biological psychology Flashcards
Name the lobes in the brain?
Occipital Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Frontal Lobe, Temporal Lobe.
which types of connections are carried by neurons over the corpus callosum
homotopic, heterotopic
what is the purpose of the Wada test?
to give the researcher a picture of the patients level of hemispheric specialisation of language and memory function.
how is the Wada test carried out?
one hemisphere is introduced to sodium amytal and is put to sleep. The researcher then tries to establish which aspects of speech, language and control are intact in the absence of the anaesthetised hemisphere. They can also show a set of cards of pictures and words to recognise and remember. After the anaesthetic wears off, the doctor can test for the patient’s level of recall and recognition memory.
how/why/when is callostomy done
it is a drastic procedure of splitting the corpus callosum. this is done to severe epileptic patients
how does the hemifield experiment exploit the visual pathway. and what are the results?
it shows a picture on either side of a screen for a second in order for only one of the visual hemispheres to see it. LEFT hemisphere produces a verbal report, the RIGHT hemisphere doesn’t. RIGHT hemisphere has perceived and processed the stimulus: It can direct the left hand to draw or pick up the stimulus object
what does the block test show.
the left hand is able to do the task. which means the right hemisphere is specialised to carry out the spatial information-processing tasks
what smiling defficiency results from Parkinson’s disease
Masked face appearance
what happens to smiling if there is damage to the RH
the patient can smile spontaneously as the Basal Ganglia pathway is intact. however when asked to smile (voluntary smiling) his right side smiles but the left side does not. the RH commands the left side to smile but it cannot send the command to the LH to smile so the right side does not smile.
how do we know that LH and RH differ in big picture vs detail processing?
from split brain patients suggests that global analysis is more efficiently conducted by the RH, and local analysis is more efficient in the LH
how does human LH contribute to decision-making under uncertainty? How does its function differ from RH?
when presented with a sequence of circles and squares that appear seemingly random. The LH will focus on the matching approach. Whereas the RH will focus on the maximising approach.
what is the matching approach
The participants try to work out how often they get each shape, and guess that shape just that often. This is reasonable, but has the potential for high error rates because the series is random.
what is the maximising approach
Maximising strategy: The participants work out that circles are occurring rather more frequently than diamonds, and then guess circle all the time. This seems lazy or dumb, but it assures an 80% hit rate once one gets going with it.
how and why does LH contribute to memory errors?
in a memory task with OLD vs NEW judgements, the RH outperforms the LH because the LH engages in categorising OLD stimuli and mistakenly accepts NEW items as OLD when there are similarities between them.
what is a CT scan
Computerised Tomography
how does computerised tomography work
an x-ray beam is shot through the head and different types of tissue in the head absorbs a different amount of radiation. denser areas appear lighter.
what is an MRI scan
Magnetic resonance imaging
how does magnetic resonance imaging work
tissues differ in magnetic properties.
what is a PET scan
positron emission tomography
how does positron emission tomography work
track blood flow using radioactive tracers
what is fMRI
functional magnetic resonance imaging
what is functional magnetic resonance imaging
brain regions that are active require oxygenated blood. oxygenated blood outputs a different signal to deoxygenated blood.
which tissue distinction isnt good in CT scans
grey and white matter
what is the role of the anterior hypothalamus in sleep
promotes sleep
what is the role of the posterior hypothalamus
promotes wakefullness
what is the role of melatonin in sleep
promotes sleep
what are the stages of sleep
REM, emergent stage 1, NREM, initial stage 1, stage 2, stage 3
what are characteristics of REM sleep
increase in oxygen consumption, blood flow, neural firing, pons activity and the limbic system. decrease in visual system, motor cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
what are role of lipids in the body
source of energy and reserves, protect essential organs, thermal insulation and vitamin carrier and hunger suppressor
what is the role of grehlin in hunger
it is released by the stomach during food deprivation. damage to this area causes over eating
what is the role of leptin in hunger
suppresses appetite and monitors the bodies fat supply
what is the effect of physical activity on obesity
reduced visceral fat and increase in HDL and decrease in LDL
what is the effect of physical activity on diabetes
increases insulin sensitivity and reduces blood sugar
what is the effect of physical activity on joint health
increases bone mineral density and improved balance, muscle strength and coordination
what is the effect of physical activity on cardiovascular disease
lowers blood pressure, reduced atherogenisis and strengthens heart
