Biopsychology Flashcards
What is the nervous system?
A specialised network of cells that uses neurones and neurotransmitters to transport and receive messages around the body.
What are the two functions of the nervous system?
- To collect, process and respond to information in the environment.
- To co-ordinate the working of the different organs and cells in the body.
Additional information: The nervous system plays a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis.
What are the two main divisions of the nervous system?
- Central nervous system= brain and spinal chord
- Peripheral nervous system.
What does the central nervous system consist of?
It is made up of the brain and spinal cord.
What are the functions of the brain?
- Receive information from sensory receptors and sends messages to muscles and glands.
- Has conscious awareness and involved in all psychological processes.
- Contains 4 main regions (Occipital, Temporal Lobe, Frontal Lobe, Parietal).
- Brain stem controls involuntary processes like breathing and blinking.
The brain is the control center of the nervous system.
What is the role of the peripheral nervous system?
To relay nerve impulses from the CNS around the body and back to the CNS.
The peripheral nervous system includes the somatic and autonomic nervous systems.
What are the two divisions of the peripheral nervous system?
- Somatic nervous system = controls conscious movements of muscles.
- Autonomic nervous system. = controls unconscious movements of muscles.
What is the function of the autonomic nervous system?
Controls unconscious organ response (breathing, digestion, heartbeat) that work efficiently when they’re not thought about.
The autonomic nervous system includes the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
What is the sympathetic nervous system primarily involved in?
Responses that help us deal with emergencies (fight or flight)- increased heart rate or breathing rate. Neurons from the SNS travel to every organ and gland in the body.
What is the function of the parasympathetic nervous system?
It slows the body down and is often called ‘rest and digest’. It relaxes and calms the body.
The parasympathetic nervous system helps the body conserve energy- by reducing the amount of adrenaline produced
What is fight or flight?
The endocrine system works during stressful situations to control our nerves, neurotransmitters, and hormones. This creates a physiological response in the body.
Example sentence: Fight or flight is a survival mechanism that allows humans and animals to react quickly to life threatening situations.
What are some symptoms of fight or flight responses?
- You begin to feel scared / butterflies
- Increases heart rate
- Increased breathing
- Dilated pupils
- Digestion stops
- Salivation stops
- Muscles contract
These are all effects of the fight or flight response.
What is the SAM system (Acute short term stressors process) process?
When faced with a stressor, the amygdala recognizes the threat and sends a signal to the hypothalamus which functions as a command center for the brain.
Sympathetic nervous system is activated, adrenal glads release adrenaline into the blood stream- causing increased blood pressure and heart rate.
Adrenaline also triggers the release of glucose into the bloodstream to increase energy.
Then when stressor has passed parasympathetic nervous system takes over and reduces heart rate ands stress levels
What is the HPA axis (Long term stress (chronic stressors) process?
Hypothalamus releases Corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH) into the bloodstream.
Pituitary gland receives the CRH and produces adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH).
Adrenal glands receive the ACTH and the adrenal cortex produces cortisol which allows us to have quick bursts of energy and a lowered pain threshold.
The hypothalamus and amygdala monitor the levels of cortisol in the bloodstream. If it is too high, they reduce the level of CRH and ACTH in order to bring it back down to normal.
What does ACTH stand for
ACTH stands for adrenocorticotrophic hormone- that is released from the pituitary glands as they receive CRH
What does CRH stand for?
CRH is corticotrophin releasing hormone which is released from the hypothalamus when altered of a threat/ stressor
What is the name of the part of the brain (beginning with an A) that sends signal for response to the hypothalamus in scenario is of stress
The Amygdala
What’s are some weaknesses of the fight and flight response
Taylor et al. 2000=
-Women- tend and befriend
- tend and nurture young and befriend others for protection
- whereas men only protect themselves
Von Dawen’s=
-Stress can lead to greater cooperation rather than a fight or flight response.
-For example in natural disasters, emergencies, job roles- 9/11
- due to the fact humans are social animals
Lee et al. =
SYR gene on the male Y chromosome directs male development and promotes aggression—> prepare them to ‘fight’
- absences of Y chromosome and oxytocin and oestrogen in women may prevent this.
What is the endocrine system composed of?
A network of glands =
The endocrine system is made up of a network of glands which are a group of cells that are specialised to produce and secrete hormones.
What do glands produce in the endocrine system?
Different hormones =
Each gland produces different hormones which regulate the activity of organs and tissues in the body.
How is the endocrine system regulated?
By feedback =
Endocrine system is regulated by feedback e.g. hypothalamus will signal to pituitary gland that a certain hormone needs to be released which the gland will release in the blood stream —> the hormone will signal the target gland to release its hormone which will lead to a change
Where do neurotransmitters belong?
Neurotransmitters belong to the nervous system.
Where do hormones belong?
Hormones belong to the endocrine system.
How is the transmission of neurotransmitters?
Transmission of neurotransmitters is across the synaptic cleft.
How is the transmission of hormones?
Transmission of hormones is by blood.
Where are hormones produced?
Hormones are produced by endocrine glands.
Where are neurotransmitters produced?
Neurotransmitters are produced by neurons.
What are the adrenal glands
Two glands that sit above the kidney. The out part of the gland is called the adrenal cortex and the in near region is called the adrenal medulla.
What do the adrenal medulla and adrenal cortex produce?
Adrenal cortex= produces cortisol which regulates or supports bodily functions such as cardiovascular or anti- inflammatory.
Adrenal medulla= produces adrenaline and noradrenaline which prepare the body fore fight or flight responses.
What do adrenaline and noradrenaline do for the body in a fight or flight response
Adrenaline- helps body respond to stressful situations e.g. increased heart rate or blood flow.
Noradrenaline- constricts blood vessels causing blood pressure to increase
What is localisation of function
When certain functions have certain locations in the brain
How many hemispheres is the brain split into and what is it joined by
The brain is slip into 2 hemispheres, joint by the corpus callosum
What is the frontal lobes functions
Problem solving (prefrontal)
Speech reduction (Broca area)
What is the cerebellums functions
Balance and coordination
What is the parietal lobes function
Touch and body orientation
What does the temporal lobe function as
Auditory, language and memory functions
What are the visual centres of the brain
Spans both hemispheres. The right hemisphere processes information from the left visual friend and visa versa.
Visual processing happens in the retina (back of the eye) and carried through nerve impulses to the brain by the optic nerve.
Wha ‘it’s the auditory centre
Centre for hearing.
Located across both hemispheres
Begins at the cochlea in the inner ear, sound waves convert to nerve impulses that decodes through that thalamus and finally reaches the auditory cortex.
What are the motor areas of the brain compared to the somatosensory areas
Responsible for voluntary movements, and control different parts of the body. Whereas somatosensory areas detects sensory events from the opposite side of the body
What is the Broca areas
Located in the left frontal lobes
Broca (1865), a neurosurgeon, treated a patient called ‘Tan’ who could understand language but was unable to speak any other syllable except Tan.
When Broca investigates 8 other patients with a similar disorder he found a lesion in the left frontal hemisphere.
Patients with lesions in the right hemisphere did not have this speech deficit.
What is the Wernickle area
Located in the left temporal lobe.
Wernicke, a neurologist, studied patients who could speak but were unable to understand language. He found that the posterior of the left temporal lobe is responsible.
Wernicke’s area overlaps into the motor region (mouth / vocals) and sensory region (processing stimuli to associate meaning)
Both Broca and Wernicke’s area work together to create coherent conversation.
How can we use fMRI scans to evaluate the localisation of function
- research support strength
- example. FMRI scans which show increased activity in specific areas when participants are listening to nouns (Wernickle) whilst thinking of verbs (Broca)
This suggests that the Wernicke’s area is linked to comprehension as listening is linked to understanding the language; and Broca’s is linked to production as thinking would be linked with producing the words. This is consistent with previous research from case studies therefore adding reliability and validity to these findings.
Increases usefulness of localisation of the brain- research suggest comprehensive understanding for behaviour
What is a weakness of the localisation of function that links to gender bias
- Hersey found that women have a larger Broca area and Wernickle area than men which explains why women find language easier.
This diminishes the explanatory power of original research in the Broca and Wernickle area, which suggested that women and men have the same sized area- therefore finding language just as challenging or easy. This research questions the credibility of the OG’s findings.
Caution must be taken into account when applying OG research to real word participants. Limits the usefulness of the localisation to function research.
What is brain plasticity
The brains ability to change and adapt throughout life. These rapid developments of synaptic connections during infancy allow this to happen
Define this= connections that aren’t used are deleted which strengthens frequency of used connections
Synaptic pruning
What is the difference between past assumptions and current assumptions in brain plasticity
With past assumptions, the brain is limited to a restricted child timeframe whereas in current assumptions the brain can develop new connections through life as a result of learning through experience
What is Maguire et al.s (2000) text driver research
MRI scans were conducted on 16 right handed male taxi drivers and compared to 50 healthy right handed male non taxi drivers.
They found increases grey matter in taxi drivers of the right and left hippocampus. Grey matter is a condensed area of brain cells.
What were the findings of Maguire et al.s 2000 text driver research
Positive correlation between time of being taxi drivers and the volume of the hippocampus. For example, the longer they had been taxi drivers =, the larger amount of grey matter.
What is functional recovery after trauma
Researchers in the 1960s studied how stroke patients were able to regain functions, due to the brains ability to rewire itself in areas of previous damage.
What is neural unmasking?
When dormant synapses, which exist in the brain without function develop new structures when an area near by is damaged
What are stem cells
Unspecialised cells that carry out different functions. When implanted into the brain they can replace dead or drying cells- or be transplanted from healthy areas to unhealthy areas
What is axonal sprouting
Growth of new nerve endings which connect with other undamaged nerve cells
What is evidence for stem cell plasticity
Tajri 2013 randomly assigning rats with traumatic brain injury to two groups. One received stem cells transplant to damaged area one did not. After three months the stem cell rats showed development of neuron like cells in area of injury. This was not the case for the control group
What is spontaneous recovery
Recovery that happens quickly but slows down after several weeks
What is hemispheric lateralisation
The idea that 2 halves of the brain function differently with each hemisphere having specific functions
According to the lateralisation theory what are the functions of both sides of the brain
Left= Broca and Wernickle
Right= Visual-motor tasks
What was Sperry et al.s 1967 research
11 participants who undergo a commissurotomy where the corpus callosum and connecting tissue is removed to create two separate hemispheres that do not communicate.
They compared it to 11 pp. with no prior history of epilepsy. As info is nit able to transfer between hemispheres, Sperry can locate each hemisphere to specific functions
What were the three tasks that Sperry devised where the pp. would have one eye blindfolded in a standardised condition
Describe what you see – images were shown to the left or right visual field and the participants simply describe what they see.
Tactile test – an object is placed in the left or right hand. Participants have to select a similar object OR describe what they feel.
Drawing task – participants were presented with a picture in their left or right visual field and had to draw what they saw.
Evaluate what could be a strength and CA of Sperry’s research
Standardised and controlled experiments (blindfolds used, 1/10th second) BUT 11 participants. Could be considered a case study (idiographic approach). Lack of ecological validity – why? Lacks mundane realism – why?
What is a strength and a strong CA for the artificial and analytical structure of brain tests
A lot of research and findings into split-brains. Left hemisphere tends to be more analytical/verbal tasks whereas the right tends to be more spatial and musical. Key contribution to brain processes.
HOWEVER, ‘pop-psychology’ overemphasises and simplifies the differences between the hemispheres. The differences are intricate and they work together in most daily tasks especially as we get older (holism)
WHICH IS SUPPORTED BY Szaflarski (2006) who found that language became more lateralised to the left with age but after 25 decreased with each decade, which may compensate for age-related declines in function.
What are the three types of biological rhythms
Ultradian- 24 hour repeating cycle
Circadian- 24 hour sleep/wake cycle
Infradian- ca cycle that takes no longer than 24 hours, menstruation
What are circadian rhythms
A type of biological rhythm that operates on a 24 hour cycle. This regulates the bodily process of the sleep/ wake cycle- core body temperature and hormone production.
This rhythm is primarily controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) which is an endogenous pacemaker but can also be affected by exogenous zeitgebers
What are endogenous pacemakers
Internal biological clocks that regulate rhythms- sleep/wake, temperature, digestion, hormones etc.
What are exogenous zeitgebers?
External environmental cues that can affect our rhythms: light, meal times etc.
What was Siffre’s self experiment into biological rhythms (especially circadian rhythms)
SIFFRE (JULY 16TH – SEPT 14TH 1962)
• Aim: To test his ‘free-running’ body clock and how natural rhythms in the body work when he lived underground in a cave for extended periods of time.
• Procedure: He spent 61 days in the Southern Alps with no natural light, sound, clocks or calendars – He had a lamp and a corded phone.
• He slept and ate when his body told him too and measured his physiology throughout. This allowed his ‘free running’ body clock to control his behaviour
What was the findings of Siffre’s research
When he left the cave on September 14th, he thought it was August 20th! This is because his free-running body clock had increased to 25 hours making his days seem longer
(sleep less, awake longer).
Aged 60, he replicated his study and found that his internal body clock increased to 36-48 hours and he would sleep anywhere between 2 – 18 hours per cycle. Siffre’s research was funded by NASA and army’s to increase soldiers cycles making them more productive/efficient
What did Decoursey’s chipmunk study, and Ralph 1990’s study into hamsters the effects of the SCN on circadian rhythms
Decoursey (2000) destroyed SCN connections in 30 chipmunks and returned them to their natural habitat for 80 days to observe. The sleep/wake cycle had disappeared by the end of the study and a lot of chipmunks died, presumably because they were awake at a vulnerable time.
Ralph (1990) bred ‘mutant’ hamsters with a 20h sleep/wake cycle and transplanted the SCN cells into control hamsters whose sleep/wake cycles adapted to a 20h cycle!
What are infradian rhythms
A cycle that takes longer than 24 hours (weeks, months, annually) and example being the menstrual cycle
How does the menstrual cycle work
Typically around 28 days and regulated by the pituitary gland.
Follicle stimulating hormone= regulates the ovaries and increases oestrogen at the end of menstruation.
Oestrogen= mid-cycle this hormone along with luteinising hormone peaks and releases and egg (ovulation)
After ovulation, progesterone helps the womb lining grow thicker, preparing the body for fertilisation.
If there is no pregnancy, oestrogen and progesterone decrease, signs of PMS appear and menstruation begins.
What are pheromones as exogenous factors to infradian cycles
Airborne chemicals released by mammals and animals that can affect behaviour in others.
What is the evidence to suggest that the menstrual cycle may be influenced by exogenous cycles
Stern and McClintock = menstrual cycle is synchronised as a result of female pheromones.
29 women with a history of irregular periods and not on birth control. Alcohol cotton pads placed in armpit for 8 hours then frozen.
Cotton pads rubbed on upper lip of remaining pp. to smell pheromones. If they smell pheromones of someone pre-ovulation, their cycles become shorter. If they smell post ovulation= cycles longer
What were the results of Stern and McClintocks study
68% of women experienced a change in their cycles which matched their ‘odour donor’
What are some weakness of Stern and McClintock’s study
- Small sample (29 & students/staff)
- Confounding variables can affect period (stress, diet, exercise and a cold)
- Problems with self-reporting accurately.
What is a strength of Stern and McClintocks study?
Evolutionary advantage of synchronisation as women conceive and give birth at the same time (shared breastfeeding).
What are ultradian rhythms
Rhythms that are related within 24h- stages within sleep. 1 cycle of sleep usually lasts 90 minutes, and we have 5 of them per night (7.5h).
There are 5 stages of the ultradian rhythms
Stage 1 & 2 – light sleep. Brainwave patterns start to become more slower and rhythmic (alpha) becoming slower as sleep becomes deeper (theta).
Stage 3 & 4 – involve delta waves which are slow and have a bigger amplitude. This is deep sleep and is difficult to wake someone. Actual rest, most relaxed.
Stage 5 (REM sleep) the body is paralysed but brain activity speeds up resembling an awake brain. Research suggests this is highly correlated with dreaming. REM increases each cycle with stage 4 decreasing. Fast jerky eyelids.
What is some evidence by Dement and Klietman about REM sleep
Dement and Klietman (1957) studied 9 participants (7m, 2f) in a sleep lab. They all ate normally minus caffeine/alcohol and arrived in the lab before their normal bedtime. Brainwaves were recorded via EEG.
Ps were woken either during REM or N-REM with a doorbell and asked to write down their dreams. They found a high correlation between dreaming and REM.
If woken during N-REM they could return easily to sleep (back to the stage they were in) but if woken during REM they had to wait until their next REM cycle to dream (not back to REM sleep stage).
