biology of the mind

Question 1

Why are psychologists concerned with human biology?

Answer 1

because we are embodied creatures and to be able to understand the mind you must understand the body as a whole. physical things affect our minds and vice versa.

Question 2

what does “our brain is wired by experience” mean and an example

Answer 2

it’s the idea that the more neurons are used the more connected they become. an example could be the jungle one. the more you cut through the path the easier it will be each time you take that path. once you clear it well, you won’t want to take another path, because the one made is the simplest route.

Question 3

what does “Neurons that fire together wire together” mean and an example

Answer 3

the more your neurons talk the more direct and quick the communication will be. an example is the idea of pruning when you learn to ride a bike you need to remember al the things to do it well, but the more you do it the less you need to remember the steps, your neurons are communicating effectively because they have become wired together.

Question 4

what does “Our brain is a social organ” mean and an example

Answer 4

the brain is highly influenced by social interactions. example if we never know how to speak if we were not talked to. we also have mirror neurons, which like to mmic the intentional things other people are doing.

Question 5

What is the nervous system?

Answer 5

communication for your body through neurons, consists of the central and peripheral nervous system

Question 6

How does experience shape the brain?

Answer 6

the brain is like a muscle, so the areas of your brain you use more, are stronger. reoccurring patterns alter the architecture of the brain.

Question 7

What is a neuron? What is the function of a neuron?

Answer 7

the neuron is the basic building block of the nervous system. it is a tiny information processing center that communicates from one to another sending signals where they need to go.

Question 8

What is the structure of a neuron? What is the purpose of each structure within a neuron?

Answer 8

dendrites: detects chemical signal; sent to the cell body
cell body (stoma): integrates information given
axon: transmits impulses through the neuron
myelin sheath: insulates the axon, helping info to move quicker
terminal branches: sends out info to the synapse, which is the space between two neurons

Question 9

What are the types of neurons?

Answer 9

sensory, motor and interneurons

Question 10

How does a neuron fire?

Answer 10

dendrite to cell body/soma to axon to terminal button, the signal goes through synapse before reaching next neuron

Question 11

What are neurotransmitters?

Answer 11

connect neurons together as well as has receptors for different chemicals

Question 12

What are the roles of dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin & endorphins? Why may some people have too few of these neurons?

Answer 12

dopamine: reward and pleasure, motivation
norepinephrine: alertness, arousal, memory
serotonin: mood, sleep, appetite, arousal
endorphins: pain and pleasure
those that had a bad childhood or numerous ACEs have fewer receptors, making it harder to feel the effects of the hormones.

Question 13

What is reuptake?

Answer 13

The reabsorption of a secreted substance by the cell that originally produced and secreted it

Question 14

How does exercise affect neurotransmitters? Be specific

Answer 14

Exercise increases levels of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine in the brain, just like medications can. Exercise improves and helps regulate neurotransmitter levels, which ultimately helps us feel mentally healthy.

Question 15

How do psychotropic drugs affect neurotransmitters?

Answer 15

it gives the neurotransmitters a boost of the hormone they need, increasing the neurotransmitter activity

Question 16

What does it mean to be an agonist, and what is an example? What does it mean to be an antagonist, and what is an example?

Answer 16

agonist: increased neurotransmitter action. example: some drugs like opiates bind to receptors and mimic effects giving a “high”
antagonist: decreased neurotransmitter action. example: botulin blocks ACh release, causing paralysis

Question 17

What are ACE’s and how do they relate to addiction?

Answer 17

ACEs are Adverse Childhood Experiences and the more a child has the likelihood of addiction raises.

Question 18

How is the brain related to addiction?

Answer 18

the brain likes things that are pleasurable. substances are not only pleasurable but they relive the heavy feeling of life. because of those things people use them and over time the body will stop making its own hormones and just rely on the substances to function.

Question 19

How does mental health relate to addiction?

Answer 19

people are beginning to understand that addiction has a lot to do with the pain someone is experiencing, its the idea of not “why the addiction, but why the pain. “ poor mental health plays a huge role in why people get into addictive substances.

Question 20

How do you organize the nervous system?

Answer 20

central and peripheral. then central is organized mainly by the different areas in the brain.

Question 21

What is the Central Nervous System vs Peripheral Nervous System?

Answer 21

central is the brain and spinal cord, whereas the peripheral is the nerves that go off the spine and to the tip of our extremities.

Question 22

What is the autonomic nervous system, and what role does it play, give examples.

Answer 22

autonomic is responsible for the body’s “fight or flight” and “rest and digest” for example helps decide if you need to increase your heart rate in giving more oxygen to muscles or if your heart rate can be slower and work on digesting your lunch.

Question 23

What is the parasympathetic vs sympathetic nervous system and give examples?

Answer 23

sympathetic is your fight or flight. it prepares your body for being in a state of trauma, by increasing heart rate and breathing, slowing digestion, and temporarily not using cognitive thinking.
parasympathetic is your rest and digestion. it allows your system to slow down and be able to think well, feel calm, and have reduced stress.

Question 24

What is the role of trauma on the autonomic nervous system?

Answer 24

during a trauma, the body activates the sympathetic nervous system which your autonomic system is in charge of.

Question 25

How do we study the brain & behavior?

Answer 25

MRIs, especially functional MRIs (fMRI) this technology gives the ability to see the brain in action. its like moving pictures of the brain while doing something lime reading a book or doing math.

Question 26

identify the hand-brain analogy.

Answer 26

forearm: spinal cord
wrist: base of the skull
lower palm: brainstem
thumb: limbic regions (hippocampus and amygdala
knuckles: cerebral neocortex
tip of fingers: middle prefrontal cortex

Question 27

What are case studies that inform our understanding of the brain? Review examples
given in class

Answer 27

case 1: Phineas gage-had a rod go through his frontal lobe, changed his personality and created anger problems. showed frontal lobe deals a lot with personality
case 2: a woman with Parkinson’s said she wasn’t depressed, but when certain areas of her brain were stimulated she said she was depressed, this study showed that “psychological is biological”

Question 28

What was phrenology attempting to explain?

Answer 28

feeling the bumps and dent in someone head and interpreting it on what it is saying about the brain

Question 29

What is the overall purpose of the brain stem?

Answer 29

controls function like our heart rate and beating, controlling facial expressions, as well as filtering the things we receive, and then sending info we need to be alerted about

Question 30

What is the function of the thalamus?

Answer 30

gets the message on the senses, minus smell, and then sends the info to the proper regions on the brain

Question 31

What is the overall purpose of the limbic system?

Answer 31

borders brain stem and cortex, it is our social que reading system, deals with things of biological and internal importance.

Question 32

What is the specific function of the hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus and pituitary gland

Answer 32

hippocampus: helps us process memory and make new ones, associated with things like phobias and self-image, always working on making new connections, and works with emotions.
amygdala: our panic button, always active looking for stress and dangers, assigns in the intensity of events, emotion, and motivation
hypothalamus: master control center, alerts for things like hunger, regulates our internal state, talks to the pituitary gland
pituitary gland: monitors and regulates many bodily functions through the hormones that it produces. tells your adrenal gland to produce cortisol, cortisol is a stress hormone, which is used when the sympathetic system is activated

Question 33

What is the overall purpose cerebral cortex? What are the basic functions of the 4 lobes?

Answer 33

cortex is our higher level thinking, it is the thing we are conscious of, information processing center
frontal: executive function and attachment (touch, endorphins, and oxytocin)
parietal: sensory integration
occipital: vision
temporal: recognizes faces and verbal things (auditory processing)

Question 34

describe the corporate company building analogy and the brain.

Answer 34

the cortex is the CEO. when we have problems we like to get it up to the CEO, but when in t estate of an emergency we need to make decisions fast, so there is no time to bring in the CEO, so the brain “flips its lid” so we can survive.

Question 35

How are the hemispheres specialized? How do they communicate? What happens if the corpus callosum is severed?

Answer 35

specialized by the left and right hemispheres. left is logical and linear, see things on a timeline. right is nonlinear, spontaneous emotion, contextual-mindsight (mentalizes interactions)
hemispheres are separated by the corpus callosum, if served the two hemispheres can no longer communicate, but the brain adapts and learns to do functions without communication.

Question 36

What does an integrated brain mean?

Answer 36

although the areas of the brain all have different functions they are still supper connected and need each other to create a well-functioning mind

Question 37

Who is Phineas Gage? What does he tell us about the frontal lobe? How does he show the relationship between the brain and mental functions and
behaviors?

Answer 37

a railroad foreman who ended up with a rod through his frontal lobe
the frontal lobe has a lot to do with personality and self-control. after the rod, gage’s personality changed and he became angry and aggressive
his experience showed that although the areas of the brain have specific functions if one area is damaged the rest of the brain is able to adapt and function without it.

Question 38

How does the brain respond to damage? What is brain plasticity and neurogenesis?

Answer 38

it develops ways to continue to function without the broken part. such as learning to work even if the corpus callosum is severed.
brain plasticity: the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. It is when the brain is rewired to function in some way that differs from how it previously functioned.
neurogenesis: the process by which new neurons are formed in the brain.

Question 39

What is hemispheric specialization?

Answer 39

that although you need both hemispheres in day-to-day life, they both do preform different functions and develop in different times in child development

Question 40

How do we change the brain to influence mental health?

Answer 40

things such as cognitive therapy help rewire the way we think about things. we can also change the reaction of the neurotransmitters though certain medicines that help produce needed chemicals.