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Psychology > Biopsychology > Flashcards

Biopsychology Flashcards

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1
Q

What does the CNS consist of?

A

The brain and the spinal cord

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2
Q

What does the peripheral nervous system consist of?

A

Consists of the automatic nervous system, the somatic nervous system and the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system

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3
Q

Describe the function of the CNS

A

Provides conscious awareness via the brain

Brain stem connects the brain and spinal cord and controls involuntary process like heart rate and breathing

Spinal cord transfers messages to/from the brain and the rest of the body and also simple reflex actions

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4
Q

Outline the function in the frontal lobe

A

Executive function
regulating emotion
personality
logic/decision making

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5
Q

Outline the function of the parietal lobe

A

Integrates information from senses
Spatial navigation

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6
Q

Outline the function of the temporal lobe

A

Auditory information

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7
Q

Outline the function of the occipital lobe

A

Visual information

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8
Q

Describe the function of the peripheral nervous system

A

Relays messages from CNS to the rest of the body

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9
Q

The autonomic nervous system

A

Regulates involuntary bodily processes including heart rate, respiration, digestion and pupil contraction

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10
Q

The somatic nervous system

A

Carries sensory information from sensory organs to the CNS and relays motor movement to muscles

Controls voluntary movements

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11
Q

Sympathetic nervous system

A

Fight or flight

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12
Q

Parasympathetic nervous system

A

Rest and digest

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13
Q

Axon

A

carries electrical impulses

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14
Q

Nucleus

A

Stores genetic information

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15
Q

Cell body/soma

A

Contains nucleus

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16
Q

Myelin sheath

A

Insulates and protects axon

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17
Q

Dendrites

A

Recieve electrical signals from other neurones

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18
Q

Schwann cell

A

Maintains and regenerates axon

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19
Q

Axon terminal

A

Passes electrical signals to the next neuron

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20
Q

Nodes of ranvier

A

Speed up electrical impulses

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21
Q

Sensory neurones

A

Found in receptors
When these reach the brain they are translated into “sensations” (like hearing, taste, touch)

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22
Q

Relay neurones

A

Found in brain/spinal cord

Allow sensory and motor neurones to communicate

(Have no myelin sheath)

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23
Q

Motor neurones

A

Found in CNS

Control muscle movements

When stimulated release neurotransmitters

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24
Q

Synaptic Transmission

A

An action potential arrives at the axon terminal. Vesicles merge with membranes of pre synamptic neurone releasing the neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft. They diffuse across.

For a new action potential to form at the postsynaptic neurone, the electrical charge must pass a threshold.

There are inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters

Excitatory neurotransmitters make the charge more positive, depolarisation.

This releases sodium ions, a new action potential is more likely to form.

Inhibatory neurotransmitters hyperpolarise, making the charge more negative and release potassium ions. This pushes the cell further from its threshold so an action potential is less likely.

Summation is the combined effect of the excitatory and inhibition neurotransmitters. If the threshold is reached a new action potential forms travelling through the next axon

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25
Q

The hypothalamus

A

Connected to pituitary gland
Responsible for stimulating and controlling release of hormones
Regulates endocrine system

26
Q

The pituitary gland

A

Known as the master gland
Hormones released by this gland control and stimulate the release of other glands in the endocrine system
Divided into the anterior and posterior lobes

27
Q

What is the purpose of fight or flight

A

To prepare your body to deal with a dangerous or stressful situation

28
Q

The amygdala

A

Belongs to the limbic system
Responsible for responding to sensory input and connecting it with associated emotion such as fear or anger

29
Q

Describe the fight or flight response

A

1) A person enters a stressful situation

2) Amygdala is activated and sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus

3) The hypothalamus activates the sympathomedullary pathway which connects the adrenal medulla and sympathetic nervous system

4) SNS stunulates adrena medulla

5) Adrenal medulla secretes the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline into the bloodstream

6) Adrenaline causes a number of physiological changes to prepare the body for fight or flight

30
Q

Name and explain some physiological responses to stress

A

Increased heart rate - more oxygenated blood pumps around your body

Digestive system shuts down - conserves energy

Pupil dilates - see the danger more by letting light in

Sweat - cool down and regulate temp

31
Q

Motor cortex

A

Located in frontal lobe

Responsible for sending messages to muscles in the body

32
Q

Somatosensory cortex

A

Found in parietal lobe

Recives incoming sensory input from the skin to produce sensations

33
Q

Auditory cortex

A

Temporal lobe
Acoustic info
Contralateral

34
Q

Visual cortex

A

Located in occupital lobe

Contralateral - info from right visual field

35
Q

Broca’s area

A

Responsible for speech production

Common in stroke patients - Broca’s Aphasia

Damage to this area means the person struggles to produce coherent speech

36
Q

Wernicke’s area

A

Seperate area of language processing

Damage leads to a person struggling to comprehend what someone is saying to them

37
Q

What does the right hemisphere do?

A

Involved in:
Emotional expression
Spatial awareness
Creativity
Imagination
Motor movement
Coordination

38
Q

What does the left hemisphere do?

A

Involved in:
Writing
Language
Scientific skills
Logic
Mathematics

39
Q

How do the hemispheres interact with one another?

A

Corpus callosum: the two hemispheres are connected by these nerve fibres which fabricate interhemspheric communication

40
Q

Split brain research - Sperry and gazaniga (method)

A

Aim: investigate hemispheric lateralisation

Method:
1 - Describe what you see task: A picture was presented to either visual field, they had to describe what they saw

2- Tacticle test: An object was placed in either hand and they had to select a similar object

3 - Drawing task: they were presented with an image in either visual field and had to simply draw what they saw

41
Q

Split brain research - Sperry and gazaniga (results)

A

Describe what you see:
Right visual field (processed in left hemisphere):
The patient could describe what they saw as the left hempshere is superior when it comes to language production

Left visual field (processed in right hemisphere):
The patient could not describe what they saw; often reported that nothing was present

Tactile test:
Placed in right hand (processed by left hemisphere):
Could verbally describe what they felt and could also select an appropriate similar object

Placed in left hand (processed by right hemisphere):
Could not describe what they felt, made wild guesses

Drawing task:
Right visual field (processed in left hemisphere):
If the right hand attempted to draw the picture it was never as clear as with the left hand, demonstrating the superiority of the right hemisphere for visual motor tasks

Left visual field (right hemisphere)
Consistently drew clearer and better pictures

42
Q

Localisation AO3 - Equipotentiality theory

A

After brain injuries other regions of the brain can “take over” functions that were previously controlled by a damaged area

43
Q

Localisation AO3 - Case studies

A

Support:
Phineas gage - suffered damage to his hippocampus completely altering his personality

Tan - Dronkers et al conducted an MRI scan and found evidence that other areas may have also been responsible creating a lack of causality suggesting responsibility is NOT solely down to one reigon

44
Q

Localisation AO3 - Dejerne

A

Reported that a man lost his ability to read due to damage to his connections between his visual cortex and Wernicke’s area.

This shows that connections are also involved in complex behaviours such as language reducing the credibility of the localisation theory

45
Q

Localisation AO3 - Beta bias

A

Herasty found that women have proportionally larger Broca’s/Wernicke’s areas than men, which explains the greater ease of language

This shows beta bias as the differences between men and women are ignored. Also variations in activation patterns and the size of the areas observed is not considered.

46
Q

Define Brain Plasticity

A

The brain’s ability to change and adapt because of experience. The brain can create new neural pathways and alter existing ones

47
Q

Increased brain stimulation

A

As neurons are damaged there is an effect on the neighbouring neurons as they no longer have input.

This also happens with the hemispheres. If there is damage on one side of the brain the other also functions at lower level.

48
Q

Axon sprouting

A

When an axon is damaged its connection with a neighbouring neuron is lost.

Other axons can gain extra connections to the neurons which replaces the ones which have been destroyed.

49
Q

Denervation super sensitivity

A

Axons that do a similar job become aroused to a higher level to compensate for ones that are lost. However this can lead to over sensitivity to messages such as pain

50
Q

Functional recovery

A

The brain can adapt after trauma. It learns to compensate for function and use the working areas to compensate for its he ones that are lost

51
Q

Functional recovery AO3 - Patient EB

A

learned to speak again after losing his left hemisphere

a large benign tumor was removed from his brain when he was 2.5 years old - all of his linguistic abilities disappeared

he went into a rehabilitation programme and started to improve at around 5

he was tested when he was 17. they found that his right henisphere compensated for the loss in his left hemisphere

52
Q

Plasticity and functional recovery - Age

A

Deterioration of the brain old age
impacting the speed and extent of recovery

Marquez de la Plata - following brain trauma, older patients (40+) regained less function than younger patients and they were also more likely to decline in terms of function for five years following the trauma

53
Q

Plasticity and functional recovery - Perseverance

A

Sometimes a function may appear to be lost but that may be because the individual is not trying and is already taking the view that it is unrecoverable

Animal studies have shown that when a monkey has a limb that has lost its sensory input it will not use it. However if the functioning of the other limbs also becomes damanged it has no choice but to use it

54
Q

Plasticity and functional recovery - Gender

A

Ratcliffe examined 325 patients with brain trauma for their level of response to rehabilitation

When assessed for cognitive skills, women performed significantly better than men on tests of attention/working memory and language

Overall the results suggested better recovery first women
However they did not control performance pre injury so this could have influenced results

55
Q

Plasticity and functional recovery - Magurie et al

A

Taxi drivers from London had an MRI

They were found to have significantly more grey matter in the posterior hippocampus than a controlledbgroup

The hippocampus is the part of the brain which is involved in spatial navigation

56
Q

Plasticity and functional recovery - Schnider

A

Investigated whether time spent in education is a factor in recovery from brain injury

Three groups: Those who did not finish school, Those who had completed up to 15 years of education and those who had obtained an undergraduate degree from university

39% of the graduates were left free of disability whereas of those who left school early only 10% made a full recovery

57
Q

Biological Rhythms

A

Cyclical patterns within biological systems that have envolved in response to environmental influences

58
Q

Outline the function of the endocrine system (4 marks)

A

To regulate cell activity within the body and control vital physiological processes

To release hormones from glands into the bloodstream which then bind to receptions to regulate specific organ activity

Add an example ie adrenaline

Imbalance of hormones can lead to problems - high cortisol levels can lead to hyperglycaemia

59
Q

Ultradian Rhythms - Definition

A

Last fewer than 24 hours ie human sleep or meal patterns

60
Q

Ultradian Rhythms - Sleep cycle

A

1) Stages 1 and 2 are light sleep stages where brain wave patterns are slow and rhythmtic, starting with alpha waves —> theta waves

2) Stages 3 and 4 are “deep sleep” stages where it is more difficult to wake someone up and there are slower delta waves

3) Stage 5 is “REM” sleep. The body is paralysed and brain activity resembles an awake person

On average this repeates every 90 minutes and there are 5 full cycles in a night

61
Q

Ultradian Rhythms - AO3

A

Tucker found significant differences between participants during stages 3 and 4 demonstrating innate individual differences that should be focused on.

Furthermore the study was carried out in a lab setting - the differences can only be attributed to biological differences and not situational factors

The participant must be attached to monitots that monitor their rhythms. As this is invasive it may not be representative of their true sleep cycle, lowering the ecological validity and leading to false conclusions being drawn

Psychology (6 decks)

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