Biopsychology Flashcards
What are the two main sections of the nervous system ?
Central Nervous System
Peripheral Nervous System
What are the two components of the Central Nervous System ?
The Brain
The Spinal Chord
What are the two components of the Peripheral Nervous System ?
Somatic Nervous System
Autonomic Nervous System
What are the two components of the Autonomic Nervous System ?
Sympathetic Nervous System
Parasympathetic Nervous System
What is the structure and function of the somatic nervous system ?
It is made up of sensory and motor neurons, it is conscious and in charge of voluntary movements
What is the structure and function of the autonomic nervous system ?
It consists of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems, it is in charge involuntary actions such as internal organs and glands
What is the function of the CNS ?
It is in control of processing data received and transmitting signals to the rest of the body
What is a reflex arc ?
Where the body generates a response from a sensory input with the data being responded to by the spinal chord and not being processed by the brain, it is often to protect the body
What is the function of the frontal lobes ?
It is in charge of movement, decision making, logic and problem solving
What is the function of the Parietal lobes ?
It is in charge of the senses, temperature regulation and spacial awareness
What is the function of the occipital lobes ?
It is in charge of visual information and sight
What is the function of the temporal lobes ?
It is in charge of sound, memory and language
What is the function of the cerebellum ?
It is in charge of movement, co-ordination and balance
What is the function of the brain stem ?
It is in charge of unconscious functions of the body such as breathing and heart-rate
What is the function of the sensory neuron ?
It transmits sensory information to the CNS from the sensory receptors
Where are sensory neurons found in the body ?
In the PNS
What is the function of the relay neuron ?
It allows for the sensory and motor neurons to communicate, it passes information from
Where are relay neurons found in the body ?
In the CNS
What is the function of motor neurons ?
They take information from the CNS to the effectors (muscles and glands)
Where are the motor neurons found in the body ?
In the PNS
What common structures are found in all neurons ?
-Dendrites
-Cell body/Soma
-Axon
What is the function of dendrites ?
They receive information from other neurons
What is the function of the axon ?
It carries electrical impulses through the neuron
What is the function of the cell body/soma
It stores the organelles which maintain normal cell function, such as protein and lipid synthesis
What is the function of the myelin sheath ?
It protects the axon and maintains the speed of the impulse (it acts as insulation)
What are the nodes of Ranvier and what is their function ?
They are gaps in the myelin sheath which allow for fast transmission of impulses
What is the function of the axon terminals ?
They are used to transmit information to other axons via synapses
What is an action potential (in terms of ions) ?
A spike in charge in an axon caused by sodium ions crossing the cell membrane
What is the order in which neurons transmit an action potential ?
Sensory
Relay
Motor
What is a synapse ?
A gap between neurons where the electrical signal has to be transmitted as a chemical signal (neurotransmitters) which diffuse through the gap
What happens when neurotransmitters come to cross the synapse?
A vesicle containing neurotransmitters binds to the synaptic ending.
What happens when the vesicle binds to the synaptic ending?
It releases neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft.
What happens after neurotransmitters are released into the cleft?
Action potential is stimulates/inhibited and reuptake occurs when neurotransmitters leaves the receptor site.
What are the two different typed of neurotransmitters?
Excitatory
Inhibitory
What are excitatory neurotransmitters?
They excite the nervous system, increase the likelihood that a neuron will fire an action potential. They are positively charged.
What are inhibitory neurotransmitters?
They inhibit the nervous system, decrease the likelihood that a neuron will fire and action potential. They are negatively charged.
What is summation?
The addition of positive and negative post-synaptic potentials.
What is the endocrine system?
A network of glands across the body that secrete chemical messages called hormones.
What is the hypothalamus gland?
It stimulates and controls the release of hormones from the pituitary gland.
What is the pituitary gland?
Simulates the adrenal cortex and release of cortisol during the stress response.
Responsible for uterine contractions during childbirth.
What is the pineal gland?
Responsible for important biological rhythm.
What is the thyroid gland?
Responsible for regulating metabolism.
What is the adrenal gland?
Secretes adrenaline, key hormone in fight or flight.
Stimulates the release of glucose to provide the body with energy.
What are the ovaries?
Controls the regulation of the female reproductive system.
What are the testes?
Responsible for the development of male sex characteristics during puberty.
What is the amygdala ?
It is a part of the limbic system which responds to sensory input and triggers fight or flight
What are some differences between the nervous and endocrine system ?
The nervous system uses electrical signals in neurons not hormones in the blood stream
The nervous system is much faster
The endocrine system is only involuntary
What is the hypothalamus ?
It responds to the amygdala and communicates with the SNS it can also activate the SAM pathway to trigger fight or flight
What is Broca’s area?
Ability to speak fluently.
What is Wernickes area?
Ability to understand speech.
What does contralateral mean?
That each hemisphere of the brain controls opposite side of the body.
How does the brain interpret visual information?
The left visual are processing information from the right visual field - not the right eye exclusively.
What is localisation?
Different areas of the brain are involved with different parts of the body.
How is auditory information processed?
Each auditory cortex processes sound from both the left and right ears.
What studies support localisation?
Phineas Gage
Tan
Where is Broca’s area?
In the frontal left lobe only.
What happened to Tan?
Speech production is localised to Broca’s area. Brain scans showed damage to his Broca’s area. He was only able to say Tan for his entire life.
What was Lashley’s procedure?
Trained rats to be able to solve a maze.
He then gave them brain damage by removing 10-50% of their brains.
What happened to Phineas Gage?
A pole through the brain impacted certain functions.
Before the injury he was described as kind, caring and welcoming. After the injury he was described as irrational and violent.
Where is Wernicke’s area?
In the frontal left lobe only.
What did Phineas Gage prove?
There was damage to his frontal lobe where his personality traits reside.
What studies do not support localisation?
Lashley’s rats.
What were the benefits of Lashley’s study?
Disapproves localisation.
Couldn’t of been done on people.
What was Lashley’s findings?
The rats were still able to find their way around the maze faster than untrained rats.
What was the conclusion to Lashley’s study?
The damage had no affect and the study does not support localisation.
What is brain plasticity?
The brains tendency to change and adapt.
What were the costs of Lashley’s study?
Rats can’t give consent.
We are very different from rats so we cant extrapolate.
What studies supports plasticity?
Maguire
Draganski.
What was Maguire’s findings?
There was a larger volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus of taxi drivers.
The longer they were a taxi driver the larger amount of grey matter they had.
What was the procedure of Maguire?
2 groups of right handed men.
Taxi drivers and non-taxi drivers.
MRI scans were taken of them.
Single blind procedure was in place for researchers.
What was the conclusion to Maguire’s study?
Synapses for taxi drivers were strengthened due to more use.
Support the concept of plasticity.
What were the strengths of Maguire’s study?
High internal validity
Objective/empirical evidence
Practical application - helped stroke patients form new connections.
What were the weaknesses of Maguire’s study?
Low external validity
Lacks population validity - small sample size
Lacks cause and effect, only shows correlation.
What was the procedure of Draganski?
24 volunteers.
All non-jugglers split into the jugglers and control group.
Jugglers’ and non jugglers’ brains scanned before any form of routine.
3 months of practice both group’s brains are scanned again.
3 months after that and not practice both groups are scanned again.
What were the findings of Draganski?
Prior to the study there were non structural differences between the jugglers and non-jugglers.
After 3 months of practice jugglers have denser grey matter in the mid temporal lobe.
After 3 months of no practice grey matter had reduced but was still denser than the control group.
What were the conclusion of Draganski?
Supports plasticity.
Grey matter grows as a response to environmental demands such as learning.
What is functional recovery?
Another example of plasticity.
What is the process of functional recovery?
Reformation of blood vessels
Axonal sprouting
Recruitment of homologous area.
What studies support functional recovery?
Elbert
Rasmussen disease.
What did Elbert find?
The capacity for neural reorganisation is much greater in children than in adults.
Neural regeneration is less effective in older brains.
How does the girl with Rasmussen disease support functional recovery?
She has half her brain removed at the age of 4.
Later in adult hood she showed no signs of only having half a brain accept from a limp on her left side and a stiff left arm.
What study supports factors can affect functional recovery?
Schneider
What did Schneider find about cognitive reserve?
Discovered that the more time a patient spent in education the greater chances of disability free recovery are.
2/5 patients studies who achieved DFR has more than 16 years of education.
compared to 10% of patients who had less than 12 years’ education.
How does age affect functional recovery?
Brain is more plastic when we are young making it easier to uncover neural pathways.
How does smoking affect functional recovery?
Smoking hardens blood vessels making it harder for them to reform.
What does lateralisation mean?
The fact that two halves of the human brain are not entirely alike.
How do the two hemispheres communicate?
Via the corpus callosum.
What study supports lateralisation?
Sperry
What was Sperry’s procedure?
11 participants that had undergone split brain procedure due to epilepsy.
They were shown an object in their RVF & LVF and asked to describe it.
What were Sperry’s findings?
Participants could describe objects shown in their RVF because they use language processing in their left hemisphere.
They couldn’t describe object’s shown in their LVF and reported there was nothing there.
What are the strengths of Sperry’s research?
High internal validity
Support from other researchers such as Broca’s suggests that language is lateralised to the left hemisphere.
What are the weaknesses of Sperry’s research?
Poor external validity
Quasi experiments, difficult to establish cause and effect.
What are the different ways of studying the brain?
Post mortem exams
fMRI
EEG
ERP’s
What are post mortems?
An examination done on the brain after death.
Are post-mortems useful?
Yes - Broca’s area with Tan.
Can we establish cause and effect with post-mortems?
No
Is there any evaluations for getting consent for post-mortem exams?
Some ethical issues with getting consent.
What are fMRIs?
They measure changes in brain activity using increased/decreased blood flow.
Are fMRIs useful?
Yes - establish localised functions.
Are fMRIs invasive?
No
Can we establish cause and effect with fMRIs?
No
What is the spatial resolution for fMRIs?
1-2mm - Good
What is the temporal resolution for fMRIs?
1.4 seconds
Is there any evaluations for fMRIs?
Have to lie perfectly still or the scan has be to redone.
What are EEGs?
It measures electrical activity in the brain.
Are EEGs useful?
Yes - track progress of Alzheimer’s.
Are EEGs invasive ?
No, but can be uncomfortable due to the cap wore.
Can we establish cause and effect with EEGs?
Yes
What is the spatial resolutions of EEGs?
Only measure superficial brain regions - Bad
What is the temporal resolution of EEGs?
1-10ms - this is excellent as it is practically real time.
What are ERPs?
Very small voltage changes in the brain that are triggered by specific stimuli.
Are ERPs useful?
Yes - has helped with phonic learning.
Are ERPs invasive?
No, but the cap can be uncomfortable to wear.
Can we establish cause and effect with ERPs?
Yes
What is the spatial resolution for ERPs?
Only measure superficial brain regions - Bad
What is the temporal resolution for ERP’S?
1-10MS - This is excellent as it is practically real time.
What are the different types of rhythms?
Ultradian
Circadian
Infradian
What is the length of an ultradian cycle?
90 minute cycle, happens more than once a day.
What is the length of an circadian cycle?
Once every 24 hours.
What is a length of an infradian?
28 days.
How are biological rhythms controlled?
Externally or internally.
(Zeitgebers or Pacemakers)
What are Pacemakers and give examples.
Pacemakers - Endogenous - Internally controlled
SCN
What are Zeitgebers and give examples.
Zeitgebers - Exogenous - Externally controlled
Day cycle, light and dark.
What does the circadian rhythm regulate?
Bodily functions such as the sleep/wake cycle and core body temperature.
What is the SCN?
Connected to the optic nerve and resides in the hypothalamus.
Acts as the internal body clock.
What is the role of the SCN in the sleep/wake cycle?
Interprets information from our eyes then sends alerts to our brain to wake up are go to sleep.
Is the SCN as pacemaker or a zeitgeber?
Pacemaker
What studies supports the existence of the endogenous pacemaker and exogenous zeitgeber in the context of light?
Siffre
Folkard
What was Siffre’s procedure?
Spent six months in a cave underground in Texas with no access to daylight.
His biological clock was allowed to ‘free-run’, he ate and slept when he want.
He was wires up so that his body functions can be recorded.
What was the findings of Siffre?
Siffre has a fairly erratic sleep-wake pattern at first, but it settled down to a pattern that averaged just over 25 hours instead of 24.
What is the conclusions to Siffre’s study?
It is proof of the endogenous pacemaker but also shows the importance of exogenous zeitgebers.
What are the strengths of Siffre’s study?
Informed consent
High internal validity
Longitudinal validity
What are the limitations of the Siffre’s study?
Not generalisable due to it done on a singular man
No ecological validity.
What was Folkard’s procedure?
A groups of 12 people lived in a dark cave for 3 weeks
Went to bed t 11:45 PM and woke up at 7:45 AM
The researchers gradually sped the clock up
What were the findings of Folkard’s study?
None of the participants we able to comfortably adjust to the new regime.
What was the conclusion to Folkard’s study?
There is a strong free-running circadian rhythm that cannot be easily be changed by an external environment.
What is an example of an infradian rhythm?
Menstrual cycle
What is a potential zeitgebers in the menstrual cycle?
Pheromones
What study supports the existence of zeitgebers in the menstrual cycle?
McClintock
Russell
What did McClintock study prove?
Students who spent time together whilst living in Uni halls of residence tended to synchronise their menstrual cycles. She gathered data by using diary entries.
What did Wilson suggest about menstrual cycles?
That its statistically likely for friends to have an overlapping period - this is mistaken for menstrual synchrony
This throws double on the validity of McClintock’s claim.
What was Russell’s study?
Collected odour by placing cotton pads under armpits of donors for 24 hours
They did not use deodorant nor wash then the pads were rubbed under p’s noses
P’s cycles shifted to match the donors
What were the issues with the internal validity of Russel’s study?
There was no single/double blind
One of the donors was a female experimenter was also a participant.
What study supports evidence of exogenous pacemakers affecting menstrual cycles?
Reinberg
What was Reinburg’s study?
Spent 3 months in a cave
Her menstrual cycle shortened from 28 days to 25.7 days
Shows light affects menstrual cycle
What were the strengths of Reinburg’s study?
High internal validity
Longitudinal
What were the weaknesses of Reinburg’s study?
Lacks population validity
Could be due to stress
What is an example of an ultradian rhythm?
Sleep cycle
What are the two basic phases of sleep?
NREM (Non-rapid eye movement)
REM (Rapid eye movement)
What is key research into the sleep cycle?
Dement and Kleitman
What did Dement and Kleitman research?
Sample of 9 adults - 2 female 7 male
P’s avoided drinking alcoholic/caffeinated drinks
Monitored via EEF and EOG
Woken at various times in the night and asked to state whether they were dreaming or not
What are the findings of Dement and Kleitman?
All p’s experienced several regular periods of REM sleep each night
What are the conclusions of Dement and Kleitman?
We all have a natural REM sleep of 90 min
What are the strengths of Dement and Kleitman?
Internal validity
What are the weaknesses of Dement and Kleitman?
Low representativeness
Poor population validity
Artificial situation
