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biopsychology Flashcards

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1
Q

what is the purpose of the nervous system

A

it is a specialised network of cells and our primary communication systems. it is based on electric and chemical signals

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2
Q

2 main functions of the nervous system

A
  1. to collect, process and respond to information in the environment
  2. to coordinate the workings of different organs and cells in the body
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3
Q

what is the CNS made up of

A

the brain and the spinal cord

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4
Q

what is the brain responsible for

A

it is the centre of conscious awareness.

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5
Q

what is the spinal cord responsible for

A

it is an extension of the brain that is responsible for reflex actions. passes messages from the brain to the PNS

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6
Q

structure of the PNS

A

the PNS transits messages via millions of neurons to and from the neurons system.

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7
Q

how is the PNS divided up

A

autonomic nervous system- governs vital functions in the body such as breathing, heart rate, digestion, sexual arousal and stress response
somatic nervous system- governs muscle movement and receives information from sensory neurons

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8
Q

how is the autonomic nervous system split up

A

sympathetic nervous system- fight or flight
parasympathetic nervous system- rest and digest

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9
Q

what are glands

A

they are organs in the body that produce hormones

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10
Q

what is the key endocrine gland

A

the pituitary gland also known as the master gland. controls the release of all other hormones

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11
Q

what do hormones do

A

hormones are secreted into the bloodstream and affect any cell in the body that has a receptor for that specific hormone

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12
Q

fight or flight responses

A

.stimulus spotted by one of the receptors
.activates the pituitary gland
.this arouses the sympathetic nervous system
.adrenaline released from the adrenal gland into the bloodstream to the specific cells
.then the body immediately reacts to the threat by either fighting or flighting

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13
Q

types of neurons

A
  1. sensory neurons- carries messages from the PNS to the CNS they have long dendrites and a short axon
  2. relay neurons- connects the motor neuron and the sensory neuron. short dendrites and short axon
  3. motor neurons- connects CNS to effectors. short dendrites and long axon
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14
Q

structure of a neuron

A

the cell body- includes the nucleus
dendrites- branch like structure off the cell body carry nerve impulses the neighbouring neurons
axon- carries electrical impulses away from the cell body. it is covered in a fatty layer (myelin sheath)
terminal buttons- communicate with the next neuron

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15
Q

electrical transmission in neurons

A

when a neuron is resting it is negatively charged compared to the outside. when it is excited it becomes positively charged and causes an action potential. this will create an electrical impulse that travels down the axon

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16
Q

synaptic transmission

A
  1. electrical impulse travels down the axon
  2. the neurotransmitter is put inside a vesicle and taken to the terminal button
  3. when excited they will fire across the synaptic cleft
  4. excitatory are more likely to fire and bind to receptors but inhibitory are more likely not to fire and if they do more likely be reup taken
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17
Q

what is lateralisation

A

different brain functions controlled by different hemispheres

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18
Q

localisation of the brain

A

brain is split up into different areas for different functions

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19
Q

frontal lobe

A

responsible for voluntary movement and language

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20
Q

motor area

A

in the back of the frontal love. responsible for fine motor skills

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21
Q

somatosensory area

A

at the from of the parietal lobe which processes sensory information

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22
Q

parietal lobe

A

in charge of sensory perceptions such as touch and feeling pain

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23
Q

occipital lobe

A

vision. left side connects to right visual field and the right side connects to the left visual field

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24
Q

temporal lobe

A

responsible for hearing

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25
Q

brocas area

A

in charge of speech production. in the left frontal love. find it hard to find words and naming objects

26
Q

wernickes area

A

language understanding. found at the top of the temporal lobe. often produce nonsense words

27
Q

strengths of localisation

A
  • supported by neuroscience. dougherty studied 44 people with OCD. after having a cingulotomy 30% improved.
  • brain scans evidence. petersen showed activity in wernickes area for listening tasks and brocas area for reading tasks
28
Q

limitations of localisation

A
  • lashley removed 50% of rats brain and they couldnt learn the route as all parts of the brain works together holistically
  • language localisation is questioned. fMRIs found evidence of the right hemisphere showing language activity
29
Q

sperry aim

A

whether splitting the brain will help to treat people with severe epilepsy

30
Q

sperry procedure

A

eleven split brain patients were studied. the image or word projected to the rvf and an image or word presented to the lvf.

31
Q

sperry findings

A

rvf- could describe what was seen (the LH has the language centres)
lvf- can not name object. pinup picture shown to the lvf- couldnt see it but laughed.

32
Q

sperry conclusion

A

shows that the the brain in lateralised for the lh to do language and the rh to do emotions

33
Q

strengths to lateralisation

A

. brain functions in neurotypical brains as when asked to focus on finer details the LH was more active. shows its for neurotypical people as well
. the most recent split brain study (sperry)

34
Q

limitations to lateralisation

A

. ‘right brain and left brain people’ not true. they dd deal with other functions but there is no dominance to either
. cant establish cause and effect as control group did not have epilepsy so was a cofounding variable

35
Q

what is plasticity

A

the adapting of your brain over time that may be life long

36
Q

Maguire study

A

London taxi drives had more grey matter in their hippocampus. this is because of there spacial navigation skills

37
Q

strength of plasticity

A

it may be a life long ability. fMRI showed that the cortex activity in novice golfers reduced compared to a control group aged 40-60.

38
Q

limitations of plasticity

A

. possible negative consequences. phantom limb syndrome in amputees. leads to psychological problems
. seasonal brain changes cant be generalised as only tested on animals

39
Q

what is functional recovery after trauma

A

it is were the healthy parts of the brain take over the damaged brains functions

40
Q

strength to functional recovery

A

it has real world application. constraint induced movement therapy to help with stroke victims. shows it has medical implications

41
Q

limitations of functional recovery

A

. could be based on cognitive reserve as 40% of people with more than 16 years in education had a DFR whereas only 14% has DFR after 12 years of education. shows that cognitive reserve determines how well the brain responds to trauma
. small sample size. only 5 participants and no control group. flawed design

42
Q

fMRI

A

detects change is blood oxygenation and flow due to neural activity. when blood is more oxygenated when aroused the fMRI picks up on this and it lights up. it produces 3d images

43
Q

EEG

A

measures electrical activity in the brain via electrodes on a skull cap. shows brainwave patterns. is often a diagnostic tool for epilepsy

44
Q

ERP

A

when all extraneous brain activity is taken out of an EEG. brainwaves triggered by particular events

45
Q

post mortem

A

analysis of a dead persons brain. shows what caused deficiency or disease.

46
Q

pros and cons for fMRI

A

risk free as it doesn’t rely on radiation. does no damage to cells

has a poor temporal resolution as it has a 5 second lag between neural activity and the image

47
Q

pros and cons for EEG

A

has practical uses. helps us understand the stages of sleep. so is useful to the real world.

it produced a generalised signal from thousands of neurons so it cant distinguish the activity

48
Q

pros and cons of ERP

A

it is more specific that fMRIs and EEGs so is normally used most for cognitive research

lack of standardisation makes it hard to confirm findings in studies containing ERPs

49
Q

pros and cons of post mortem

A

useful for medical research as it found brocas and wernickes area. provides vital information

ethical issues as the person can not consent to this which makes then controversial

50
Q

how often is circadian rhythm

A

once every 24 hours

51
Q

what are endogenous pacemakers

A

internal body clocks

52
Q

what are exogenous zeitgebers

A

outside clues, biggest one being lights

53
Q

siffre study findings

A

found that he had a body clock of around 25 hours

54
Q

strengths to circadian rhythm

A

relates to night shifts. it was found that at 6am there was a lapse on concentration so more likely for accidents to happen. having economic implications

real world application to medial treatment. biological clock helps us to know when our key processes happen e.g. hormone release. taking aspirin at night is the best time to prevent heart attacks as they normal happen early in the morning.

55
Q

limitations of circadian rhythm

A

its hard to generalise as it is a small sample size. siffre study only done on one person

school is at the wrong time. would be better to start later. but this will disrupt parents and children will stay up later. changing school times will not be practical

56
Q

infradian rhythm

A

less than one cycle per day e.g. menstrual cycle. SAD triggered by melatonin as this is released when sunny. less secretion of melatonin which has a knock on effect to serotonin levels

57
Q

strengths for infradian rhythm

A

has an evolutionary basis as woman used to sync so if the mother died someone could breast feed its an adaptive strategy

it has real world application as light therapy can reduce SAD in 80% of people so shows to have some effect

58
Q

limitation of infradian rhythm

A

methods used in studies. menstruation can be controlled by cofounding variables such as stress and diet. no studies have obtained the same results

59
Q

ultradian rhythm

A

happens more than once every 24 hours. sleep pattern changes every 90 minutes. stage 1-2= light sleep. stage one there is a high frequency. stage 2 sleep spindles
stage 3-4= deep sleep or SWS. low frequency
stage 5- body is paralysed but brain waves resemble that of an awake brain

60
Q

strength of ultradian rhythm

A

age related changes to sleep. there is less SWS as there is less growth hormones. can be treated with medication. has medical value

61
Q

limitations of ultradian rhythm

A

individual differences as a lot of people had large differences for the duration of stage 3 and 4. makes it hard to describe sleep in any meaningful way

studies are untrue to life. attached to machinery so it will not recreate normal sleep patterns so a follow up study should be done at the patients house to see if there is a difference to make sure the results are meaningful

psychology (12 decks)

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