Biopsychology Flashcards
What are the functions of the nervous system?
- To collect, process and respond to information in the environment
- To coordinate the working of different cells and organs in the body
What two sections in the nervous system divided into?
- Central Nervous System (CNS)
- Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
What is included in the CNS and what is its function?
Brain and Spinal cord: Controls behaviour, bodily processes and muscles
What is the role of the PNS?
Controls relay messages to/from the CNS
What is the PNS divided into?
- Autonomic Nervous System
- Somatic Nervous System
What is the Autonomic Nervous System divided into?
- Sympathetic
- Parasympathetic
What is the role of the Sympathetic branch?
Controls fight or flight. Travel to nearly every organ and gland in the body to prepare for this response
What is the role of the Parasympathetic branch?
Controls calm ‘caretaking’ functions. Involved in energy conservation and digestion referred to as ‘rest and digest’.
What are neurons?
Carry information in electric impulses. Information is received by terminals at the dendrites.
What are the three types of neurons?
- Relay
- Sensory
- Motor
What is the role of Relay neurons?
transmit information
What is the role of the Sensory neurons?
receiving information
What is the role of the Motor neurons?
controlling muscles to respond
What is the process of the Reflex Arc response to a stimulus?
- Receptor in the skin detects a stimulus
- Sensory neurons send impulses to relay neurons. Connect the sensory neurons to the motor neurons
- The effector produces a response from the motor neuron
Draw and Label a neuron
\:))) (I have no advice) Should have: - Dendrite - Myelin Sheath - Axon Terminal - Axon - Nucleus - Nodes of Ranvier - Cell Body
What is the role of the dendrite?
Carry nerve impulses from neighbouring neurons or sensory receptors to the cell body
What is the role of the Cell Body?
Control centre of the neuron
What is the role of the Myelin Sheath?
Fatty layer that protects the axon and speeds up electrical transmission of the action potential
What is the role of the Axon Terminal?
Communicate with the next neuron in the chain across the synapse
What is the role of the Axon?
Carries action potential away from the cell body down the length of the neuron
What is the role of the Nucleus?
Contains genetic material
What is the role of the Nodes of Ranvier?
Gaps in the myelin sheath that speeds up transmission of action potential by forcing the impulse to ‘jump’ across the gaps along the axon
What is Synaptic Transmission?
Communication of neurons, through synapses. Action Potentials are translated into Neurotransmitter. These messages are interpreted at receptors.
What is the Process of Synaptic Transmission?
- Action Potential or NT arrives at the terminal from the axon
- NT is packaged into vesicles
- Vesicle fuses with cell membrane
- NT fuses across synapse
- NT binds to receptors
- Surplus NTs are broken down or recycled by uptake channels
What are the two different post synaptic potential messages?
- Excitatory Postsynaptic Potential (EPSP)
- Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potential (IPSP)
What is Summation?
If a neuron receives both excitatory and inhibitory signals, the total number of each are added up and the most powerful signal wins. This summation can be temporal or spatial
What is Temporal summation?
Very quick firing of one presynaptic neuron
What is Spatial summation?
Lots of small signals happening at different synapses
Draw the Summation graph
\:))) (again no advice) Should have: - Threshold - Depolarisation - Repolarisation - IPSP - EPSP - Refractory period - Resting state
What is Localisation of Function?
When functions are associated with activity specific areas in the brain
What is the function of the Motor Cortex?
Stimulates and controls conscious and physical movement
What is the function of the Somatosensory Cortex?
Synthesises sensory information from peripheral neurons to create physical sensations.
What is the function of the Visual Cortex?
Receives, groups and passes on visual signals from the retina through the optic nerve giving us visual perception
What is the function of the Auditory Cortex?
Receives signals from the ears and created auditory perception
What is the function of Broca’s Area?
It’s a centre for language production. Combines signals from other regions to create speech. Broca’s Aphasia is the loss of the ability to understand language.
What is the function of Wernicke’s Area?
Centre for understanding language. Allows us to interpret physical and verbal communication. Wernicke’s Aphasia is the loss of the ability to produce language.
What is Hemispheric Lateralisation?
the two halves of the brain are functionally different and each hemisphere has functional specialisations. The two hemispheres are connected through the Corpus Callosum.
What happens during Split Brain surgery?
In old surgeries, the whole structure of either the hippocampus or corpus callosum was removed. In modern day, only a small legion is made.