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psychology paper 2 > biopsychology > Flashcards

biopsychology Flashcards

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1
Q

what is the nervous system made up of

A

the CNS and PNS

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2
Q

what are the nervous systems two main functions

A

to collect, process and respond to our environmental stimuli
to co-ordinate the working of organs and cells in the body

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3
Q

what is the CNS made up of, and what is it responsible for

A

the brain and spinal chord
the brain is the center of our concious awareness
the spinal chord is an a extention of the brain, passing messages between the brain, nerves and PNS, aswell as controlling refelx actions

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4
Q

what is the PNS

A

our network of nerves that runs all through the body

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5
Q

what is the PNS made up of

A

the somatic nervous system (SNS)
automatic nervous system (the ANS them splits further into the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems)

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6
Q

what does the somatic nervous system do

A

muscle movement (voluntary), recieves info from sensory receptors

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7
Q

what does the automatic nervous system do

A

controls vital functions like heart rate
the sympathetic is our fight/flight system
the parasympathetic is our rest/digest system

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8
Q

what does the endocrine system do

A

a slower, widespeard more poweful system based on our glands and the hormones they secrete

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9
Q

name some gland examples and the hormones they produce

A

adrenal gland - adrenaline - fight/flight response
thryoid gland - thyroxine - metabolism
ovaries - oestrogen - menstral cycle
testes - testosterone - sperm production

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10
Q

how do the endocrine system and ANS work together

A

they work in parrallel, for example, a stresor is percieved, the pituirary gland triggers the sympathetic state (fight/flight) in the ANS. adrenalie is released, the threat leaves and the parasympathetic state takes back over.

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11
Q

what neurons do we have

A

sensory, relay, motor

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12
Q

what does the sensory neuron do

A

they send sensory information to the brain, carrying messages from the PNS to the CNS. they have long dendrites and short axons and the cell body is found coming off the middle of the axon.

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13
Q

what does the motor neuron do

A

they carry signals from the CNS to our muscles and glands, so from the CNS to the PNS. they have short dendrites and long axons. the cell body is in the center of the dendrite

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14
Q

what do relay neurons do

A

they relay messages between sensory, motor and other relay neurons. they have short dendrites and short axons, they have no myelin sheath and the cell body is also in the center of the dendrite.

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15
Q

what are the features of a neuron

A

cell body/soma - holds the nucleus
nucleus - has the cells genetic information
axons - transfers the electrical impulse drom the cell body to the synapse
mylen sheath - acts as insulation, helps the impulse travel faster
dendrites - recieve the nerve impulse from neighbouring neurons

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16
Q

what is an action potential

A

when the neuron becomes positivelly charged an action potential ocours, causing an electrical impulse to travel down the axon to the next neuron.

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17
Q

what is the synapse, how do messages travel through?

A

a tiny gap between neurons, when a mesage travels down the neuron it is an electrical impulse. the message then changes to chemical to travel though the synapse before changing electrical again.

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18
Q

what are the all parts in a synapse

A

pre-synaptic neuron - the nerve end of the previous neuron, where the message is coming from
vessicles - holds neurotransmitters, rleases them into the synapse
receptor sites - where the neirotransmitters are recieved at the other end of the synapse
the post-synaptic neuron - the dentrites of the next neuron that recieves the message

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19
Q

what are excitory and inhibitory neurotransmitters

A

this is refering to the effect it has on the neighbouring neuron and how likely it is to fire
excitory example - adrenaline
inhibitory example - serotonin

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20
Q

what is summation

A

the excitory and inhibitory influences are summed up, if theres more inhibitory than excitory the less likely to fire
if theres more excitory, it is more likely to fire, the postsynaptic neuron becomes positively charged and an action potential occours

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21
Q

what does localisation of function mean

A

this refers to how spesific parts of the brain have spesific job roles
pre 19th cent it was thought the brain was holistic (working together as a whole)

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22
Q

what is a classic example of a localised function

A

the language centers are only in the left hemisphere

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23
Q

the brain is divided into 4 lobes, what are they

A

frontal lobe - at the front of the brain, higher cognitive functions
parietal lobe - at the top of the brain, sensory information
temporal lobe - on the side of the brain, language and auditory processing
occipital lobe - at the back of the brain, visual information

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24
Q

within the lobes theres 4 further areas, what are they?

A

motor area - frontal lobe, voluntary movement
somatosensory area - parietal lobe, sensory information
visual area - occipital lobe, processed contralaterally, right eye/left hem, left eye/right hem
auditory area - temporal lobe, speach based information

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25
Q

what is Broca’s area

A

linked with speech procuction, Broca’s patient ‘Tan’ could only say the word tan, post mortem showed damage to a part in his frontal lobe, now called brocas area

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26
Q

what is Wernicke’s area

A

linked with language comprihenstion, damage can lead to wernickes aphrasia, charicterised by speaking nonsense words, being incoherent but no issues saying the actual words

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27
Q

what is brain plasticity

A

the brains ability to change and adapt as a result of experience and learning

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28
Q

how does plasticity affect us in infancy

A

during infancy the brain grows synaptic connections rapidly, peaking at age 2-3

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29
Q

what is pruning in brain plasticity

A

as we age some synaptic connections go unused so theyre deleted

30
Q

what is functional recovery

A

after the brain experiences a trauma, it tries to recover the best it can using healthy parts to take over tha damaged parts

31
Q

what structural changes occour in functional recovery

A

axonal sprouting - growth of new nerve endings
denervation supersensitivity - axons with simular jobs take over
recruitment of homologous areas - simular areas on the other side of the brain take over

32
Q

what is hemispheric lateralisation

A

when one half of the brain is responsible for one spesific function, like language is only in the left hemisphere

33
Q

what is split brain surgery

A

when the corpus callosum is cut, preventing the hemispheres from being able to communicate with eachother. usually to help people with epilepsy control their seizures

34
Q

how does visual information communicate with the hemispheres

A

contralaterally and ipsilaterally
contralateral: the right visual field is processed into the left hemisphere and vise versa
ipsilaterally: because thers crossover, its also processed in the same-side

35
Q

what did Sperry study

A

a group of epileptics who had split brain surgery, he wanted to see what things they could/coundn’t do

36
Q

Sperry tested three conditions to test their abilities, what were they all

A

describing what was seen when shown objects to each visual field
touch recognition
matching words to objects

37
Q

what were the findings when his patients were describing what as seen

A

when an object was shown to their:
right visual field - they could easily describe what was seen
left visual field - said ‘nothing is there’ this is because theires no language centers in the right hemosphere (LVF=RH)

38
Q

what were the findings of the touch recognition test

A

touch recognition: when shown an object to their LVF they could select the object using their left hand but not with their right hand
they couldnt say what they were selecting but their hand could recognise it

39
Q

what happened in Sperrys matching words condition

A

matching words: ptps were shown two words that were seperated by a barrier so only one eye can see one word. eg key in the left and ring in the right. they would say ‘ring’ but would select a key in their hand

40
Q

briefly evaluate sperrys research

A

he clearely shows and supports lateralised functions
however his control group didnt also have epilepsy - huge cofounding variable

41
Q

what is a fMRI

A

a brain scan that detects blood oxygenation. presence of oxygen shows where activity is.
theyre virtually risk free with no radiation but are wildly expensive and have a 5ish second time delat (low temporal validity)

42
Q

what is an EEG

A

a brain scan measuring electrical activity. patients have a cap with nodes that produces graphs reflecting brainwave patterns. theyre excellent for sleep studies and epilepsy diagnosis but provide very general information

43
Q

what is an ERP

A

filters out extraneous brain activity from the original EEG recording, aiming to identify the brainwaves that are triggered by spesific events

44
Q

what is a post mortem

A

post meaning after and mortem meaning death, this is when the brain is analysed after a patient, usually with a rare condition, has died. this was vital in early psych before brain scans but they cant show causation so scans are generally better now

45
Q

what are biological rhythms

A

changes in body processes or behaviours that repeat regularly in a cycle
eg. circadian, ultradian and infradian rhythms

46
Q

how long does a circadian rhythm last

A

24 hours, such as the sleep/wake cycle

47
Q

what are infradian rhythms

A

cycles that occour less than once in 24 hours, like the menstral cycle (28 days)

48
Q

what is an example of an infradian rhythm

A

the menstral cycle
SAD - seasonal affective disorder

49
Q

what happens in the menstrual cycle

A

lasting 28 days on avg but can range from 24-35 days
rising levels of oestrogen cause the ovary to release an egg, progesterone then helps the wombs lining to grow thicker, if pregnancy doesnt occour the egg is absorbed and the lining comes away

50
Q

what happens for those with seasonal affective disorder

A

depressive symptoms in winter but not summer, refered to as a circuanual rhythm because it takes a year to complete. caused by the pineal gland (endogenous pacemaker) releasing more melotonin (sleepy) for longer because its dark all the time, this has a knock on effect for serotonin production being reduced

51
Q

what research has been done into synchronising the menstrual cycle

A

influence of pheromones can affect our cycle. researchers studied a group of women with a history of irregular periods, they then gathered pheromone samples from some of them, on different days in their cycle. the sample pads were taken from their armpits, treated with alcohol and frozen then rubbed on the upper lip of the other women. (on the corrosponding days of their cycle so day1+pad1, then 2 etc)
68% of women experienced changes, beinging their cycles closer to their matched pair.

52
Q

what are two strengths of research into infradian rhythms

A

it makes evolutionary sense for womens cycles to synchronise, if women are getting pregnant at the same time then babies can be cared for as a collective, and if one mother dies the other mothers can breastfeed her baby and bring baby up with the others.
theres also real world application ofr SAD, light therapy is the most effective treatment, shown to reduce symptoms in 80% of people, this is also a safer alternitive to drug therapy.

53
Q

what are ultradian rhythms

A

cycles that occour more than once in 24 hours such as the stages of sleep

54
Q

what stages of sleep are there

A

sleep stages happen every 90 minutes throughout the night, there are 5 stages
1-2. light sleep, easy to wake, high frequency alpha waves
3-4. deep sleep, delta waves that have lower frequency, people are harder to wake
5. REM sleep, body is paralised but the brain resembles that of an awake brain, dreams are most likely, jolty activity (REM)

55
Q

what is one strength and weakness of ultradian rhythms

A

sleep studies are done in very controlled conditions in labs instead of at home so they can be connected to the scanners, this means theres no extrenuous variables like noise and temperature
however this is an artificial situation, the discomfort of not being at home could also be an issue to the validity and may not represent ordinary sleep

theres also a significant variation in peoples sleep cycles in terms of duration suggesting that it may have a biological basis - defining ‘normal’ sleep is difficult

56
Q

what are biological clocks goverend by

A

our internal body clocks (endogenous pacemakers) and changes in our environment (exogenous zeitgebers)

57
Q

what is an endogenous pacemaker

A

an internal body clock, regulating our biological cycles

58
Q

whats an exogenous zeitgeber

A

an external factor affecting our biological clocks (eg. daylight)

59
Q

what is the superchaismatic nucleus (SCN)

A

a bundle of nerve cells that maintains our circadian rhythms thats sat by the optic chaism recieving information about light that regulates our body clock.

60
Q

what animal studies demonstrate the SCN in action

A

SCN connections were destroyed in chipmonks, they completely lost their sleep/wake cycle resulting in alot of them dying to preditors because they were awake when they werent supposed to be

extra: mutant hamsters were bred with 20h cycles then transplanted their SCN tissue into normal hamsters and their cycles changed from 24 to 20

61
Q

whats are two examples of an exogenous zeitgeber

A

light - light resets our SCN which regulates our biological clock, so if our body clock is running slow, the light will shift the clock ahead
social cues - newborn babies have a very unregulated sleep cycle, circadian rythms usually form around 6 weeks and by 16 weeks the parents have fully imposed their schedules
this can also be seen in jet lag, where our rhythms ajust to the time of the new country were in

62
Q

what is the role of the pineal gland and melotonin as an endogenous pacemaker

A

the SCN passes light information to the pineal gland. during the night the pineal gland produces melatonin (chemical inducing sleep)

63
Q

what is one strength and weakness of exogenous zeitgebers

A
64
Q

what is one strength and weakness of research intoendogenous pacemakers

A
65
Q

what did siffre (seef) do in his cave study

A

he wanted to see what happened when biological rhythms are free of exogenous zeitgebers. He would spend extended periods on caves (no lnatural light or sounds) to see how they would settle. He found that his rhythm lasted slightly longer, around 25 hours. when he emerged 2 months later he believed it to be mid-august when it was mid-september

66
Q

what other research, simular to siffre’s cave study has been done

A

participants spent 2 weeks in a WW2 bunker (no light) and all but one (29h) settled to a 24-25 sleep wake cycle
as a result it was suggested that our sleep/wake settles at a little over 24 hours but is entrained by exogenous zeitgebers

67
Q

why is research into our circadian rhythms important

A

provides understanding of the consequenses to disrupting our cycles, in night shift workers tend to have reduced concentration at 6am so accidents are more likely to happen
theres also a relationship between shift work and poor health, being more likely to develop heard disease than typical work patterns - this shows real world and economic implications

68
Q

how do circadian rhythms affect medications

A

research into our rhythms has lead to improving medical treatments, because rhythms govern eg heart rate, digestion, hormones, some medications work better when taken at certain times. When used for preventing heart attacks, asprin is most effective when taken at night

69
Q

what benifits for schools does research into rhythms have

A

it was proposed that we should change the school day to start later because teenage sleep wake cycles mean that theyre drowsier in the mornings meaning their could be acedemic benifits.
however this isnt practical for the rest of the world, for parents and teachers etc who would be disrupted and the amount of extracurricular activity would have to be reduced

70
Q
A

psychology paper 2 (4 decks)

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