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Biological Psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is dopamine?

A

The rewarding system - linked to heroin

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2
Q

What is involved with a PET scan?

A

Radioactive tracer - injected in blood stream - circulated to the brain and picks up areas of brain with high activity and areas of low activity (where there is more glucose)

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3
Q

What is involved with a CAT scan?

A

Uses a computer that takes data from several x Ray images and converts them into images on a monitor. It takes virtual slices / cross section of brain and works out the volume and size of brain damage

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4
Q

What is involved with an fMRI scan?

A

Uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the brain. It shows where blood is flowing to and is an indirect measure of how active the brain is.

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5
Q

What are general strengths of modern scanning methods

A

all provide detailed images of the brain without the use of surgery

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6
Q

What are general limitations of modern scanning methods?

A

All expensive because it is advanced equipment and requires advanced staff

Decisions to distinguish brain activity with different colours

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7
Q

How can the central nervous system be broken down? (The sections)

A

CNS - brain
- spinal chord

Neurones - cell body

             - dendrites
             - axon
             - axon terminals with terminal buttons -              Neurotransmitters
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8
Q

What are the 4 main sections of the brain that we study?

A

The frontal lobe
The temporal lobe
Occipital lobe
Parietal lobe

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9
Q

What is the role of the frontal lobe?

A

Involved in thinking reasoning and personality

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10
Q

What is the role of the temporal lobe

A

Processes auditory information including speech, also responsible for semantic memory

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11
Q

What is the role of the parietal lobe?

A

Receives information from various senses and sends messages to the muscles

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12
Q

What is the role of the occipital lobe?

A

Receives and processes information from the eyes

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13
Q

What is the corpus callosum

A

Links the two cerebral hemispheres

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14
Q

What is the prefrontal cortex

A

It is part of the frontal lobe, involved in thinking in memory

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15
Q

What is the role of the amygdala

A

Involved in emotions, emotional behaviour and motivation. Non-human research - fight or flight

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16
Q

What is the role of hippocampus

A

It is involved and responsible for learning, emotion and long term memory

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17
Q

What is the role of the thalamus

A

Sensory perception and consciousness

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18
Q

What is the role of the posterior cingulate cortex

A

It is involved in pain perception and episodic memory

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19
Q

What is the difference between cortical and sub cortical

A

Cortical means outside (outside the brain) where is subcortical means inside the brain

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20
Q

What is the pituitary gland

A

Responsible for hormone control

21
Q

What are the physical and biological impacts of heroin

A

The body is flooded with opioids which causes dopamine levels to increase, ( 10 x the naturally produced amount ) decreasing the bodies perspective of pain and elevating mood. The huge mass of dopamine triggers sensations of pain relief and euphoria, however when the effect wears off, the natural occurring levels of dopamine is much lower meaning they feel even worse.

22
Q

What are the effects of long term use of heroin on the brain?

A

It affects the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobe of the brain and therefore it affects their long term memory, decision making, complex thoughts and the ability to control their own social behaviour

23
Q

What is a monozygotic twin?

A

Where the twins originate from the same egg (identical)

24
Q

What are dizygotic twins?

A

Two separate eggs (unidentical)

25
Q

Who partook the twin study into schizophrenia?

A

Gottesman and shield

26
Q

How did gottesman and shield know that schizophrenia was inherited due to nature?

A

Because 42% of monozygotic co-twins had schizophrenia as well as their twin proving that it could not of been by chance because the percentage is so high

27
Q

What was the concordance rates for dizygotic twins?

A

9%

28
Q

Why does this show that schizophrenia is passed down through genes

A

Because even though 9% seems a less percentage than 42% for monozygotic twins, because dizygotic twins are two different eggs, there is 50% concordance, meaning the genes are shared 50% each. And therefore proving that there is a genetic element in both sets of twins.

29
Q

What is schizophrenia

A

a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behaviour, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.

30
Q

Is schizophrenia caused by nurture as welL?

A

Yes, it will of had an impact as the twins will have been raised together and therefore shared a similar upbringing.

31
Q

What was Dabb’s study?

A

To see whether testosterone levels affected the rates of violent crimes

32
Q

What are the 4 biological explanations of aggression?

A

Genes
Evolution
Testosterone
Brain structure

33
Q

What was Dabb’s one tailed hypothesis?

A

The higher the testosterone levels, the greater chance of committing a violent crime

34
Q

What were Dabb’s findings and what did he conclude?

A

Dabb’s found that his hypothesis was correct, and the prisoners who had a high level of testosterone had committed the violent crime, yet the prisoners with low testosterone levels didn’t, proving that testosterone levels do impact aggression

35
Q

Give 3 strengths and 2 weaknesses of Dabb’s research

A

Strengths - ethical

             - concurrent validity ( he collected his results in 2 ways, by the crime they committed, and a self report) 
             - other researchers can adapt

Weaknesses - specific to prisoners only
- does not acknowledge education and upbringing

36
Q

What was the hypothesis of Edward’s study into testosterone

A

Testosterone increases aggression in female non-humans

37
Q

What did Edward conclude from his study

A

That his hypothesis was correct and females aggressiveness is affected by the levels of testosterone

38
Q

Give 2 strengths and 3 weaknesses of Edward’s study

A

Strengths - clear comparison of aggression with and without high levels of testosterone
- good internal validity

Weaknesses - unethical

                  - does not show a comparison to         males
                  - cannot be generalised to humans
39
Q

Why is it difficult to distinguish and disentangle the roles of nature and nurture?

A

If genes determine the qualities and characteristics then monozygotic twins should have identical qualities. However, dizygotic twins would have different qualities because their genes are shared 50%. Possible inherited characteristics could be intelligence and behavioural factors such as sociability and aggression. Yet, as they will share similar upbringings and experiences, nurture will also have an influence, meaning we can’t tell what is due to what.

40
Q

What 2 studies could / have been used to try and distinguish whether characteristics have come from nature of nurture?

A

The twin study and the adoption study.

41
Q

What is the twin study?

A

Splitting the twins up at birth and see whether they still share characteristics when they are older and to see what has influenced more, nature or nurture

42
Q

What are the issues with the twin study?

A

Lots of ethical and practical problems. The twins would not give consent and they would have no right to withdraw. Practical problems included the fact that it is unlikely for both the parents to die, or for the parents to separate and not want contact with their children. Also the children’s removal at birth and to be adopted separately is highly unlikely to happen.

43
Q

How could an adoption study be used to measure the influence of nature and nurture ?

A

By measuring the characteristics of 2 children, as well as their biological family, adoptive family A and adoptive family B, and see whether the children’s characteristics comes from the biological family or the adoptive family.

44
Q

What evidence is there to prove that brain stricture is an biological explanation of aggression ?

A

Phineas Gage - damage to his prefrontal lobe and immediately became more aggressive

Raine’s study - found that the amygdala and many other areas prove to associate with aggression

45
Q

What is the prefrontal lobe responsible for?

A

Deep cognitive processing

46
Q

What 2 parts are in the central nervous system

A

Brain and spine

47
Q

What comes from both the brain and the spine

A

Neurones

48
Q

What comes from neurones?

A 
Cell body
Dendrites 
Axon
Axon terminals with terminal buttons
Neurotransmitters

Psychology (13 decks)

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