and motivation
  • plays a central role in how an organism assesses and responds to threats and challenges
  • coccaro found that people who have extreme aggression show much higher levels of amygdala activity
30
Q

how does the frontal lobe (prefrontal cortex) link to aggression?

A
  • governs most social interactions and regulates behaviour
  • ability to control impulses is associated with it
  • raine found that murderers had higher levels of activation in their amygdala but lower in the prefrontal cortex
31
Q

how is the hypothalamus linked to aggression?

A
  • produces the fight or flight response and activates the sympathetic nervous system + adrenal-cortical system
  • sympathetic nervous system speeds the body up and it becomes alert
  • adrenal-cortical system leads to adrenaline being released which increases heart rate
32
Q

what is serotonin and how is it linked to aggression?

A
  • inhibitory neurotransmitter
  • normal levels of serotonin are associated with reasonable levels of self control
  • low levels of serotonin are related to lower levels of control and more violent impulses such as aggression
33
Q

what is dopamine and how is it linked to aggression?

A
  • neurotransmitter that gives experiences of reward
  • increased level of dopamine overall increased aggression but when combined with a lower level of serotonin the aggressiveness increases even more
34
Q

what is localisation of function?

A

specific areas of the brain are involved in specific tasks, such as amygdala being responsible for threat perception

(edexcel) psychology a level (13 decks)

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