Biopsychology Flashcards
what are the two main divisions of the nervous system
peripheral nervous system- this refers to the parts of the nervous system that do not include the brain and spinal cord
central nervous system
describe the somatic nervous system
unlike ANS this is part of the PNS and is responsible for carrying sensory and motor information to and from the CNS
define synaptic transmission
this refers to the process by which a nerve impulse passes across the synaptic cleft from one neuron to another
what are hormones
the body’s chemical messengers that influence many different process including mood, the stress response and bonding between mother and newborn baby
describe the fight or flight response
this is a sequence of activity within the body that is triggered when the body prepares itself for defending/ attacking or running to safety. this activity involves changes in the nervous system and the secretion of hormones that are necessary to sustain arousal
why does the trend and befriend response occur in females
this is due to the presence of oxytocin in females, which tends to induce a nurturing response. the effect of oxytocin are negated by testosterone which is why the tend and befriend response occurs largely in females
what are axons
carry the electrical impulse down the length of a neuron covered in a fatty layer called myelin sheath
describe research into localisation of brain function
brocca carried out a postmortem on the brain of a patient and found that he had a part of his left frontal lobe missing, leading to language function being associated with this area of the brain
how can driving a taxi help with functional recovery
it can help because it increases brain plasticity. Maguire et al found that taxi drivers had a significantly higher volume of grey matter in their posterior hippocampus than the control group
describe split brain research
Sperry studied patients whose corpus callosum was severed for some reason, these patients had to watch as a word or image was projected to the RVF (processed by the LH) or vice versa.
when objected projected to RVF they were able to describe what was seen but when shown to LVF nothing was there for them. able to match images better with LVF
Sperry believe language is lateralised in LH
why are young people more likely to recover from brain trauma
the other areas of the brain can take on the role of damaged parts of the brain following a brain trauma
what is Wernicke’s area
this is apart of the brain that deals with language comprehension, it is located in the temporal lobe
what is an electroencephalogram
this is a recording of brain activity. during the test small sensory s are attached to the scalp to pick up the electrical signals produced when brain cells send messages to each other
give example of infradian rhythms
are those that last longer than 24 hours e.g. menstrual cycle and SAD
describe siffre’s research
spent a long time in a cave to examine the effects of free running biological rhythms without the influence of exogenous zeitgebers. Siffre’s free running circadian rhythm settled at about 25 hours just above the usual 24
what is an endogenous pacemaker
the suprachiasmatic nucleus is an example of this, it helps to set our circadian rhythms by interacting with other parts of the body. these are essentially internal biological clocks
give examples of circadian rhythms
are this lasting 24 hours e.g. sleep wake cycle
what is the suprachiasmatic nucleus
this is a bundle of nerves that act like the body’s internal clock, within the hypothalamus. this helps to regulate our sleep wake cycles
what are the pros and cons of postmortem examination
pro- postmortems allow for anatomical studying of the brain that cannot be done on live subjects
con- the subject is dead so now follow up studies or questions can be asked to the patient base on findings from the post mortem
describe the autonomic nervous system
this is the part of the nervous system that controls the brain’s involuntary activities and self regulating. this is further divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
Petersen et al- localisation evidence
- used brain scans to demonstrate how Wernicke’s are was active during a listening task and Broca’s area was active during a reading task
- suggests areas of the brain have different functions
Dougherty et al
- reported on 44 people with OCD who had undergone a neurosurgical procedure that involves lesioning of the cingulate gyrus
- post surgery- 1/3 met the criteria of successful response to the surgery and 14% for partial response
- suggest that symptoms and behaviours associated with serious mental disorders are localised
Lashley’s research
- suggest that higher cognitive functions such has process involving learning are not localised but distributed in a more holistic way in the brain
- removed areas of cortex in rats that were learning a maze
- no area was proven to be more important than any other area in terms of the rats’ ability to learn the maze
- process of learning appeared to require all parts of the cortex rather than confined in one area
- suggests that learning is too complex to be localised and requires the involvement of the whole brain
Eleanor Maguire et al- taxi drivers
- studied brains of London taxi drivers and found significantly more volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus than matched control group
- learning of taxi routes can alter brain structure
- longer they have been in the job the more pronounced the structural difference was
Recovery in the brain
- axonal sprouting- the growth of new nerve endings which connect with other undamaged nerve cells to form new neuronal pathways
- reformation of new blood cells
- recruitment of homologous areas- opposite sides of the brain perform the tasks that are damaged
Ladina Bezzola et al
- 40 hours of golf training produced changes in the neural representation of movement in participants aged 40 to 60
- using fMRI they observed reduced motor cortex activity in the novice golfers compared to a control group
- suggests more efficient neural representations after training
- shows that neural plasticity does continue throughout the lifespan
Hubel and Wiesel - sewing eyes
- sewing eye of a kitten shut and analysing the brain cortical responses
- found that the area of the visual cortex associated with the shut eye was not idle but continued to process information from the open eye
Aschoff and Wever
- participants spent 4 weeks in a W2 bunker deprived of natural light
- all but on of the participants displayed a circadian rhythm between 24 and 25 hours
- suggests that the natural sleep/ wake cycle may be longer than 24 hours
Simon Folkard et al
- studied a group of 12 people who agreed to live in a dark cave for 3 weeks and retiring to bed when the clock said 11.45pm and rising when it said 7 45am. over the course of the study the researchers sped up the clock gradually- eventually the 24 hour day became 22 hours
- only one participants adjusted comfortable
- suggests the existence of a strong free running circadian rhythm that cannot easily be overridden by changes in the external environment
McClintock- periods
- 29 women with history of irregular periods
- samples of pheromones were gathered from 9 of the women at different stages of their cycles
- rubbed on the upper lip of the other participants
- on day one pads from the start of the menstrual cycle were applied to all 20 women, on day two they were all given a pad from the second day of the cycle and so on
- found 68% of women experienced changes to their cycle which brought them closer to the cycle of their odour donor
