Biopsychology Flashcards
What is the nervous system
internal communication system of specialise cells
what is the nervous systems 2 main functions
- responds to info in environment
- co-ordinate organs and cells
what are the 2 subsystems of the nervous system
- central nervous system (CNS)
- peripheral nervous system (PNS)
what are the componants of the CNS
brain and spinal chord
what does the PNS do
transmits messages via millions of neurons to and from the CNS
what are the 2 subdivisions of the PNS
- autonomic nervous system (ANS)
- somatic nervous system (SNS)
what does the autonomic nervous system (ANS) do
governs bodys vital functions (breathing, heart rate, digestion)
what does the somatic nervous system (SNS) do
controls
muscle movement and receives info from sensory receptors
what does the endocrine system do
regulate the release of hormones
what is the pituitary gland
“master gland” in the brain as controls all other glands release
how does fight of flight occur in the endocrine system and ANS
*hypothalamus activates pituitary gland
* triggers activity in sympathetic branch of ANS
* ANS changes from resting state to physiologically aroused sympathetic state
what are the 3 types of neuron
sensory, relay and motor
what does the cell body in a neuron do
contains genetic material
what are dentrites
carry nerve impulses from neurons to cell body
what is an axon
carries impulse away from cell body down lengths of neuron
what is the myelin sheath
covers axon, speeding up eletrical transmission of impulse
what are nodes of ranvier
gaps in myelin sheath speeding up transmission of impulse as has to jump across gap
what is are terminal buttons
at end of axon, communicate with next axonacross synapse
what is the order of the structure of a neuron
1) cell body
2) dentrites
3) axon
4) myelin sheath
5) nodes of ranvier
6) terminal buttons
synaptic transmission
look at notes!!!!!!!!
what is a neurotransmitter
chemical allowing neurons across the body to communicate
what is the sensory neuron
carry nerve impulses from sensory organs to spinal chord and brain
what do relay neurons do
control muscle movment
what is a motor neuron
between sensory input and motor output
what order do you find neurons
sensory, relay, motor
how long is a synapse
20 nanometers
what does the sympathetic nervous system do
prepares for fight or flight by
* increase heart
* dialate pupils
* inhibits saliva production
what does the parasympathetic nervous system do
calm you down by
* lower heart rate
* stimulate digestion
* constrict pupils
what 2 hormones does the adrenal gland produce
adrenaline and cortisol
what hormone does the thyroid produce
thyroxine
what hormone does the pituitary gland produce
adrenocortial trophic
what does adrenocortial trophic hormone do
stimulates adrenal cortex and releases cortisol during stress response
what does thyroxine hormone do
regulates metabolism
what does cortisol hormone do
stimulates release of glucose to give body energy
what does adrenaline hormone do
encourages fight or flight
what does the amygdala do in fight or flight
send distress signal to hypothalmus
what sends the hypothalmus a distress signal during fight or flight
amygdala
what are the 4 lobes in the brain
frontal, parietal, occipatial and temperal
what does the frontal lobe do
how you think, move, remember and talk to others
what is the somotary cortex
processes sensory info
what is the parietal lobe
sensory perception, hearing, sight touch and smell managment
what is the occipatial lobe
visuospatial processing, distance and colour perception and face recognition
what is the visual cortex
recieves and processes visual info
what is wernicks area
responsible for language comprahension
what is the auditory cortex
analysis of speech based info
what is the temperal lobe
manages emotions, processes senses info, storing and retrieving memories, understanding language
what us the motor cortex
regulates movement
what is brocas area
speech production
what does the hypothalmus do
controls release of major hormones
what is the transmission process
- stimulus
- receptors
- CNS
- effectors
- response
what is an inhibitory transmitter
calms down the brain
what is an excitaory neurotransmitter
stimulates activity in areas of brain
what did franz galls do
looking at structure of the scull to determine persons character
what is brain plasticity
how the brain adapts and changes over time
what is synaptic pruning
connections in brain lost due to lack of use
what is bridging
new connections created in brain due to use and new stimulus
what did maguire do
brains of london taxi drivers had more grey matter in prosterior hippocampus which is associated with navigation and spatial skills than non taxi drivers
evaluate maguire
- could have had before and thats why became taxi driver
what did draganski do
brains of med students 3 months before and after exams
what did draganski find
learning enduced changes in prosterior hippocampus
what did mechelli find
larger paretial cortex in brains of bilingual rather than monoligual
what are the 3 processes the brain goes through during recovery
- recruitment of homogus areas
*axonal sprouting - reformation of blood vessels
what happens during the recruitment of homogygus areas
similar areas of brain on opposite side used to perform spesific task
what happens during axonal sprouting
growth of new nerve ending which connects with other undamaged nerve cells
what happens during reformation of blood vessels
creates supporting networks to reinforce new neural connections
what is laterisation
idea that 2 halves of brain are functionally different and control different processes
what is the corpus callosum
bundle of nerve fibres that join 2 halves of brain so can communicate
what is commissurotomy
surgery that divides 2 hemispheres to help those with epiilepsy
what does the left hemisphere
language
right side of body
recieves from right visual field
what does the right hemisphere do
motor and visual
left side of body
recieves from left visual field
what was sperrys study
11 epileptic ptps who had corpus callosums split so hemispheres dont communicate carry out tasks
what was sperrys procedure
- ptps gaze at fixation point on screen
- show slide on one visual field point for 1/10 second each
- tactical tasks with hands covered so could only feel
what did sperry find
when shown in RVF could describe as gone to language side
when shown to LVF could draw as gone to motor
evaluate sperry
quasi experiment
* controlled conditions all every 1/10th second
* nor like IRL where can move position to see in both VF
* small sample
what does EEG scanner do
measures electrical activity through electrodes attached to scalp which detect change showing different levels of activity
what do ERP scanners do
uses stimulus and brain scanning equipment to read brain activity and repeate so get average response
what do FMRI scanners do
measures blood flow in brain during task to see what neurones are most active
what is a post mortem
study dead brain of person with disorder to gain deeper understanding
what is circadian rhythm
biological rhythms occuring over a 24h cycle
what is a biological rhythm
patterns of change in body activity over cyclical periods
what is ultradian rhythm
biological rhythms occuring more than one cycle in 24h
what is infradian rhythm
biological rhythms occuring less than one cycle in 24h
what is a endogenous pacemakers
internal body clocks that regulate biological rhythms
what is exo
