BIOPSYCHOLOGY

Question 1

Divisions of the nervous system

Answer 1

Nervous system= peripheral nervous system and central nervous system

Central nervous system = brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system = autonomic nervous system and somatic nervous system

Autonomic nervous system = sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.

Question 2

Nervous system

Answer 2

specialised network of cells and is our primary internal communication system. Communication happens using electrical signals

Question 3

Function of central nervous system

Answer 3

-Consists of brain and spinal cord
-Controls behaviour and regulates body’s physiological processes

Question 4

Role of the brain

Answer 4

receives information from sensory receptors and sends messages to muscles and glands

Question 5

Role of the spinal cord

Answer 5

-responsible for reflex actions
-also allows the brain to maintain and regulate bodily processes, control voluntary movements and monitor breathing
-spinal cord passes messages to and from the brain and connects nerves to PNS

Question 6

Function of peripheral nervous system

Answer 6

-sends information to CNS from outside world and transmits messages from CNS to muscles and glands in body through neurones
-also connects brain and spinal cord to rest of the body and external environment
-branches into somatic and autonomic nervous system

Question 7

Function of somatic nervous system

Answer 7

• controls voluntary movements (e.g. muscle movements) and receives information from sensory receptors

Question 8

Function of autonomic nervous system

Answer 8

-governs involuntary actions such as bodily arousal e.g. body temp, heart rate, digestion etc
-consists of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system

Question 9

Function of sympathetic nervous system

Answer 9

-controls body’s response perceived by threats to get ready for ‘fight or flight’
-slows down bodily processes that are less important in emergencies e.g. digestion
-sympathetic ANS leads to increased arousal e.g. h.r, b.r., pupil dilation, reduced digestion and salivation

Question 10

Function of parasympathetic nervous system

Answer 10

-regulates body function while at rest
-(relaxes you once emergency has passed, e.g. h.r, b.p slows and conserved body’s energy by decreasing activity/maintaining it
-parasympathetic ANS leads to decreased arousal

Question 11

How do neurons works

Answer 11

-sensory neurons sends information from senses to the brain
-receptors detect this and sends message along the PNS to the brain
-relay neurons in the brain connect with other neurons and analyse these sensations in between sensory and motor neurons
-motor neurons sends messages via long axons from the brain to effectors

Question 12

Sensory neurons

Answer 12

-carry messages from PNS TO CNS
-long dendrite, short axon

Question 13

Relay neuron

Answer 13

-connect sensory neurons to motor neurons or other relay neurons
-short dendrite, short axon

Question 14

Motor neuron

Answer 14

Connect CNS to effectors (muscles and glands)
-short dendrite, long axon

Question 15

Process of synaptic transmission

Answer 15

1) Axons carry vesicles which contain neurotransmitters to the presynaptic terminal
2) vesicles release neurotransmitters at the presynaptic neurons membrane into synapse
3) neurotransmitters diffuse across synapse, binding to the receptor site on the postsynaptic neurons membrane
4)if signal of neurotransmitter is excitatory then an electrical signal is generated and passed along a neuron. If inhibitory then no action potential is generated
5) the direction of travel of chemical messages is 1 way because of the structures of pre and postsynaptic membranes

Question 16

Excitation

Answer 16

-neurotransmitters increase the + charge of the postsynaptic neuron, increasig the likelihood of a neuron firing and passing on an electrical impulse

Question 17

Inhabitation

Answer 17

-neurotransmitters increase the - charge of the postsynaptic neuron, decreasing the likelihood of the neuron firing and passing on an electrical impulse

Question 18

Summation

Answer 18

-Whether a neuron fires or not is down to the overall net effect on the post synaptic neuron
-It the overall charge on the post synaptic membrane that ‘decides’ if an action potential or not will be created.

Question 19

Endocrine system

Answer 19

-Works along ns to control vital functions of body
-instructs glands to release hormones into body via bloodstream

Question 20

Pituitary gland

Answer 20

-‘master gland’ that controls release of hormones from all of the other endocrine glands in body

Question 21

Thyroid gland

Answer 21

-Produces thyroxine which increases heart rate
-increases metabolic rate which affects growth

Question 22

Adrenal gland

Answer 22

-produces adrenaline in adrenal medulla
-triggers increased heart rate and contracting blood vessels, creating physiological arousal for fight or flight response

Question 23

Endocrine and autonomic nervous system working together

Answer 23

1) Stressor causes your ANS to change from parasympathetic ns to sympathetic ns
2)pituitary gland releases adrenocorticotropic (ACTH)
3) this hormone affects adrenal glands causing it to release adrenaline into the bloodstream
4) causes physiological changes in body to occur e.g. increased heart rate
5) once threat has passed, parasympathetic ns returns body to it’s resting state acting as a ‘brake’ to return to homeostasis

Question 24

What does localisation of the function of the brain state

Answer 24

theory that different areas of the brain and responsible for different behaviour, processes/ activities

Question 25

Idea of localisation/ cortical specialisation

Answer 25

-idea that different parts of the brain perform different tasks and are involved with different parts of the body
-if area of brain becomes damaged through illness/injury, the function associated with the area will also become affected

Question 26

Hemispheres of brain and lateralisation

Answer 26

-divided to 2 hemispheres
-activity on right side of body is controlled by left hemisphere
-some functions are controlled/dominated by a particular hemisphere (lateralisation)

Question 27

Cerebral cortex (grey matter)

Answer 27

-outer layer of hemispheres (covers inner part of brain + 3mm thick)
-responsible for higher levels of processing (problem solving, learning etc)
-HUman cortex is more developed than other animals
-grey due to location of the cell bodies

Question 28

Function of motor and somatosensory cortex

Answer 28

shows the amount of dedicated brain area for your sensitivity and motor movements

Question 29

Function of frontal lobe and damage to area

Answer 29

-motor area
-voluntary movement in opposite side of the body
-damage = loss of control over fine movements or paralysis

Question 30

Function of parietal lobe and damage to area

Answer 30

-somatosensory area
-sensory information from the skin is represented
amount of the area devoted to na body part denotes sensitivity

Question 31

Function of occipital lobe

Answer 31

-visual area
-each eye sends info from RVF to LVcortex and vice versa
-damage in visual cortex = blindness in opposite visual field

Question 32

Function of temporal lobe

Answer 32

-auditory area
-analyses speech
-damage = hearing loss, ability to comprehend language

Question 33

Broca’s area

Answer 33

-left frontal lobe (language restricted to left side of brain in most)
-responsible for speech production
-damage causes Broca’s aphasia
9slow speech, laborious and lacking frequency)

Question 34

Wernicke’s area

Answer 34

-left temporal lobe
-responsible for language comprehension
-damage = Wernicke’s aphasia (producing nonsense words (neologisms) as part of their speech) - speech fluent but meaningless

Question 35

Phineas Gage case study

Answer 35

-working in railroad (1848) and was preparing to blast a section of rocks with explosives to create a new railway line but accidently dropped tamping iron onto rock causing explosive to ignite
-explosion hurled a metre-length pole through his skull from top of his head. taking off a portion off his brain with it -mostly left frontal lobe
-left a mark on his personality - went from calm and reserved to quick-tempered, rude and ‘no longer Gage’

Question 36

How does Gage’s case study support localisation

Answer 36

frontal cortex is responsible to damage to personality

Question 37

Localisation of the function in brain brain - A03

Answer 37

-neurosurgical evidence > shows that damage to brain areas are linked to mental disorder > Dougherty 2002, 44 people with OCD who had undergone cingulotomy. 32 weeks later 30% met criteria for successful response to surgery 14% for partial response . mental disorders could be localised

-brain scan evidence supports localisation >Peterson (1988) used brain scans to show Wernicke’s area active during listening tasks and Broca’s area active during reading task. Tulving (1994) brain scan showed episodic and semantic memories are stored in different parts of the prefrontal cortex> objective measured that provide scientific evidence that many functions are localised
HOWEVER
-Lashley (1950) research challenged localisation theory > suggests that higher cognitive functions (like learning) are not localised but holistic > removed areas of cortex (10-50%)of rats that were learning a maze. No area was found to be more important than the others in rats ability to learn the maze. Learning appeared to require all the areas of cortex > learning is too complicated to be localised and required holistic approach

-Language may not be localised to juts Broca’s and Wernicke’s area > Dick and tremblay (2016) found only 2% of modern researchers think that language only in these 2 areas . advances in tech (fMRI) - neural processes in brain are studied with more clarity > language functions appears to be more distributed holistically. ‘Language streams’ have been identified across the cortex inc’ RH and subcortical regions like thalamus > language may not e confined to specific areas but organised more holistically.

-Gage’s case study > difficult to make meaningful generalisations from findings of a single individuals and conclusions drawn may depend on subjective interpretation of research> no replication >lacks validity