Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Psychology A level > Biopsychology > Flashcards

Biopsychology Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 2 functions of the nervous system?

A
  1. to collect, process and respond to info in the environment
  2. to co-ordinate the working of different organs and cells in the body
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What are the 2 parts of the nervous system broken down into?

A

the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What does the CNS comprimise of?

A

the brain and spinal cord

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is the role of the spinal cord?

A

passes messages to and from the brain and connects nerves to the PNS

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is the role of the CNS?

A

processes, interprets and stores info and issues orders to muscles, glands and organs

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What are the 2 parts the PNS is divided into?

A

somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is the role of the peripheral nervous system?

A

transmits messages via neurons to and from the CNS

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is the role of the autonomic nervous system?

A

governs vital functions in the body like breathing and heart rate, digestion, sexual arousal and stress response

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What organs are controlled by the ANS?

A

heart
lungs
eyes
stomach
blood vessels

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What are the 2 parts of the ANS?

A

sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is the somatic nervous systems role?

A

consists of nerves carrying sensory signals from all over the body (sense organs) to the CNS
it controls muscle movement and recieves info from sensory receptors

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What is the role of the sympathic nervous system?

A

activates physiological arousal and prepares the body for fight/flight to cope with stress

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What are examples of physiological changes from the SNS?

A

increase blood pressure
increases breathing rate
increase heart rate
pupils dilate
inhibition of saliva production and digestion

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is the role of the parasympathetic nervous system?

A

activates rest and digest response to bring the body back to its resting state after stress has passed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What are examples of the physicological changes from the PSNS?

A

decrease heart rate
decrease blood pressure
decrease breathing rate
pupils contrict
stimulates digestion

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is the role of neurons?

A

Transmit nerve impulses and signals chemically and electrically to allow communication in the nervous system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What do dendrites do?

A

Carry nerve impulses to the cell body

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What does the axon do?

A

Carries away nerve impulses away from the cell body down the length of the neuron

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is the myelin sheath?

A

protecttive layer that wraps around nerve cells

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What are all the features of a neuron?

A

dendrite
soma
nucleus
myelin sheath
node of ranvier
axon terminal
schwann cell

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What are the 3 types of nerve cells?

A

sensory neurone
relay neurone
motor neurone

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What is the role of motor neurons?

A

they connect the CNS to muscles and glands
carrying messages away from the brain
they can cause movement

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What is the role of sensory neurons?

A

they carry messages from senses to the brain

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is the role of relay neurons?

A

they connect sensory neurons to motor neurons

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What happens for a split second when a neuron is activated?

A

the inside of the cell becomes positively charged causing an action potential to occur

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

What causes the release of neurotransmitters?

A

electrical impulse travels down the axon towards the end of the neuron

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What are excitatory neurotransmitters?

A

increase the chance of the next neurons firing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What are inhibitory neurotransmitters?

A

they decrease the chance of adjacent neurons firing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

What are the 2 functions of the endocrine system?

A

to provide a chemical system of communication via the blood stream - by secreting hormones
to secrete hormones which are required to regulate many bodily functions - eg: testosterone in the maintnance of muscle strength and sperm production

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

What does the hormone thyroxine do and where is it produced?

A

produced by the thyroid gland
affects various cells - heart cells to increase heart rate
influence metabolic rate so can affect growth rates

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

Where is the pituitary gland located?

A

in the brain

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

What is the pituitary gland also known as ?

A

the master gland

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
33
Q

What is the role of the pituitary gland?

A

it controls the release of hormones from all other endocrine glands in the body

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
34
Q

What is the order of the sympathomedullary system?

A

SHAM ARFF
1. stressful situation
2. hypothalamus - detects and activates SNS
3. the SNS stimulates the adrenal medulla to release adrenaline
4. response - various sympathetic physiological reactions
5. flight or fight

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
35
Q

What is the role of adrenaline?

A

to prepare the body for flight or fight resposne by acting on various organs

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
36
Q

What are sympathetic responses with adrenaline?

A

pupils dilates
inhibits digestion
increase heart rate
increase breath rate
increase blood pressure
diverts blood to the brain and skeletal muscles

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
37
Q

How do we think flight or fight has evolved?

A

from our ancestors but it is an inappropriate response to modern day stressors - creates panic and anxiety

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
38
Q

What did Taylor state on male animals studies on flight or fight?

A

doesnt reflect female resposne - more likely to tend and befriend to protect themselves and their young through nurturing behaviours and forming alliances

39
Q

What is localisation?

A

the theory that specific areas of the brain are associated with particular physical and psychological functions

40
Q

What is the holistic theory of the brain?

A

that all parts of the brain were involved in the processing of thought and action

41
Q

where does evidence of localisation come from?

A

brain damage cases (strokes)
brain scans
split-brain patients from epilepsy treatment

42
Q

Where is the motor cortex located?

A

the back of the frontal lobe - in both hemispheres controlling opposite sides

43
Q

What is the role of the motor cortex?

A

generation of voluntary motor movements
different parts of the motor cortex control different parts of the body- parts are arranged logically

44
Q

Where is the somatosensory cortex located?

A

in the parietal lobe - both hemispheres control opposite sides

45
Q

What is the role of the somatosensory cortex?

A

detects sensory events arising from different regions of the body, using info from the skin, produces sensations (touch,pain, temp) and localises it to the specific body regions

46
Q

What does the sensitivity of a body part depend on?

A

the amount of somatosensory area that it occupies

47
Q

What does the sensitivity of a body part depend on?

A

the amount of somatosensory area that it occupies

48
Q

What parts of the body take up half the somatosensory area?

A

hands and face

49
Q

Where is the auditory centre located?

A

in the temporal lobe in both hemispheres

50
Q

What is the auditory pathway?

A

cochlea —> brainstem —> thalamus —> auditory nerve —> auditory cortex

51
Q

What does the cochlea do?

A

converts soundwaves into nerve impulses

52
Q

What does the brainstem do to auditory nerve impulses?

A

basic coding - duration and intensity

53
Q

What is the thalamus role in the auditory pathway?

A

relay station for further coding

54
Q

What were the symptoms of Broca’s Tan patient? What was he able to do and not able to do?

A

he could understand spoken language but couldn’t speak or write his thoughts = expressive aphasia

55
Q

What did post-mortems of damage to Broca’s area reveal about the 2 hemispheres?

A

lesions to an area in the prosterior portion of the left frontal lobe = experienced language difficulties
lesions to the same area on the right frontal lobe = did not experience language difficulties

56
Q

where is the visual centre located?

A

in the occipital lobe on both hemispheres and recieves info from opposite sides

57
Q

What is the visual pathway?

A

retina —> brainstem —-> optic nerve —> thalamus —-> visual cortex

58
Q

What is the role of the visual cortex?

A

receives visual info and contains different areas for colour and shapes

59
Q

What types of evidence supports localisation?

A

brain scans and aphasia studies

60
Q

What is Broca’s area responsible for?

A

speech production

61
Q

Where is Wernicke’s area located?

A

in the prosterior portion of the left temporal lobe

62
Q

What are the synmptoms of patients with lesions to Wernicke’s area?

A

could speak but not able to understand language and what they said didnt make sense

63
Q

What is the role of Wernicke’s area?

A

recognition and processing of language

64
Q

What did Peterson et al find using brain scans on the language areas?

A

demonstrated how Wernicke’s area was active during a listening task and Broca’s was active during a reading task
the two areas have different functions

65
Q

What is Broca’s aphasia?

A

an impaired ability to produce language

66
Q

What is Wernicke’s aphasia?

A

an impaired ability to understand language

67
Q

How does aphasia studies support localisation?

A

demonstrates the importance of the language regions in the production and comprehesnsion of speech

68
Q

What study goes against localisation?

A

Lashley

69
Q

What did lashley find?

A

intact areas of the cortex can take over cognitive functions following injury to the area normally carrying out that function

70
Q

What was lashley’s method to study recovery after brain injury?

A

measured rates ability to learn a maze
did deliberate damage to the rat’s brain
the damage of the rat’s brain was determined by the extent rather than the location of the damage

71
Q

How does research on plasticity dissprove localisation?

A

after damage to a certain area = damage to certain function
the rest of the brain has the ability to attempt to recover the function
cases of stroke victims can recover

72
Q

What is lashley’s law of equipotentiality?

A

brain circuits ‘chip in’ so the same neurologuical function is achieved

73
Q

What is lateralisation?

A

the dominance of one hemisphere of the brain for particular physical and psychological functions

74
Q

What is the main functions of the right hemisphere?

A

visual attention and face recognition

75
Q

How are you able to talk about things experienced on the right side of the body when the left hemisphere is responsible for this?

A

the two hemispheres are connected and info can be transferred through connecting nerve fibres = corpus callosum

76
Q

What is the name of the studies used to investigate lateralisation?

A

split-brain studies

77
Q

What is the split-brain procedure to treat epilepsy?

A

cut the corpus callosum and separate the two hemispheres = preventing activities of seizure passing across the hemispheres

78
Q

Who devised split-brain studies?

A

Sperry

79
Q

What was Sperry’s method of split-brain studies?

A

ps were shown an image/word to the ps right visual feild and the same or different image to the left visual field
compared to control group who doesn’t have epilepsy or split-brain

80
Q

What did Sperry’s study show for the normal brains?

A

the normal brain shares info with both hemispheres giving it a complete pic or word

81
Q

What did Sperry’s study show for split-brains?

A

the info cannot be conveyed from each hemisphere and each visual field gave different functions = using different hemispheres

82
Q

What was the left side of the brain able to do in Sperry’s study?

A

able to describe the image when shown to right visual field

83
Q

What was the right side of the brain able to do in Sperry’s study?

A

wasnt able to describe images or report anything = the language centres on the left hemisphere

84
Q

What are the strengths of Split-brain studies?

A

high control
contributed great understanding of brain processes and lateralisation

85
Q

What are the issues with split-brain studies?

A

issues with generalisability = all patients had epilepsy which could cause unique changes
control group had split-brain with no epilepsy may have been inappropriate

86
Q

What are the 3 evaluation points for lateralisation?

A

changes with age
induvisual differences
oversimplified

87
Q

How does lateralisation change with age?

A

lateralised patterns found in younger ps tend to switch to bilateral patterns in adults
language become more lateralised to the left hemi with age

88
Q

How do induvidual differences affect lateralisation?

A

a persons preffered hand is not a clear indication of the location of the function

89
Q

What % of right handed people had left hemi dominance for language?

A

95%

90
Q

What % of left-handed people had right hemi dominance for language?

A

20%

91
Q

What % of left-handed people were bilateral in their language functions?

A

20%

92
Q

How is lateralisation oversimplified?

A

oversimplifies the functional distinction between both hemispheres as the two hemispheres are in contant communication

93
Q

What is plasticity?

A

the brain’s ability to change and adapt as a result of experience

94
Q

Is there more plasticity in childhood or adulthood and why?

A

childhood = constanly learning and experiencing new things

Psychology A level (7 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions