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AQA Psychology (A Level) > Biopsychology > Flashcards

Biopsychology Flashcards

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1
Q

LoF - What is it?

A

Localisation of function suggests specific brain areas control specific functions

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2
Q

LoF - What opposes it?

A

Lashley theory of holism; higher order thinking requires multiple parts of the brain.

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3
Q

LoF - What observable evidence do we have?

A

Neurological Evidence such as Tulving’s brain scans for memory stores.

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4
Q

LoF - What case evidence do we have?

A

Phineas Gage - severed frontal lobe; different personality suggests frontal lobe responsible for personality/consciousness.

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5
Q

LoF - What methodological refute can we think of?

A

Lab settings for brain scan studies; weak ecological validity; brain may act differenly in natural environments.

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6
Q

LoF - What case study refute do we have?

A

Phineas Case Study - hard to generalise case study to entire populations.

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7
Q

HL - What is it?

A

The dominance of one hemisphere for certain functions.

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8
Q

HL - example?

A

Language prod/understanding left hemisphere function only.

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9
Q

HL - Contralateral flow?

A

Hemispheres controlling the function of opposite sides of the body, e,g, left hemisphere controlling right arm.

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10
Q

HL - Famous contralateral opportunist?

A

Sperry with the split-brain studies. (1968)

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11
Q

HL - Describe split-brain studies: Who, How, What - use example of keyring.

A

11 epileptic patients who had their corpus callosum split.

Measured contralateral functioning using tachistoscope.

Hands hidden under screen, computer in front of them; stared at red cross in centre of screen.

Word such as ‘Key Ring’ displayed on screen. Joined brain would say they saw ‘keyring’.

Left controls speech: right eye contralaterally controlled by left hemisphere, so they could say ‘Ring’ and draw a ‘Key’ but not put the two together.

Evidence of contralateral functioning.

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12
Q

HL - What’s great about Sperry’s study?

A

Supporting evidence!

Lab high internal validity!

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13
Q

HL - What’s not so great about Sperry’s study?

A

Low population validity - 11 patients who all had Epilepsy, which could’ve affected their performance..

Lab - high control - low ecological validity.

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14
Q

PLAS & FR - What are they, how do they link?

A

Plasticity - the brain’s ability to bridge/prune synapses to adapt to functions carried out by individual.

Functional Recovery - ability of other areas in the brain to take over functions of damaged area through synaptic bridging.

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15
Q

PLAS & FR - Shit tonne of supporting studies, give 2.

A

Taijiri et al (2013):
Rats w/ lesions affecting their neural performance.
Addition of stem cell neurons allowed functional recovery - bridging between lesioned area and working area.

Maguire et al (2007):
Field exp. on London taxi drivers.
Significantly larger hippocampus than control.
Same routes travelled repeatedly longitudinally, bridging formed.
Hippocampus responsible for spatial awareness.

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16
Q

PLAS & FR - What refutes Taijiri’s study though?

A

Ethology - to what extent can we extrapolate animal studies to humans?

17
Q

PLAS & FR - What other refutes can we think of?

A

Well, Hirstein found theoreticised negative plasticity:

Phantom Limb Syndrome in 60-80% amputees…

18
Q

PLAS & FR is great at a young age but..

A

Declines with age.

19
Q

BRAIN - What are the 3 concentric systems?

A

Cerebral cortex - higher order functioning
Limbic system - emotional intelligence
Central core - unconscious activity/primal drive

20
Q

BRAIN - 4 Lobes and their functions?

A

Frontal - Conscious personality/motor cortex
Parietal - Somatosensory cortex
Occipital - Visual cortex
Temporal - Auditory cortex

21
Q

BRAIN - Broca/Wernicke’s Area

A

BrOca’s area - Speech PrOduction

WErnickE’s area - Speech ComprEhEnsion.

22
Q

BRAIN - Broca/Wernicke’s evidence?

A

Peterson et al Brain Scan’s:
Reading/Listening tasks:
Broca - production/reading highlights
Wernicke - understanding/listening highlights

23
Q

BRAIN/LoF - Support for Peterson’s study?

A

Methodology on point

24
Q

BRAIN/LoF - Refute for Peterson’s study?

A

Eco validity weak

25
Q

NervousSys. - Break it down

A 
Electrical Impulses
CNS - brain and spinal cord
PNS - eveything else e.g. motor/sensory neurons
PNS -- SNS & ANS:
  SNS - Voluntary responses
  ANS - Involuntary response
ANS -- Symp/Parasymp
  Symp - Fight/Flight Excitation
  Parasymp - Rest/Digest Inhibit.
26
Q

NVS - 3 Nerve cell types an what it do.

A

Sensory/Motor/Relay
Sensory - senses stimuli
Relay - part of CNS, relays transmission to motor (used in reflex arcs)
Motor - Outputs signal to effector gland/muscle.

27
Q

NVS - What does the relay neuron not have?

A

Myelin Sheath - v.short for impulse to travel so does not need to be insulated.

28
Q

NVS - Synaptic Transmission: What is transmitted

A

Neurotransmitter chemicals

29
Q

NVS - Synaptic Transmission:

Where does transmission occur

A

Between the pre & postsynaptic membrane: the synaptic cleft.

30
Q

NVS - Synaptic Transmission:

How does it occur?

A

NTM Vesicles released upon receiving an action potential; fuse with the membrane and released into the cleft.

31
Q

NVS - Synaptic Transmission:

What is summation and how is this relevant?

A

Summation occurs on the postsynaptic membrane when the ntm’s enter the receptors. - Excitatory and inhibitory ntm’s released by presynaptic.
- A summation is calculated to determine whether an action potential is sent along the
nerve.
- Excitatory e.g. noradrenaline
- inhibitory e.g. serotonin

32
Q

ENDO - What it do

A

Hormones secreted by glands travel via bloodstream - have long-lasting effects on body.

33
Q

ENDO - What controls it all; explain how it controls the adrenal gland.

A

Pituitary ‘master’ gland.
Releases hormones such as adrenocorticotrophic hormone, which zips to destinations (ACTH would go to the adrenal glands to stimulate release of adrenaline or cortisol).

34
Q

Give some gland names, hormones released,

functions of hormones.

A

Adrenal Glands :

  • Adrenal Medulla: release adrenaline - fight/flight.
  • Adrenal Cortex: release cortisol - stress hormone/glucose release.

Testes/Ovaries: Sex organs release:

  • Testosterone - aggression, sexual hormone.
  • Oestrogen - fertility hormone.

Pineal Gland:
- Melatonin release: sleeeep.

35
Q

BRAINSTUDY: What are the 4 ways of studying the brain we needa be familiar with?

A
  • ERP’s
  • EEG’s
  • fMRI’s
  • Post-Mortems
36
Q

BRAINSTUDY: Explain EEG’s

A

Electroencephalograms: Measure neural activity of brain with electrodes attached to brain.
Stimulus given to patient and neural activity recorded.
Very fast recording ability.
Activity amplified and output: called an Evoke Potential.

+ great temporal resolution
+ real time imagery (PET not)
+ diagnosis of things such as sleep stages successful.
- Hard to pinpoint precisely due to all the neural activity going on.

37
Q

BRAINSTUDY: Explain ERP’s

A

Evoke Related Potentials:
Same as EEG’s but uses repeated stimuli to calculate a mean; able to cut out any extraneous neural activity.

\+Temporal res. on point.
\+ Real Time Imagery
\+ Precise due to repetition.
- Not easy to remove extra activity.
- Time consuming to pick out extraneous from valuable..
38
Q

BRAINSTUDY: Explain fMRI’s

A

fMRI’s measure oxygen level of areas of the brain; the more O2 used in a location means the more neural activity going on.
Provides 3D imagery.

+ Deeper understanding of localisation due to 3D imagery.
- Not so precise because measuring O2 levels in blood AROUND the neural areas.
+ Non-invasive; no harmful radiations.

39
Q

BRAINSTUDY: Post-Mortem explanation..

A

Post-Mortem: conducted on brains of the deceased.
Brain cut up into slices to observe structure more thoroughly.
Structural abnormalities observed; can compare to neurotypical brain.

+ Used to understand disorders such as SZ: dopamine related structural abnormalities.
+ Tan’s brain (Evidence) used to theorise Broca’s area (area for speech production)
- consent… (HM did not give consent..)
- EV’s such as age, treatment, post-m delay.

AQA Psychology (A Level) (9 decks)

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