Biopsychology Flashcards
What are the 2 functions of the nervous system?
- to collect, process and respond to info in the environment
- to co-ordinate the working of different organs and cells in the body
What are the 2 parts of the nervous system broken down into?
the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system
What does the CNS comprimise of?
the brain and spinal cord
What is the role of the spinal cord?
passes messages to and from the brain and connects nerves to the PNS
What is the role of the CNS?
processes, interprets and stores info and issues orders to muscles, glands and organs
What are the 2 parts the PNS is divided into?
somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system
What is the role of the peripheral nervous system?
transmits messages via neurons to and from the CNS
What is the role of the autonomic nervous system?
governs vital functions in the body like breathing and heart rate, digestion, sexual arousal and stress response
What organs are controlled by the ANS?
heart
lungs
eyes
stomach
blood vessels
What are the 2 parts of the ANS?
sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system
What is the somatic nervous systems role?
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
What is the role of the sympathic nervous system?
activates physiological arousal and prepares the body for fight/flight to cope with stress
What are examples of physiological changes from the SNS?
increase blood pressure
increases breathing rate
increase heart rate
pupils dilate
inhibition of saliva production and digestion
What is the role of the parasympathetic nervous system?
activates rest and digest response to bring the body back to its resting state after stress has passed
What are examples of the physicological changes from the PSNS?
decrease heart rate
decrease blood pressure
decrease breathing rate
pupils contrict
stimulates digestion
What is the role of neurons?
Transmit nerve impulses and signals chemically and electrically to allow communication in the nervous system
What do dendrites do?
Carry nerve impulses to the cell body
What does the axon do?
Carries away nerve impulses away from the cell body down the length of the neuron
What is the myelin sheath?
protecttive layer that wraps around nerve cells
What are all the features of a neuron?
dendrite
soma
nucleus
myelin sheath
node of ranvier
axon terminal
schwann cell
What are the 3 types of nerve cells?
sensory neurone
relay neurone
motor neurone
What is the role of motor neurons?
they connect the CNS to muscles and glands
carrying messages away from the brain
they can cause movement
What is the role of sensory neurons?
they carry messages from senses to the brain
What is the role of relay neurons?
they connect sensory neurons to motor neurons
What happens for a split second when a neuron is activated?
the inside of the cell becomes positively charged causing an action potential to occur
What causes the release of neurotransmitters?
electrical impulse travels down the axon towards the end of the neuron
What are excitatory neurotransmitters?
increase the chance of the next neurons firing
What are inhibitory neurotransmitters?
they decrease the chance of adjacent neurons firing
What are the 2 functions of the endocrine system?
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
What does the hormone thyroxine do and where is it produced?
produced by the thyroid gland
affects various cells - heart cells to increase heart rate
influence metabolic rate so can affect growth rates
Where is the pituitary gland located?
in the brain
What is the pituitary gland also known as ?
the master gland
What is the role of the pituitary gland?
it controls the release of hormones from all other endocrine glands in the body
What is the order of the sympathomedullary system?
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
What is the role of adrenaline?
to prepare the body for flight or fight resposne by acting on various organs
What are sympathetic responses with adrenaline?
pupils dilates
inhibits digestion
increase heart rate
increase breath rate
increase blood pressure
diverts blood to the brain and skeletal muscles
How do we think flight or fight has evolved?
from our ancestors but it is an inappropriate response to modern day stressors - creates panic and anxiety
What did Taylor state on female animals studies on flight or fight?
doesnt reflect female resposne - more likely to tend and befriend to protect themselves and their young through nurturing behaviours and forming alliances
What is localisation?
the theory that specific areas of the brain are associated with particular physical and psychological functions
What is the holistic theory of the brain?
that all parts of the brain were involved in the processing of thought and action
where does evidence of localisation come from?
brain damage cases (strokes)
brain scans
split-brain patients from epilepsy treatment
Where is the motor cortex located?
the back of the frontal lobe - in both hemispheres controlling opposite sides
What is the role of the motor cortex?
generation of voluntary motor movements
different parts of the motor cortex control different parts of the body- parts are arranged logically
Where is the somatosensory cortex located?
in the parietal lobe - both hemispheres control opposite sides
What is the role of the somatosensory cortex?
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
What does the sensitivity of a body part depend on?
the amount of somatosensory area that it occupies
What parts of the body take up half the somatosensory area?
hands and face
Where is the auditory centre located?
in the temporal lobe in both hemispheres
What is the auditory pathway?
cochlea —> brainstem —> thalamus —> auditory nerve —> auditory cortex
What does the cochlea do?
converts soundwaves into nerve impulses
What does the brainstem do to auditory nerve impulses?
basic coding - duration and intensity
What is the thalamus role in the auditory pathway?
relay station for further coding
What were the symptoms of Broca’s Tan patient? What was he able to do and not able to do?
he could understand spoken language but couldn’t speak or write his thoughts = expressive aphasia
What did post-mortems of damage to Broca’s area reveal about the 2 hemispheres?
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
where is the visual centre located?
in the occipital lobe on both hemispheres and recieves info from opposite sides
What is the visual pathway?
retina —> brainstem —-> optic nerve —> thalamus —-> visual cortex
What is the role of the visual cortex?
receives visual info and contains different areas for colour and shapes
What types of evidence supports localisation?
brain scans and aphasia studies
What is Broca’s area responsible for?
speech production
Where is Wernicke’s area located?
in the prosterior portion of the left temporal lobe
What are the synmptoms of patients with lesions to Wernicke’s area?
could speak but not able to understand language and what they said didnt make sense
What is the role of Wernicke’s area?
recognition and processing of language
What did Peterson et al find using brain scans on the language areas?
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
What is Broca’s aphasia?
an impaired ability to produce language
What is Wernicke’s aphasia?
an impaired ability to understand language
How does aphasia studies support localisation?
demonstrates the importance of the language regions in the production and comprehesnsion of speech
What study goes against localisation?
Lashley
What did lashley find?
intact areas of the cortex can take over cognitive functions following injury to the area normally carrying out that function
What was lashley’s method to study recovery after brain injury?
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
How does research on plasticity dissprove localisation?
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
What is lashley’s law of equipotentiality?
brain circuits ‘chip in’ so the same neurologuical function is achieved
What is lateralisation?
the dominance of one hemisphere of the brain for particular physical and psychological functions
What is the main functions of the right hemisphere?
visual attention and face recognition
How are you able to talk about things experienced on the right side of the body when the left hemisphere is responsible for this?
the two hemispheres are connected and info can be transferred through connecting nerve fibres = corpus callosum
What is the name of the studies used to investigate lateralisation?
split-brain studies
What is the split-brain procedure to treat epilepsy?
cut the corpus callosum and separate the two hemispheres = preventing activities of seizure passing across the hemispheres
Who devised split-brain studies?
Sperry
What was Sperry’s method of split-brain studies?
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
What did Sperry’s study show for the normal brains?
the normal brain shares info with both hemispheres giving it a complete pic or word
What did Sperry’s study show for split-brains?
the info cannot be conveyed from each hemisphere and each visual field gave different functions = using different hemispheres
What was the left side of the brain able to do in Sperry’s study?
able to describe the image when shown to right visual field
What was the right side of the brain able to do in Sperry’s study?
wasnt able to describe images or report anything = the language centres on the left hemisphere
What are the strengths of Split-brain studies?
high control
contributed great understanding of brain processes and lateralisation
What are the issues with split-brain studies?
issues with generalisability = all patients had epilepsy which could cause unique changes
control group had split-brain with no epilepsy may have been inappropriate
What are the 3 evaluation points for lateralisation?
changes with age
induvisual differences
oversimplified
How does lateralisation change with age?
lateralised patterns found in younger ps tend to switch to bilateral patterns in adults
language become more lateralised to the left hemi with age
How do induvidual differences affect lateralisation?
a persons preffered hand is not a clear indication of the location of the function
What % of right handed people had left hemi dominance for language?
95%
What % of left-handed people had right hemi dominance for language?
20%
What % of left-handed people were bilateral in their language functions?
20%
How is lateralisation oversimplified?
oversimplifies the functional distinction between both hemispheres as the two hemispheres are in contant communication
What is plasticity?
the brain’s ability to change and adapt as a result of experience
Is there more plasticity in childhood or adulthood and why?
childhood = constanly learning and experiencing new things
What are the 3 ways a brain recovers from trauma?
axonal sprouting
neuronal unmasking
recruitment of similar areas on opposite sides
What is axonal sprouting?
the growth of new nerve endings which connect with other undamaged nerve cells to form new neuronal pathways
What is neuronal unmasking?
‘dormant’ (function blocked) synapses in the brain are reactivated by increasing the rate of input into these synapses
What is neuronal unmasking?
‘dormant’ (function blocked) synapses in the brain are reactivated by increasing the rate of input into these synapses
What was Kemperman’s study on plasticity using rats?
investigated whether an enriched environment could alter the no. of neurons
rats in a maze = increase in neurons in the hippocampus compared to rats in a lab cage
What is the role of the hippocampus?
formation of new memories and navigational skills
What did Maguire et al find on plasticity using london taxi drivers?
found more vol of grey matter in the hippocampus in taxi drivers than novice drivers
What did Ballentyne et al find on plasticty and recovery after trauma?
there is more plasticity for recovery after a stroke in infancy and childhood than in adulthood
What did Schneider find on enducational attainment and functional recovery?
people with the equivalent of a college education are X7 more likely to be disability-free 1 yr after a traumatic brain injury due to forming many neural adaptations
What are the 4 ways you can study the brain?
fMRI
EEG
ERP
post-mortems
What does an fMRI do?
detects the changes in blood oxygenation and flow that is a result of neural activity
What happens in terms of oxygen in the brain when the brain is active?
when active the specific area of the brain consumes more O2 to meet its demands
blood flow is directed to the active area
What are the good things of fMRI?
doesnt use radiation - non-invasive and mostly risk-free
images have high resolution
What are the issues using fMRIs?
expensive
person must stay still for a clear image
poor temporal resolution
can only measure blood flow and not the direct activity of the brain - can confuse different activities
what is temporal resolution?
there is a lag time behind the image on the screen and the initial firing of the image
How do EEGs study the brain?
meaures electrical activity via electrodes attached to the induviduals head using a skull cap
What does the recordings from an EEG represent?
brainwave patterns generated from the action of neurons
detects arrythmic patterns that may indicate neurological abnormalities
What are the good things with using EEGs?
invaluble in diagnosis of conditions
high temporal resolution
can accurately detect brain activity
What are the issues with EEGs?
the info is generalised
it is not useful for pinpointing the exact source of neural activities
What is an ERP for studying the brain?
electrodes are attached to the scalp with a stimulus presented to the patient - researcher identifies brain activities linked to the stimulus
What are the good things of using ERPs?
more specificity to the measurement of neural processes
high temporal resolution
involved in the allocation of attentional resources and maintenance of working memory
What are the issues with using ERPs?
lack of standardisation in methodology
background noise and EVs must be completely eliminated
How is a post-mortem used to investigate the brain?
induvidual was likely to have a rare disorder and experienced unusual deficits
the areas of damage aren examined and compared to a neurotypical brain
What are the good things of using post-mortems to study the brain?
provided a foundation for early understanding = Broca and wernicke
improves medical knowledge and generate hypotheses
What are the issues with using post-mortems?
causation is an issue
obseved damage may not be linked to neural deficits - other unrelated trauma or decay
ethical issues of consent
What is a biological rhythm?
changes in biological activity that show regular cyclical variation over time
What is a circadian rhythem?
changes in bio activity that show regular cyclical variation over time of 24hrs
What are examples of circadian rhythms?
temperature
sleep-wake cycle
hormone production
What is an infradian rhythem?
changes in bio activity that show regular cyclical variation over a time period over 24 hrs
What is an example of an infradian rhythem?
menstrual cycle
What is an ultradian rhythem?
changes in bio activity that show regular cyclical variation over time less than 24hrs
What is an example of an ultradian rhythem?
the stages of sleep
What are endogenous pacemakers?
internal body clocks that are created from within, they help regulate and control other systems
What is an example of an endogenous pacemaker?
the superchiasmatic nucleus in the brain
What are exogenous zeitgebers?
external cues from outside the body which are important in maintaining bodily rhythems
What are examples of exogenous zeitgebers?
light and social cues
What was Siffres study on circadian rhythems?
spent 6 months inside a cave with no EZs like natural light and time
had contact with the outside world via a telephone but he didnt know the time
researchers montiored behaviours like sleep
researchers controlled lights to wake siffre up
What were the 2 findings of Siffre’s study?
his sleep-wake cycle was erratic at first but settled to 25hrs regular cycle
when he emerged on the 179th day, he thought it was the 151st
What did morgan and silver do to investigate the superchiasmatic nucleus’ role?
removed the SCN from the hamsters = the circadian rhythems disappeared
transplanted SCN tissue from hamster foetuses and the circadian rhythems were re-established
also has SCN tissue transplanted from mutant hamsters - they took on their circadian rhythems of the donor
What was a mutant hamster in morgan and silver’s study?
hamsters which has been bred to have longer or shorter circadian rhythems
What does morgan and silvers study show about the SCN?
it is a vital endogenous pacemaker and responsible for controlling circadian rhythems
What is the medical prac apps for research on circadian rhythems?
important for timing taking bloods and urine tests and for taking drugs
important for chronotherapeutics and pharacokinetics
What is chronotherapeutics?
the study of how timing affects drug treatments as there are certain peak times when drugs are most effective
What is Pharmacokinetics?
the action of drugs on the body and how well they are absorbed and distributed
What are the prac apps of shift work from research of circadian rhythems?
shift patter of days –> evenings –> nights = the staff had many health problems like heart disease, sleeping difficulties and work-related stress
3 week rotation for 9 months = greater improvement in job satisfaction, productivity and reduced sick days
What 2 glands influence the hypothalamus?
pineal gland and pituary gland
What are 2 body processes the hypothalamus helps regulate?
body temp and heart rate
What was miles et al study on EZs influence on circadian rhythems?
a blind man from birth
24.9 hr circadian rhythem despite being exposed to EZs - clocks and radios
had to take sedatives for sleeping and stimulants to wake him up
What does miles et al blind man study show?
light is the main EZ
shows importance of having both EZs and EPs
but the EP can still operate without EZs
What was luce and segall study on people in the arctic circle and circadian rhythems?
light cues are disregarded
people in arctic circle still sleep 7hrs despite the sun never setting during the summer months
What are the issues with Siffre’s study?
cannot generalise - case study and unsafe to do so
different results acheived from his other studies = our internal clocks change with age
What was Fickhards study that supports siffre’s study?
12 ps lived in a dark cave for 3 weeks and their clock sped up to 22 hrs cycle
only 1 person adjusted to this = proves you cannot overide endogenous pacemakers
What are the issues with morgan and silvers hamster study?
use of foetal cells = may have a different circadian rhythem to an adult hamster
cannot generalise to humans = would be a painful and difficult treatment for humans
What is the average length of a mentrual cycle?
28 days
What is the endogenous pacemaker in the sleep-wake cycle?
the superchiasmatic nucleus
What is the endogenous pacemaker in the menstrual cycle?
the pituitary gland
What does the pituitary gland’s role in the mentrual cycle?
releases the hormones Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and Luteinising hormone (LH)
What do FSH and LH lead to the production of?
oestrogen and progesterone
What does oestrogen and progesterone do in the menstrual cycle?
cause the lining of the womb to become engorged with blood and one egg to be ripened and released
if the egg is not fertilised - the lining of the womb is shed
What did McClintock find on women living together and their mentrual cycles?
women that live or spend a lot of time together can have synchronised mentrual cycles
What are pheromones?
biological substances that act like hormones but are released into the air rather than the bloodstream
do not have a smell
carry messages from one induvidual of one species to another of the same species
What was Stern and McClintock study on pheromones and menstrual cycles?
donor women = wore cotten pads under their arms for 8hrs
recipient women = rubbed the cotten pads on their upper lip
repeated daily for several months
dates of menstrual cycles were recorded
What did Stern and McClintock find?
68% of recipient women’s cycles changed to be more similar to the donor woman’s cycle
What is a good thing of McClintock’s research on mentrual synchrony?
evolutionary bias = has evolutionary value so women would become pregnant at the same time for babies who lost mothers to have a better chance at survival
synchrony was an adaptive straegy
What is an issue with McClintock’s research on menstrual synchrony?
methodological limitations = other factors involved like diet and exercise - women who were living together may have been experiencing similar lifestyles
How long does a sleep cycle last for?
90 mins
How many stages of sleep are there?
4
What are the 4 stages of sleep?
REM, N1, N2, N3
What stage of the sleep cycles do dreams mostly occur?
REM
What does REM stand for?
rapid eye movement
What happens to your body during REM?
eye movements become rapid
breathing and heart rate increase
limb muscles are temporarily paralysed
brain activity increases
What happens to the body during N3?
heart rate and breathing rate at its slowest
body fully relaxed
no eye movements
tissue repair and growth
cell regeneration
immune system strengthens
sleep walking and night terrors occur
What is a polysomnograph?
measuring brain activity using an EOG, EMG and an EEG at once
What does and EOG measure?
eye movements
What does an EMG meaure?
muscle movements
What are the sleep cycles controlled by?
endogenous pacemakers
What are the two endogenous pacemakers controlling the sleep cycles?
the Raphe nuclei and the locus coeruleus at the base of the brain
How does the Raphe nuclei control sleep cycles?
a drop in serotonin in the raphie nuclei onsent non-REM sleep
How does the locus coerulus control the sleep cycles?
produces noradrenaline and acetylcholine
Who studied humans sleep cycle?
Dement and Kleitman
What was the method Dement and Kleitman use to investigate sleep?
lab study
using a polysomnograph to record body temp,pulse rate etc
obsevred ps sleeping for REM
and ps self-reports of dreams
x9 ps studied for 61 nights
What 2 things were Dement and kleitman’s ps not allowed to consume during the study?
caffeine and alcohol
What is an issue with Dement and kleitman’s sleep study?
bad validity = different conditions than sleeping at home
What was Jouvet’s method of studying EPs in sleep using cats?
lesioned the raphe nucleus in cats
and lesioned the locus coerulus in cats
What did lesions to the raphe nucleus cause in cats?
resulted in sleeplessness
What did lesions to the locus coerulus result in in cats?
loss of REM sleep
What is an issue with Jouvets cat study?
trauma to other areas of the brain may have been caused and been a factor in effecting sleep
What is cortical specialisation?
the idea that different parts of the brain perform different tasks and are involved with different parts of the body
