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A-level AQA Psychology > biopsych > Flashcards

biopsych Flashcards

1
Q

What is the nervous system?

A

a specialised network of cells in the human body, our primary internal communication system

based on electrical signals

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2
Q

what are the 2 main functions of the NS?

A
  • to collect, process and respond to info in the environment
  • to co-ordinate the working of different organs in the cells and body
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3
Q

what are the subsystems that the NS is subdivided into?

A

CNS (central nervous
system)
PNS (peripheral nervous system)

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4
Q

what makes up the CNS?

A

brain and spinal chord

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5
Q

what is the role of the brain in the CNS?

A

the centre of all conscious awareness
cerebral cortex = 3mm thick (outer layer)
divided into 2 hemispheres

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6
Q

what is the role of the spinal chord in the CNS?

A

extension of the brain

passes messages to and from the brain and connects nerves to th PNS

responsible for reflex actions

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7
Q

what is the role of the PNS?

A

transmits messages via millions of neurones to and from the CNS

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8
Q

what is the PNS subdivided into?

A

autonomic NS
somatic NS

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9
Q

what is the function of the autonomic NS?

A

governs vital functions in the body (breathing, heart rate, digestion, stress responses)

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10
Q

what is the function of the somatic NS?

A

governs muscle movement and receives info from sensory receptors

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11
Q

what is the role of the endocrine system?

A

controls vital functions in the body, acts more slowly than NS (has powerful widespread effects)

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12
Q

what are the main endocrine glands in the human body and what hormones do they secrete?

A

hypothalamus

pituitary gland

thyroid -> thyroxine

adrenal -> adrenaline

ovaries -> oestrogen

testes -> testosterone

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13
Q

what is the role of the pituitary gland?

A

‘master gland’ = controls the release of hormones from the other endocrine glands in the body

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14
Q

what is the role of the thyroid gland?

A

produces hormone thyroxine which increases heart rate by affecting cells in the heart
increases metabolic rates

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15
Q

how does the endocrine system and the autonomic NS work together during the flight or fight response?

A
  1. stressor is perceived
  2. hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland
  3. this stimulates the adrenal gland to release hormone adrenaline from adrenal medulla
  4. triggers activity in the sympathetic branch of the ANS
  5. ANS changes from resting state of parasympathetic to sympathetic state
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16
Q

what are features of the sympathetic state?

A

increased heart and breathing rate
dilated pupils
inhibits digestion
inhibits saliva production
contracts rectum

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17
Q

what are features of the para sympathetic state?

A

decreased heart and breathing rate
constricted pupils
stimulates digestion
stimulates saliva production
relaxes rectum

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18
Q

what are the 3 types of neurones?

A

sensory
relay
motor

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19
Q

what are the features of a neurone?

A

cell body
dendrites
axon
myelin sheath
nodes of ranvier
terminal buttons

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20
Q

what is the role of the cell body?

A

includes nucleus and contains the genetic material of the cell

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21
Q

what is the role of the dendrites?

A

branch like structures that carry nerve impulses from neighbouring neurones to the cell body

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22
Q

what is the role of the axon?

A

carries impulses away from the cell body

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23
Q

what is the role of the myelin sheath?

A

fatty layer that covers the axon and protects it, speeding up electrical transmission

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24
Q

what is the role of the nodes of ranvier?

A

gaps in the myelin sheath that speed up electrical transmission by forcing it to jump across the gaps

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25
Q

what is the role of the terminal buttons?

A

at the end of the axon that communicates with the next neuron in the chain across the synapse

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26
Q

where are the motor neurones located?

A

cell body in CNS but long axon in PNS

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27
Q

where are the sensory neurones located?

A

in PNS in ganglia (clusters)

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28
Q

where are the relay neurones located?

A

found within brain and visual system

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29
Q

how is a neurone fired?

A
  • when activated by a stimulus, inside of cell (negative resting state) becomes positively charged for split second causing ACTION POTENTIAL
  • creates electrical impulse that travels from axon towards end of neurone
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30
Q

how are signals WITHIN neurones transmitted?

A

electrically

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31
Q

how are signals BETWEEN neurones transmitted?

A

chemically

32
Q

what are the features of a synapse?

A

presynaptic terminal
synaptic vesicle
synapse
neurotransmitters
postsynaptic receptor sites

33
Q

what is the process of synaptic transmission?

A
  1. when electrical impulse reaches presynaptic terminal, triggers the release of neurotransmitters from synaptic vesicles
  2. neurotransmitters diffuse across the synapse and is taken up by postsynaptic receptor site on dendrons of next neurone
  3. chemical message converted back into electric impulse and process begins again in this neurone
34
Q

how can the direction of travel for an impulse only be one way?

A

neurotransmitters are released from the presynaptic neurone terminal and received by the postsynaptic neurone

35
Q

how can a neurone have an inhibitory effect on a neighbouring neurone?

A

makes the neurone more negatively charged so it’s less likely to fire
e.g serotonin

36
Q

how can a neurone have an excitation effect on a neighbouring neurone?

A

increasing its positive charge and making it more likely to fire

37
Q

what is summation?

A

action potential of the post synaptic neurone is only triggered if the sum of the excitatory and inhibitory signals at any one time reaches the threshold

38
Q

what was the holistic theory of the brain?

A

all parts of the brain were involved in the processing of thought and action

39
Q

what is the localisation of function discovered by broca and wernicke?

A

different parts of the brain perform different tasks and are involved with different parts of the body

if a certain area of the brain becomes damaged, the function associated with it is also affected

40
Q

what is the main part of the brain?

A

the cerebrum

41
Q

how is the cerebrum divided?

A

left and right hemisphere

42
Q

what is lateralisation?

A

some of our physical and psychological functions are dominated/controlled by a particular hemisphere

43
Q

how is the brain contralateral?

A

LHS of the body is controlled by the R hemisphere, RHS of the body is controlled by the L hemisphere

44
Q

what are the 4 lobes of the brain?

A

frontal
parietal
temporal
occipital

45
Q

where is the motor cortex?

A

frontal lobe

46
Q

what is the role of the motor cortex?

A

controls voluntary movement on the opposite side of the body

damage = loss of control over fine movements

47
Q

where is the somatosensory cortex?

A

parietal lobe

48
Q

what is the role of the somatosensory cortex?

A

processes sensory information from the skin
(touch, heat, pressure)

49
Q

where is the auditory cortex?

A

temporal lobe

50
Q

what is the role of the auditory cortex?

A

analyses speech-based information

damage = produce partial hearing loss (more extensive the greater the loss)

51
Q

where is the visual cortex?

A

occipital lobe

52
Q

what is the role of the visual cortex?

A

each eye sends info from the R visual field to the L visual cortex and vice versa

damage = blindness in part of the right visual field of both eyes

53
Q

where is the Broca’s area (1880s) and what is it responsible for?

A

left frontal lobe

speech production

54
Q

damage to the broca’s area causes what?
what are its characteristics?

A

broca’s aphasia

speech = slow, laborious and lacking in fluency

55
Q

where is wernicke’s area and what is it responsible for?

A

left temporal lobe

speech comprehension

56
Q

damage to the wernicke’s area causes?

A

wernicke’s aphasia:

severe difficulty understanding language, speech produced = fluent but meaningless
produce nonsense words (neologisms) as part of their speech

57
Q

eval: how is it a strength that there is supporting evidence from neurosurgery?

A

DAMAGE TO AREAS OF THE BRAIN HAVE BEEN LINKED TO MENTAL DISORDERS

dougherty et al. (2002) reported on 44 ppl w OCD that had undergone cingulotomy (isolating cingulate gyrus in brain)

follow up after 32 weeks: 30% met criteria for successful response to surgery, 14% 4 partial response

success of procedures suggests behaviours associated w mental disorders may be LOCALISED

58
Q

how is it a strength that there is supporting evidence from brain scans?

A

SUPPORTS IDEA THAT MANY EVERYDAY BRAIN FUNCTIONS ARE LOCALISED

petersen et al. (1988) used brain scans to demonstrate wernicke’s area was active during LISTENING TASK and broca’s area was active during a READING TASK

tulving et al. (1944) long term study: semantic + episodic memories reside in diff parts of prefrontal cortex

objective methods for measuring brain activity have provided sound scientific evidence that MANY BRAIN FUNCTIONS LOCALISED

59
Q

what is the counterpoint to the strength of supporting evidence from brain scans?

A

lashley (1950): removed areas of the cortex (10-50%) in rats that were learning the route though a maze

no area was proven to be more important than any other area -> process of learning seemed to require every part of the cortex rather than being confined to a particular area

SUGGESTS THAT HIGHER COGNITIVE PROCESSES (e.g learning) ARE NOT LOCALISED BUT DISTRIBUTED IN A MORE HOLISTIC WAY IN THE BRAIN

60
Q

how is it a limitation that language may not be localised just to broca’s and wernicke’s areas?

A

dick and tremblay (2016) found 2% of modern researchers think that language in the brain = completely controlled Broca’s + wernicke’s areas

by advances in brain imaging techniques e.g fMRI means brain can be studied in more clarity -> seems language function is distributed far more holistically in the brain

language streams have been identified across the cortex

SUGGESTS LANGUAGE MAY BE ORGANISED MORE HOLISTICALLY (contradicts localisation theory)

61
Q

what does brain plasticity mean?

A

describes the brain’s tendency to change and adapt as a result of experience and new learning
generally involves the growth of new connections

62
Q

During infancy what happens to the brain and the number of synaptic connections?

A

brain experiences a rapid growth in the number of synaptic connections (gopnik et al. 1999)

63
Q

what is synaptic pruning?

A

as we age, rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened

this enables life long plasticity

64
Q

what was the research into plasticity done by maguire et al 2000 on the brains of London taxi drivers?

what was found the longer the taxi drivers had been in the job?

A

as part of training taxi drivers had to recall city streets and routes for “The knowledge” test

found significantly more volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus than in a matched control group

b) the more pronounced was the structural difference (positive correlation)

65
Q

what is the posterior hippocampus associated with?

A

the development of spatial and navigational skills on humans and other animals

66
Q

what is functional recovery?

A

a form of plasticity following damage through trauma -> brains ability to redistribute/transfer functions usually performed by a damaged area to other undamaged areas

67
Q

what happens after brain trauma in terms of functional recovery?

A

after physical injury, healthy brain areas may take over the function of those areas that are damaged

process can occur quickly (spontaneous recovery) and then slow down after several weeks

68
Q

what happens in the brain during recovery?

A

brain is able to rewire and reorganise itself by forming new synaptic connections close to areas of damage

second neural pathways that would not typically be used to carry out certain functions are activated to enable functioning to continue

69
Q

what is axonal sprouting? (supports brain during recovery)

A

the growth of new nerve endings which connects with other undamaged nerve cells to form new neuronal pathways

70
Q

what is denervation super sensitivity? (supports brain during recovery)

A

occurs when axons that do a similar job becomes aroused to a higher level to compensate for the ones that are lost

(can have the consequence of over sensitivity to messages such as pain)

71
Q

what is denervation super sensitivity? (supports brain during recovery)

A

occurs when axons that do a similar job becomes aroused to a higher level to compensate for the ones that are lost

(can have the consequence of over sensitivity to messages such as pain)

72
Q

what is recruitment of homologous areas on the opposite side of the brain? (supports brain during recovery)

A

specific tasks can still be performed
e.g if Broca’s area was damaged on the left side of brain, the right sided equivalent would carry out its functions

after a period of time, functionality may then shift back to the left side

73
Q

what was the similar finding found by draganski et al. 2006 (66 FLASHCARD)

A

images brains of medical students 3 months before and after final exam:

learning-induced changes were seen to have occurred in the posterior hippocampus and the parietal cortex presumably as a result of learning

74
Q

how is it a limitation of plasticity that it may have negative behavioural consequences?

A

Evidence has shown that the brains adaptation to poorer drug use leads to poorer cognitive functioning in later life
+ increased risk of dementia (medina et al 2007)

60-80% amputees develop phantom limb syndrome (continued experience of sensations in missing limbs) due to cortical reorganisation in the somatosensory cortex

SUGGESTS BRAIN’S ABILITY TO ADAPT TO DAMAGE IS NOT ALWAYS BENEFICIAL

75
Q

how is it a strength of plasticity that it does not always decline sharply with age?

A

P reduces w age but Bezzola et al. 2012 demonstrated how 40hrs of golf training produced changes in the neural representations of movement in participants aged 40-60

researchers observed increased motor cortex activity in the novice golfers compared to control group

SHOWS NEURAL PLASTICITY CAN CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE LIFESPAN

76
Q

how is it a strength or functional recovery that there is real world application?

A

understanding processes involved in plasticity has contributed to field of neurorehabilitation: understanding axonal growth encourages new therapies to be tried

e.g constraint induced movement therapy used w stroke patients where they repeatedly practice w affected part of body

SHOWS THAT RESEARCH INTO FUNCTIONAL RECOVERY IS USEFUL AS IT HELPS MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS KNOW WHEN INTERVENTIONS NEED TO BE MADE

77
Q

how is it a limitation of functional recovery that the level of education may influence recovery rates?

A

schneider et al. 2014 revealed more time ppl w a brain injury had spent in education = greater their chance of a disability free recovery

40% w DFR had more than 16 years education compared to 10% who has less than 12 years education

IMPLIES PPL W BRAIN DAMAGE WHO HAS INSUFFICIENT DFR ARE LESS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE A FULL RECOVERY

A-level AQA Psychology (9 decks)

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