Biopsychology Flashcards
Complete for 1st year
How is the nervous system broken down?
Central nervous system and peripheral nervous system
How is the central nervous system broken down?
Brain and spinal cord
How is the peripheral nervous system broken down?
Somatic and autonomic nervous system
How is the autonomic nervous system broken down?
Sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system
What is the purpose of the brain?
To process information and give us conscious awareness
What is the purpose of the spinal cord?
Connects the brain to the body and reflex actions
What is the purpose of the peripheral nervous system?
Communicates information between the CNS and the body
What is the purpose of the somatic nervous system?
Controls voluntary movements
What is the purpose of the autonomic nervous system?
Controls involuntary body functions (digestion, heart rate, breathing)
What is the sympathetic nervous system responsible for?
Fight or flight response
What is the parasympathetic nervous system responsible for?
Resting state of the body
What is the cerebrum (cerebral cortex)?
The largest part of the brain - divided into two hemispheres
How do the two hemispheres communicate?
Through the corpus callosum
What are the four lobes of each hemisphere?
Frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital
What is in the frontal lobe?
Motor centre - voluntary movement
What is in the parietal lobe?
Somatosensory centre - pain, pressure
What is in the temporal lobe?
Auditory centre - pitch, volume
What is in the occipital lobe?
Visual centre - shape, colour
What does the cerebellum do?
Motor skills, balance, precise movements, coordination
What are the parts of the brain stem?
Midbrain
Pons
Medulla
What does the brain stem do?
Connects brain to spinal cord, regulates automatic functions (breathing, heart rate, swallowing)
What is the main function of the spinal cord?
Transmit information between brain and PNS
What happens if the spinal cord is damaged?
The parts below that section stop working (paralysis)
How does the somatic nervous system control voluntary movements?
Communciates with muscles via sensory and motor neurons
Which part of the PNS are reflexes in?
Somatic nervous system
What does the cell body do in a neuron?
Contains the nucleus and other organelle, it is the control centre of the neuron
What do the dendrites do?
Receive information from other neurons and transport message to cell body as an electrical impulse
What does the axon do?
Carries information away from the cell body
What do terminal buttons do?
Communicate with the next neuron in the chain across the synapse
What does the myelin sheath do?
Protect the axon and enable nerve impulses to travel quickly along the axon
What do the nodes of Ranvier do?
Force the electrical signal to jump across the gaps to speed up transmission of nerve impulses
Where do sensory neurons carry information to and from?
From sensory receptors to the CNS
What do sensory neurons do?
Convert information into a neural impulse
What is the defining characteristic of a sensory neuron?
No dendrites around cell body, cell body in centre
What do relay neurons do?
Communicate between motor and sensory neurons
Where do relay neurons exist?
Only in the CNS
What is the defining characteristic of a relay neuron?
Bare, no myelin sheath, short axon
What do motor neurons do?
Connect with muscles and influence the contraction of them
What is the defining characteristic of a motor neuron?
Myelin sheath, long axon
How is information carried within a neuron?
By an electrical impulse
When a neuron is excited, how is it charged?
Positive inside, negative outside (flips for relaxed)
How is information transmitted between neurons?
Chemically with neurotransmitters
What is the action potential?
The electrical impulse
What triggers the release of neurotransmitters from the vesicles?
The electrical impulse reaching the pre synaptic terminal
What is a neurotransmitter?
A chemical that carries information from one neuron to the next
How does a neurotransmitter travel across the synaptic gap?
Diffusion
When a neurotransmitter binds to a receptor what happens?
Electrical impulse is either generated (excitation) or prevented (inhibition)
What is special about how neurotransmitters bind to receptor sites?
Lock and key type mechanism
How is synaptic transmission ended?
Diffuse away or reuptake (taken back and stored)
What is excitation?
Neurotransmitters cause an electrical change in the membrane of the post synaptic neuron known as depolarisation which stimulates the brain into action
Give examples of excitatory neurons
Dopamine, adrenaline
What is inhibition?
Neurotransmitters cause an electrical change in the membrane of the post synaptic neuron known as hyperpolarisation - calms brain and balances mood
Give examples of inhibitory neurotransmitters
Serotonin and GABA
What is summation?
The effects of neurotransmitters are summed and the net effect is whether an electrical impulse is generated or prevented
Why is summation needed?
Neurotransmitters can be excitatory and inhibitory at the same time
What’s the control centre of the endocrine system (master gland)?
Pituitary gland
What controls the pituitary gland?
The hypothalamus
What is the endocrine system?
A system of glands that secrete chemicals called hormones using blood vessels to transport them
What operates on a negative feedback system?
The endocrine system
How does a negative feedback system work?
If the levels are too high the gland stops releasing the hormone until the levels are too low
What are the two sections of the pituitary gland?
Anterior and posterior
What is the function of the pituitary gland?
To release hormones that then activate other glands/act upon target cells
What does the anterior pituitary gland produce?
ACTH which stimulates the adrenal cortex
LH and FSH which stimulate the ovaries/testes
What did the posterior pituitary gland produce?
Oxytocin which initiates contractions of the uterus and bonding behaviour between mother and infant
What are the two parts of the adrenal glands?
The cortex and medulla
What does the adrenal cortex produce?
Cortisol which releases stored fats and sugars and suppresses the immune system
What does the adrenal medulla produce?
Adrenaline (increases heart rate) and noradrenaline (constricts blood vessels)
What do the ovaries produce?
Oestrogen (prepares uterus for pregnancy) and progesterone (involved in the post ovulation stage of the menstrual cycle) - as well as eggs
What do the testes produce?
Testosterone which is responsible for facial hair, deep voice, growth spurts (puberty), sex drive, sperm production, muscle strength
Once a threat is detected what does the hypothalamus do?
Activates the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system
What is the role of adrenaline?
Affect target cells to prepare the body for action
The path of adrenaline is called what?
The sympathomedullary (SAM) pathway
Why is heart rate increased in fight or flight?
To increase blood flow to organs and increase movement of adrenaline around the body
Why is breathing rate increased in fight or flight?
To increase oxygen intake
Why are the pupil dilated in fight or flight?
To increase light entry to the eye for better vision
Why is sweat production triggered in fight or flight?
To regulate temperature
Why is the reduction of non essential functions triggered in fight or flight?
To increase energy for the essential functions
What are three problems with the fight or flight response?
Reductionist, lacks temporal validity, doesn’t explain females
Who suggested there might be a third response to danger as well as fight or flight?
Gray (1988) - freeze to assess situation
Who suggested that the fight or flight response is outdated?
Von Dawan et al (2012) - have demonstrated friendly behaviour during stress
Who suggested the fight or flight response doesn’t explain female behaviour?
Taylor et al (2002) - androcentric, early research on men, tend and befriend approach
Where do motor neurons carry information to and from?
From the CNS to muscles
Where are the vesicles?
On the membrane of the axon terminal of the pre-synaptic neuron
Where are the receptors?
On the membrane of the dendrites of the post-synaptic neuron
What is hyperpolarisation?
Inhibition
What is depolarisation?
Excitation
What is homeostasis?
Maintaining levels in the body
What is the purpose of the endocrine system?
Homeostasis
What is localisation of function?
The idea that different parts of the brain are responsible for particular skills and abilities
Where is the motor centre?
The back of the frontal lobe
What does the motor centre do?
Responsible for voluntary movements, sending messages to muscles via spinal cord, left hemisphere controls right side of body and vice versa
How is the motor centre arranged?
Correspondent to the body (e.g. hand is next to arm)
What do the somatosensory centres do?
Detects and processes sensory input (touch, pressure, pain, temperature) for the opposite side of the body
Where are the somatosensory centres?
Behind the motor centre, in the parietal lobe, separate centres in each hemisphere
How are the somatosensory centres arranged?
The amount of the centre that deals with information from a particular part of the body indicates the sensitivity of that area
Where are the visual centres?
At the back of the brain in the occipital lobe, separate centres in each hemisphere
What do the visual centres do?
Receives and processes input from the eyes, both eyes transmit information from the left visual field and the right, but each visual centre only deals with the opposite visual field
How are the visual centres arranged?
Different parts process different types of visual information like colour, shape, movement
Where is the auditory centre?
In the temporal lobes
What does the auditory centre do?
Deals with the detection and processing of sounds, enabling us to identify what a sound is and its location, information is generally sent to the opposite hemisphere but it can be sent to the same side too
Where is the language centre?
In the left hemisphere
What are the 2 areas of the language centre?
Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area
Where is Broca’s area?
In the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere
What is Broca’s area responsible for?
Speech production
What is the affliction called when there is damage to Broca’s area?
Broca’s aphasia
If Broca’s area is damaged, what is speech like?
Slow, laboured, lacks fluency, the sentences are meaningful but only contain a few words
Where is Wernicke’s area?
In the left temporal lobe close to the auditory centre
What is Wernicke’s area responsible for?
Understanding language
What is the affliction called when there is damage to Wernicke’s area?
Wernicke’s aphasia
If Wernicke’s area is damaged, what is speech like?
Speech is fluid, but they have difficulty understanding language, often say nonsense words or make up words
What did Wernicke propose in relation to Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area?
They are connected by a neural loop
What is the supporting evidence for the localisation of function in the brain?
One study found(using fMRI scans) that Broca’s area was active when reading out loud.
Tulving et al found (using fMRI scans) semantic memories are associated with the left pre-frontal cortex
What are the 2 pieces of challenging evidence for the localisation of function in the brain?
One study used rats in a maze who each had a different part of their cortex removed, no brain area was found to be more important for learning. Some functions aren’t localised.
Another study looked at brain plasticity. People with damage to their brain and lose specific cognitive functions are able to functionally recover those abilities as the brain rearranges itself, suggesting the brain operates on a holistic basis, not a localised basis
What is hemispheric lateralisation?
Some functions of the brain are controlled by one hemisphere and not the other
What is the left hemisphere responsible for?
Speech and language, fine details, logic, maths
What is the right hemisphere responsible for?
Visual and spatial processing, ‘bigger picture’ (overall patterns), emotions, facial recognition
What is the supporting evidence for hemispheric lateralisation?
Chicken study found brain lateralisation allowed them to forage and remain vigilant for predators at the same time, showing it is effective and useful
What are the 3 pieces of challenging evidence or hemispheric lateralisation?
Turk et al reported a patient who damaged their left hemisphere but developed the capacity to speak using his right hemisphere.
Szaflarski et al found language became more lateralised but after age 25, it decreases, perhaps to deal with age-related declines.
Split-brain research showed the right hemisphere is capable of some language comprehension (not production)
Why do some people have split-brains?
They have had surgery to sever the corpus callosum to control the frequency and severity of epileptic seizures
Who did the split-brain research?
Sperry et al
Who are the named psychologists for biopsychology?
None (but I’d advise at least Sperry)
What happens when the corpus callosum is severed?
The information presented to one hemisphere has no way of travelling to the other hemisphere
What was the procedure of Sperry’s split-brain research?
Participants fixate on a dot in the centre of a screen while information was briefly (a tenth of a second) presented to either visual field (or both). Then they would complete tasks and be compared to a control group
What are the 3 types of split-brain studies?
Asking participants to describe what they see, asking them to recognise objects by touch, asking them to process composite words
What are the findings of the 3 types of split-brain studies?
They can describe the right visual field, but not the left, but they could draw this.
They could pick up the right object with their left hand when presented to their left visual field or an object most closely associated with it, but they couldn’t name the object.
If 2 words were presented to either field which make a composite word, they would pick up what they saw on the left with their left hand, but say what was on the right side, they wouldn’t realise it was a composite word
What can we conclude from split-brain research?
It shows the connectivity between the different regions is important, but not that the brain is organised into discrete regions with specific functions
What is the supporting evidence for split-brain research?
The actual split-brain studies
What is the challenging evidence for split-brain research?
Gazzaniga found a patient developed the ability to speak with his right hemisphere, so language may not be exclusively limited to the left hemisphere
What are the methodological issues for split-brain research?
Small sample so not generalisable, case study, quasi experiment, standardised, internally valid, doesn’t represent real life because they can look at something with both visual fields, matched pairs but they had never had epilepsy
