BIOPSYCHOLOGY

Question 1

What is the nervous system?

Answer 1

Consists of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system

Question 2

What is the central nervous system (CNS)

Answer 2

Consists of the brain and the spinal cord and is the origin of all complex commands and decisions

Question 3

What is the peripheral nervous system (PMS)?

Answer 3

Sends information to the CNS from the outside world, and transmits messages from the CNS to muscles and glands in the body

Question 4

What is the somatic nervous syetm?

Answer 4

Transmits information from receptor cells in the sense organs to the CNS. It also receives information from the CNS that directs muscles to act

Question 5

What is the autonomic nervous system?

Answer 5

Transmits information to and rom internal bodily organs. It is “autonomic” as the system operates involuntarily (it is automatic). It has two main divisions: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system

Question 6

What is the endocrine system?

Answer 6

One of the body’s major information systems that instructs glands to release hormones directly into the bloodstream. These hormones are carried towards target organs in the body

Question 7

Define Gland

Answer 7

An organ in the body that synthesises substances such as hromones

Question 8

Define hormones

Answer 8

Chemical substances that circulate in the bloodstream and only affect target organs. They are produced in large quantities but disappear quickly. Their effects are very powerful.

Question 9

What is the fight or flight responses?

Answer 9

The way an animal response when stressed. The body becomes psychologically aroused in readiness t fight an aggressor or, in some cases, flee.

Question 10

Define Adrenaline

Answer 10

A hormone produced y the adrenal glands which is part of the human body’s immediate stress response system. Adrenaline has a strong effect on the cells of the cardiovascular system - stimulation of the heart rate, contracting blood vessels and dilating air passags

Question 11

Define neuron

Answer 11

The basic building blocks of the nervous system, neurons are nerve cells that process and transmit messages through electrical and chemical signals

Question 12

Define sensory neurons

Answer 12

These carry messages from the PNS to the CNS. They have long dendrites and short axons

Question 13

Define Relay neurons

Answer 13

These connect the sensory neurons to the motor or other relay neurons, they have short dendrites and short axons

Question 14

Define Motor neurons

Answer 14

These connect the CNS to effectors such as muscles and glands. They have short dendrites and long axons

Question 15

Define synaptic transmission

Answer 15

The process by which neighbouring neurons communicate with each other by sending chemical messages across the gay (the synapse) that separates them,

Question 16

Define neurotransmitter

Answer 16

Brain chemicals released from syaptic vesicles that relay signals acorss the synapse from one neuron to another. Neurotransmitters can be broadly divided into those that perfrom an excitatory function and those that perform an inhibitory function

Question 17

Define Excitation

Answer 17

When a neurotransmitter, such as adrenaline, increases the psitve charge of the postsynaptic neuron. This increases the liklihood that the neuron will fire and pass on the elecirtcal impulse

Question 18

Define Inhibition

Answer 18

When a neurotransmitter, such as serotonin, increases the negative chanrge of the postsynaptic neuron. This decreases the liklihood that the nreruon will fire ans pass on the elctrical impulse

Question 19

Define localisation of function

Answer 19

The theory that different areas of the rain are responsible for different behaviours, processes or activities

Question 20

Define motor area

Answer 20

A region of the frontal lobe involved in regulating movement

Question 21

Deifne somatosensory area

Answer 21

A area f the parietal lobe that processes sensory information such as touch

Question 22

Define visual area

Answer 22

A part of the occipital lobe that receieves and processes vsiual information

Question 23

Define Broca’s area

Answer 23

An area of the frontal lobe of the brain in the left hemisphere (in most people) resposnibel for speech production

Question 24

Define Wernicke’s area

Answer 24

An area of the temproal lobe (encircling the auditory cortex) in the left hemisphere (in most people) responsible for language comprehension

Question 25

Define Plasticity

Answer 25

Also referred to as neuroplasticity or cortical remapping. This describes the brain’s tendency to change and adapt (functionally and physically) as a result of experience and new learning

Question 26

Define Fucntional recovery

Answer 26

A form of platicity. Following damage through trauma, the brain’s ability to redistribute or transfer functions usually perfroemd by a damaged area(s) to other, undamaged area(s)

Question 27

Define Hemisphere laterilisation

Answer 27

The idea that the two halves (hemispheres) of the brain are functionally different ns tht certain processes and behaviours are mainly controlled by one hemisphere rather than the other, as in the exaple of langueage (which is localised as well as laterilised)

Question 28

What is “split brain research”

Answer 28

A series of studies which began in the 1960s (and are still ongoing) involving epileptic patients who had experienced a surggical seperation of the hemispheres of the brain. This allowed researchers to investigate the extet to which brain function is lateralised

Question 29

Define Fucntional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Answer 29

A method used to measure brain activity while a person is performing a task hat uses MRI technology (detecting radio waves from changing magnetic fields.) This enables researchers to detect which regions of the brain are rich with oxygen and thus are active

Question 30

Define Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Answer 30

A record of the tiny electrical impulses produced by the brain;s activity. By measuring characterict wave patterns, the EEG can help diagnose certain conditions of the brain

Question 31

Define Event-related potential (ERPs)

Answer 31

The brain’s electriphysiological response to a specific sensory, cognitive or motor event can be isolate thought statistical analysis of EEG data

Question 32

What are circadian rhythms

Answer 32

A type pf biological rhythms, subject to a 24 hours cycle, which regulates a number of body processes such as the sleep/wake cycle an changed in core body temperature

Question 33

What are biological rhythms

Answer 33

Distinct patterns of change in body activity that conform to cyclical time periods. Biological rhythms are influenced by internal body blocks (endogenous pacemakers) as well as external changes to the environment (exogenous zeitgebers)

Question 34

What are infradian rhtyhsm

Answer 34

A type of biological rhythm with a frequecny of less than one cycle in 24 hours, such as menstruation and seasonal affective disorder

Question 35

What are ultradian rhtythm

Answer 35

a type of biological rhythm with a frequency of more than one cycle in 24 hours, such as the stage of sleep

Question 36

Define endogenous pacemakers

Answer 36

Internal body clocks that regulate many of our biological rhythms such a the influence of the suphrachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) on the sleep/wake cycle

Question 37

Define Exogenous zeitgebers

Answer 37

External cues that may affect or entrain our biological rhythms, such as the influence of light on the sleep/wake cycle

Question 38

What is the sleep/wake cycle?

Answer 38

A daily cycle of biological activity based on a 24 hour period (circadian rhythm) that is influenced by regular variations in the environment, such as the alternation of night and day.