biopsychology

Question 1

what are circadian rhythms?

Answer 1

the 24 hour cycle in your body

Question 2

what are ultradian rhythms?

Answer 2

it is your night time cycle which lasts less than 24hours in your stages of sleep

Question 3

what are biological rhythms?

Answer 3

biological rhythm are 24-hour circadian rhythms (often known as the ‘body clock’), which are reset by levels of light.

Question 4

what are exogenous zeitgebers?

Answer 4

external environmental cues that help regulate our internal body clock

Question 5

whats an example of an exogenous zeitgeber?

Answer 5

suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) which receives light levels to tell the body when to release melatonin

Question 6

what are endogenous pacemakers?

Answer 6

the internal cues that controls biological rhythms like the circadian sleep-wake cycle

Question 7

what is an example of an endogenous pacemaker?

Answer 7

light (sound, environment)

Question 8

what is brain lateralisation?

Answer 8

is the fact that the two halves of the brain are functionally different and that each hemisphere has functional specializations, e.g. the left is dominant for language, and the right excels at visual motor tasks.

Question 9

what is the left hemisphere responsible for?

Answer 9

language

Question 10

what is the right hemisphere responsible for?

Answer 10

visual motor tasks

Question 11

what is a case study to support brain lateralisation?

Answer 11

sperrys split brain research

Question 12

what is a limitation of sperrys split brain research?

Answer 12

not generalisable to all split brain people = due to the fact that he only used split brain patients who had severe epilepsy and were therefore ill.

Question 13

what is brain localisation?

Answer 13

the knowledge that different parts of the brain have different functions to them

Question 14

what is it important to recognise brain localisation?(evaluation point)

Answer 14

application = it allows specific damage to be found and allow people to get the correct medication for them

Question 15

what is brain plasticity?

Answer 15

the brain’s ability to change and adapt in response to experiences and environmental factors

Question 16

what are case studies that can support brain plasticity?

Answer 16

• sperry
• danelli
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Question 17

what is functional recovery?

Answer 17

the brains ability to diverts functions from damaged areas to undamaged areas (axon sprouts + pruning)

Question 18

what are some things that effect functional recovery?

Answer 18

• age
• gender
• perseverance
• physical state (intoxicated, stressed)

Question 19

what is a case study that supports functional recovery? (hint: Sch…)

Answer 19

schneider found that people with college education were 7x more likely than people who did not complete high school to be disability free one year after a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.