Biopsychology

Question 1

what is the nervous system?

Answer 1

it’s the body’s communcation system, responsible for transmitting information throughout.

Question 2

what is the central nervous system?

Answer 2

it includes the brain and spinal cord. the brain processes information and makes decisions, while the spinal cord transmits messages between the brain and rest of the body.

Question 3

what is the peripheral nervous system?

Answer 3

it connects the CNS to the rest of the body. it includes sensory and motor neurons that transmit signals to and from the brain. it’s divided into somantic nervous system (controls voluntary movements) and autonomic nervous system (control involuntary actions, made up of sympathetic = preparing for flight or flight, parasympathetic = rest and digest)

Question 4

what’s the endocrine system?

Answer 4

it’s made up of glands that secrete hormones, which act as a chemical messengers to regulate processes like metabolism, growth and mood.

Question 5

what’s the glands?

Answer 5

pituitary = master gland, it controls other glands and releases growth hormone. thyroid = regulates metabolism. adrenal = produces adrenaline. pancreas = regulates blood sugar level by releasing insulin and glucagon.

Question 6

what is the fight or flight response?

Answer 6

1. the body becomes aware of a stressor in the environment. 2. tthrough the sensory receptors in the peripheral nervous system, the hypothamalus coordinates a response and triggers activity level in the sympathetic branch. 3. adrenaline is released and transported to target effectors. 4. this results in saliva production being inhibited and greater breathing rate. the psychological response has the adaptive purpose to enable has to escape the stressor and increase survival.

Question 7

what is synaptic transmission?

Answer 7

a method of neurons comminucating with each other, relying information to the CNS across sensory neurons and carrying out responses.

Question 8

what’s the process of synaptic transmission?

Answer 8

1. an action potential reaches the presynaptic membrane, causing depolarisation through the opening of the calcium channel. 2. the increased concerntration of calcium ions causes the vesicles to fuse with the presynaptic membrane and released their contents into the synaptic cleft. 3. the neurotransmitter diffuses across the cleft and bind to specific receptors on the postsynaptic membrane.

Question 9

what are inhibitory neurotransmitters?

Answer 9

they reduces the potential difference across the post-synaptic membrane through the closure of the voltage-dependent sodium ion channe;s, reducing likelihood of an action potential being generated.

Question 10

what’s excitatory neurotransmitters?

Answer 10

they increase the potential difference across the postsynaptic membrane through triggering the opening of more voltage-dependent sodium ion channels, increasing the likelihood of an action potential being generated.

Question 11

what are neurons?

Answer 11

specialised cells that carry electrical impulses throughout the body, they allow us to process information, coordinate responses and interact with the environment.

Question 12

what are the types of neurons?

Answer 12

sensory = carries information from sensory receptor to brain and spinal cord, responsible for detecting stimuli. motor = carries impulses from brain and spinal cord to muscles and gland, enables voluntary/involuntary movements. relay = connectors between sensory and motor neurons and transmit signals.

Question 13

what’s localisation?

Answer 13

certain areas of the brain are responsible for certain processes and activities.

Question 14

what’s the motor area responsible for?

Answer 14

found in the frontal lobe. it regulates and coordinates movement. damage to this area can result in an inability to control voluntary motor movements.

Question 15

what’s the auditory area responsible for?

Answer 15

in the temporal lobe, it’s responsible for processing auditory information and speech. damage to this causes hearing loss

Question 16

what’s the visual area responsible for?

Answer 16

located in the occiptal lobe, responsible for processing visual information.

Question 17

what’s the somatosensory area responsible for?

Answer 17

located in the parietal lobe, responsible for processing sensory information such as touch, tempurature and pain.

Question 18

what’s Broca’s area?

Answer 18

located in the left frontal lobe. responsible for speech production. damage can result in difficuly in producing speech but still able to understand language.

Question 19

what’s Wernicke’s area?

Answer 19

found in the left temporal lobe, responsible for speech comprehension. damage can lead to Wernicke aphasia where individuals can produce fluent speech but it may be nonsensical and difficulty understanding language.

Question 20

what’s supporting evidence for localisation?

Answer 20

Tulving showed using PET scans that semantic memories were recalled from the left prefrontal cortex while episodic were recalled from the right prefrontal cortex. this shows different areas of the brain are responsible for different things.

Question 21

what’s a supporting case study of localisation?

Answer 21

Phineas Gage was injured by a blasting rod which intersected his prefrontal cortex. the damaged caused a defect in rational decision making and processing emotions. this shows different areas are responsible for specific functions.

Question 22

what’s a contradicting theory of localisation?

Question 23

what’s plasticity?

Answer 23

it’s the brains ability to physically and functionally adapt and change in response to trauma, new experiences and learning.

Question 24

what’s Maguire’s study?

Answer 24

after studying the brains of taxi drivers, he found a larger amount of grey matter volume in the hippocampi of their brains. there was also a positive correlation between an increasing grey matter and how long they’d be taxi drivers.

Question 25

what did Maguire conclude from his study?

Answer 25

a complex spatial representation which facilitates expert navigation and is associated with hippocampi grey matter volume. taxi drivers must have this ability when they take the test.

Question 26

what's functional recovery?

Answer 26

the ability of the brain to transfer the functions of areas damaged through trauma to healthy parts of the brain, allowing normal functioning to go on.

Question 27

what's Ramachandran's example of functional recovery?

Answer 27

his research into phantom limb syndrome, he explained as being caused by the sensory input from the face skin invading and activating deafferented hand zones in the cortex. this demonstrates negative plasticity as the neuroplasticity results in painful/negative consequences.

Question 28

what's the case of Jodi Miller in relation to functional recovery?

Answer 28

her right hemisphere was removed to help control her epileptic seizures through neuroplasticity, she was still able to control the right side of her body through the use of cerebral spinal fluid. this shows positive plasticity.

Question 29

what's supporting evidence of neuroplasticity?

Answer 29

Ramachandran demonstrated negative plasticity through the explanantion for phantom limb syndrome in terms of cortical reorganisation. positive plasticity has been demonstrated through the case study of Jodi Miller shown the power of recruiting homologous areas, axonal sprouting and reformation of blood vessels.

Question 30

how does neuroplasticity occur in animals?

Answer 30

Hubel + Weisel sutured the right eye of blind kittents, opening the eyes and monitoring brain activity in the visual cortex. although the right eye was closed, there was activity in the left visual cortex. this supports the idea that areas of the brain receiving no input can take over the function of highly stimulated areas.

Question 31

what's a weakness to functional recovery?

Answer 31

although after trauma,the brain activates secondary neural circuits which allow normal functioning. the brain can only repairs itself up to a certain point, after motor therapy is needed to increase recovery rates. therefore functional recovery can't be relied upon to reinstate normal functions.

Question 32

what's hemispheric lateralisation?

Answer 32

each hemisphere is mainly responsible for certain behaviours and activities. the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body and vice versa.

Question 33

what's Sperry + Gazzaniga's research?

Answer 33

conducted split-brain research on 11 epileptic patients. to control their seizures, they underwent cerebral commissurotomy, surgical lesioning of corpus callosum, where information is processed by 1 hemisphere can't rely on the other.

Question 34

what was the procedure of Sperry's study?

Answer 34

the patients had 1 eye covered so information couldn't be received by both eyes. the stimuli appeared for 1/10 second, prevent both hemispheres being used. there were strictly controlled conditions through lab experiment.

Question 35

what were the different conditions of Sperry's research?

Answer 35

1. describe what you see = if the stimuli was exposed to the right visual field, it would be processed by the left and the patient would say the word because the left hemisphere is the language centre. 2.

Question 36

what's weakness of split brain research?

Answer 36

lack of control with sample. the patients had been taking anti-epilepsy medications, which may affect their ability to recognise objects and match words. there also may have been a difference in their surgery, which would affect the degree that the hemispheres rely on each other. these confounding variables can't be controlleed so the research may be unreliable.

Question 37

how does Sperry's study demonstrated lateralisation?

Answer 37

split brain research was pivotal in establishing differences in functions between the 2 hemispheres. the left hemisphere is dominant for language and the right hemisphere is dominant for visuo-spatial tasks. the elft is the analsyer and the right is the synthesiser.

Question 38

how does split brain research contribute to lateralisation theories?

Answer 38

it supports the idea of a 'dual mind'. Pucetti criticised Sperry's work by saying the visual stimuli on the left half of each retina doesn't go to the right but to the left cerbral hemisphere, since the retina is concave. this research has sparked debate about basis of brain functions.

Question 39

what's EEG?

Answer 39

the brain's electrophysiological responses to specific events are isolated by doing a statistical analysis. this technique removes all extraneous brain activity by filtering out the responses related to presentation of specific stimuli.

Question 40

what's evaluation of EGG?

Answer 40

+ excellent temporal resolution. + used in the measurement of cognitive deficits and functions. - lack of standardisation in ERP methodology. - extraneous materials are an obstacle.

Question 41

what's fMRI scans?

Answer 41

areas of the brain with high levels of activity have a larger requirement for oxygenated blood, leading to higher rate of blood deoxygenation. the deoxyhaemoglobin in the blood in these active areas absorbs the signal produced by the scan so they appear brighter.

Question 42

what's the evaluation of fMRI scans?

Answer 42

+ high spatial resolution. + can be used while patient carrying out a task. + doesn't use ionising radiation. - poor temporal resolution

Question 43

what's EEG scans?

Answer 43

through the use of electrodes attached to the scalp, EEG scans measures and amplifies the electric activity across the whole brain.

Question 44

what's the evaluation of EEG scans?

Answer 44

+ useful in investigating the characteristics of the different stages of sleep. + higher temporal resolution. + useful in diagnosing epilepsy. - lower spatial resolution.

Question 45

what are post-mortem examinations?

Answer 45

a comparison of the patient's brain with that of a healthy, neurotypical brain. any differences are assumed to have caused neurological problems.

Question 46

what's the evaluation of post-mortem examinations?

Answer 46

+ useful for advancing medical knowledge. - ethical issues with informed consent. incorrectly makes assumptions that differences compared with neurotypical brains

Question 47

what are biological rhymths?

Answer 47

periodic biological fluctuations in an organism that correspond to periodic environmental change. this includes body tempurature, attention and sleep cycle.

Question 48

what's exogenous zeitgebers and endogenous pacemakers?

Answer 48

exogenous zeitgebers = external changes in the environment that affects our biological rhymths. endogenous pacemakers = controlled by internal clocks.

Question 49

what's the three types of biological rhymths?

Answer 49

circadian = completes 1 full cycle in 24 hours. infradian = a complete cycle occurs less than once in 24 hours. ultradian = a complete cycle occurs more than once in 24 hours.

Question 50

what's an example of a circadian rhymth?

Answer 50

light. changes in light exposure can trigger desynchronisation of the sleep-wake cycle.

Question 51

what's Siffre's study on circadian rhymths?

Answer 51

He descended into a cave on 16th July 1962, devoid of natural light. He finished on 14th September, thinking it was 20th August. this demonstrates that a prolonged exposure to a strong exogenous zeitgeber, the sleep-wake cycle becomes disrupted. his sleep-wake cycle was 24.5 hours. this describes a free running circadian rhymth?

Question 52

what's Aschoff + Wever's study on circadian rhymths?

Answer 52

55 participants spent 4 weeks in an underground bunker, deprived of light. all subjects had free running circadian rhymths with wakeness and sleep ranging from 23.9 to 50. 36 subjects remained synchronised.

Question 53

what's a weakness of Siffre's study?

Answer 53

the confounding variable of light. Czeiser demonstrated aritifical light can create shifts in circidan rhymths by 6 hours. Siffre's experiment was conducted when artifical light wasn't seen as an issue. this meant he could've been entraining his own circadian rhymth. his free running cycle may not be accurate.

Question 54

what's the issue with case studies in Sciffre's study?

Answer 54

even though he did multiple isolation studies, his results can't generalised to the wider population. lacking ecological validity. he noted as he grow old, his endogenous pacemaker was at a slower rate, which may act as an uncontrollable confounding variable.

Question 55

how does studies on circadian rhymths impact health of shift workers?

Answer 55

Karlsson, Knutsson and Lindahl found that shift work linked with obesity and low concerntration of HDL cholesterol. researchers believe the desynchronisation of the sleep-wake cycle leads to disruption of their metabolism. there are practical uses in improved understanding of desynchronisation. economical implications.

Question 56

what's McClintok's study on infradian rhymths?

Answer 56

he demonstrated that menstrual cycle synchronisation between 29 women who all had irregular periods. the pheromones from 9 were collected through pad on armpit and rubbed on upper lip for remaining 20.

Question 57

what's an example of the influence of endogenous pacemaker?

Answer 57

seasonal affective disorder is caused by disruption to the sleep-wake cycle and occurs in winter. longer nights means more melatonin is secreted from pituitary gland, which changes melatonin production, leading to loniless and sadness.

Question 58

what are the stages of sleep?

Answer 58

stage 1 and 2 are sleep escalator where participants are easily awoken. stage 3 and 4 are deeper and slower delta waves and stage 5 is REM sleep (dreaming).

Question 59

what's the issue with McClintok's study?

Answer 59

synchronisation isn't always present in all female samples. Trevathan found no evidence of synchronisation in all female participants used. McClintok didn't control extaneous variables - smoking, exercise and alcohol. this raises doubts about the influence of pheromones.

Question 60

how have animal studies supported role of pheromones?

Answer 60

Luo studied the effects of pheromones in the olfactory bulb of mice and found mammals encode social and reproductive information by integrating vomeronasal sensory activity specific to sex and genetic makeup. endogenous pacemakers have a critical role in entraining biological rhymths in animals.