Biopsychology Flashcards
Name the two main nervous systems and their further subdivisions.
Central Nervous system - Brain and Spinal Cord
Peripheral nervous system - Autonomic NS and Somatic NS
Autonomic - Parasympathetic NS and Sympathetic NS
What are the two main functions of the CNS? What does it do?
Control of behaviour and regulation of the body’s biological processes.
It receives info from other NS’s and sends messages to the muscles and glands of the body.
What does the brain and spinal cord do? What connects them?
Brain: coordinates sensation, intellectual and nervous activity.
Spinal Cord: receives and sends information to and from the brain
Connected by the brainstem.
Name the 4 lobes of the Cerebrum / Cortex and what they do.
Frontal Lobe - Decision making, personality, motor function, problem-solving, thought and attention.
Parietal Lobe - somatosensory area - receives sensory info from skin to produce sensations.
Occipital Lobe - visual info is processed and remembered
Temporal lobe - auditory info processed, memory and language
What does the Limbic system do?
Controls basic emotions and drives.
What does the Cerebellum do?
Coordinates muscular activities.
What is the function of the PNS?
Relay neuronal messages from the CNS to the rest of the body.
What does the Somatic Nervous System do? What is it made up of?
It controls voluntary movement and deals with the external environment. It transmits messages to and from the sense organs and muscles.
Made up of the sensory and motor neuron.
What are the 3 types of neurons and what do they do? What do they look like?
MOTOR NEURON - transmits messages away from the CNS towards organs and muscles. CONTROL MOVEMENT. Long axons and short dendrites.
SENSORY NEURON - carry messages towards the CNS from the senses processed by the PNS. ALLOW SENSATION. Short axons and long dendrites.
RELAY NEURONS - connect other neurons together, allowing communication. Short axons and short dendrites.
How is a signal transmitted through a neuron?
The neuron in resting state is negatively charged. A signal is received by dendrites, temporarily making the cell positively charged, causing an ACTION POTENTIAL which transfers the signal to the cell body and down the axon to the axon terminal.
At the terminal, the electrical signal pushes vesicles containing neurotransmitters towards the membrane, causing it to fuse and release neurotransmitter into the synapse (chemical transmission). Receptors on the post-synaptic neuron receive the neurotransmitter and the signal carries on (electrically).
What does the Autonomic Nervous System do?
Controls involuntary body processes and deals with the internal environment. It transmits and receives information from the internal organs.
What does the Parasympathetic nervous system do?
It restores the body to resting levels - rest and digest. It works in opposition to the sympathetic state.
e.g., Restores saliva production, constricts pupils and bronchi etc.
What does the Sympathetic Nervous system do? How does it do this?
It increases activity, preparing the body for fight or flight.
e.g., increasing heart rate, slowing digestions, dilates pupils etc.
The threat triggers the Hypothalamus to activate the pituitary gland to produce Adrenaline - creating physiological arousal (sympathetic state).
Describe the function of:
- dendrites
- cell body
- axon
- axon terminal
Dendrites - receive impulses from neighboring neurons and carry the signal towards the cell body.
Cell body - contains the nucleus and genetic material of the cell
Axon - carries signal away from cell body down neuron
Axon terminal - where signal has to cross a synapse to next neuron.
What is the purpose of the myelin sheath and the Nodes of Ranvier?
MYELIN SHEATH - fatty layer that surrounds the axon and speeds up the transmission of signal.
NODES OF RANVIER - gaps between the myelin sheath that speed up transmission - allowing signals to jump across gaps.
What does the pituitary gland do?
It controls the release of hormones from all other endocrine glands and so is called ‘mater gland’. It is controlled by the Hypothalamus.
What is the endocrine system?
A network of glands throughout the body that manufactures and secretes hormones. It uses blood vessels to deliver hormones to their target sites.
What is stress??
A physical and psychological response when a person feels like they cannot cope with a stressor.
Describe the SAM system. What does it stand for?
Sympathetic Adrenal Medullary system
Hypothalamus triggers the Sympathetic nervous system which sends signals to the Adrenal Medulla which produces adrenaline which stimulates changes throughout the body. When stressor subsides, the parasympathetic nervous system restores the body to normal resting.
Evaluate the Stress Response. (2+, 2-)
+ Supporting research - people who don’t have adrenal glands cannot produce enough cortisol and need to be given more if stressed to survive.
+ Stress response can be measured accurately and quantitatively. e.g. monitoring levels of hormones and effects (heart rate).
- May not be applicable to all people - e.g. females tend to seek comfort or tend to infants when stressed - ‘tend and befriend’.
- Low temporal validity - less appropriate to modern life.
Name the 4 ways of investigating the brain.
fMRI - brain imaging
EEG (electroencephalogram)
ERP (event related potentials)
Postmortem - not a brain scan
Describe fMRIs - how do they work? What are they used for? Evaluate.
More active areas of the brain need more oxygen so more blood flow. MRI scanner uses magnets to pick up iron in haemoglobin in the blood.
Used for examining structure and function of the brain during tasks.
e.g. taxi drivers have more grey matter in hippocampus compared to controls. Positive correlation between time in job and area of grey matter - Maguire.
+ Risk free and non-invasive
+ High quality images
- Expensive and uncomfortable
- Only measures blood flow
- Poor temporal resolution (approx. 5 seconds)
