Biopsychology 2

Question 1

Outline the process of synaptic transmission

Answer 1

•release of neurotransmitters into synapse
•bind with receptors of post synaptic neutron ( next neutron)

Question 2

Role of the somatic nervous system

Answer 2

connects the CNS and the senses

Question 3

Evaluate the use of EEG’s as a way of identifying cortical specialisation in the brain

Answer 3

•safe way of measuring, no surgery or invasive process, comfortable to patient
•diagnostic tool

Question 4

Outline one difference between the EEG and the ERP’s

Answer 4

•EEG is the general brain activity eg sleep whilst ERP are caused by specific stimuli presented to ppt

Question 5

One function of the endocrine system

Answer 5

•secrete hormones required to regulate many bodily functions

Question 6

Explain fight or flight response

Answer 6

•respond to perceived threatening situations through a physiological change
•e.g. increased heart rate if someone seems to be following you

Question 7

Sympathetic responses

Answer 7

•respond to perceived threat through physiological changes that prepare body for flight or fight

Question 8

Parasympathetic response

Answer 8

•restored normal physiological functions when threat has passed

Question 9

Autonomic and Somatic system

Answer 9

•autonomic: governs vital functions in body eg breathing, digestion
•somatic: governs muscle movements and receives info from sensory receptors in sense organs, goes to CNS

Question 10

Endocrine system

Answer 10

•controls vital functions in the body
•glands secrete hormones in the bloodstream and affect any cell with receptor for hormone
•pituitary gland in brain controls release of other hormones ‘’master gland” activated by the hypothalamus

Question 11

role of nervous system

Answer 11

•collects, processes and responds to info in environment
•coordinate working of different organs and cells in the body

Question 12

role and structure of sensory, motor and relay neuron

Answer 12

•sensory : carry msgs from PNS to CNS, long dendrites short axons
•relay: connect sensory to motor and other neutrons, short dendrites short axons
•motor: connect CNS to effectors eg muscle, short dendrites and long axons

Question 13

Localisation A03 support

Answer 13

•evidence from neurosurgery, Dougherty reported 44 people with OCD done cingulotomy, 32 weeks after 30% met criteria for successful response to surgery, success=behaviours associated with mental disorders may b localised
•brain scans support brain functions as localised, buckner and petersen showed wernickes area was active during listening task and broca during reading, semantic&episodic=prefrontal cortex, objective measures for measuring brain activity that brain is localised

Question 14

Localisation A03 limitation

Answer 14

•language localisation questioned, language may not be just broca and wernickes area, dick and tremblay found only 2% of morden researchers think language is controlled by B and W, fMIR’s mean more clarity over studies, language is distributed holistically eg cortez right hemisphere subcortical regions, language may b more holist + contradicts localisation

Question 15

Central Nervous system

Answer 15

made up of
•brain - conscious awareness, 3mm thick covers like an orange peel, two hemispheres
•spinal cord- extension of brain, passes msgs to and from brain and connects nerves to PNS, reflex actions

Question 16

Peripheral nervous system

Answer 16

•transmits msgs via millions of neurons to and from CNS
•divided into autonomic and somatic

Question 17

Synaptic transmission

Answer 17

•chemical
•neurotransmitters diffuse across synapse to next neuron, taken up by post synaptic receptor sites, converted to electrical impulses, direction of travel one way, lock and key, specialised function
•excitation and inhibition
•summation

Question 18

Spilt brain research A01

Answer 18

Sperry
•procedure: 11 ppl w/ spilt brain operation cut corpus callosum (normal brain = normal communication) image projected to RVF or LVF
•findings: RFV=can describe but not LFV but could select matching object using left hand LFV= select object , an emotional reaction but saw nothing/ flash
•conclusion : LH is verbal RH is silent but emotional

Question 19

Hemispheric lateralisation A03

Answer 19

•strength, connected brain hemispheres process info different, Fink used PET scans to identify active areas during visual process, global elements = RH, specific elements = LH, h.l. is feature of connected brain aswell as split brain
•limitation: LH as analyser RH as synthesiser may be wrong, different function but no dominate side, Nielsen found no dominant side, no left /right brained ppl

Question 20

Spilt brain A03

Answer 20

•research support, Gazzaniga spilt brain perform better than connected eg faster at identifying odd one out, normal LH better cognitive watered down by inferior RH, left & right brain distinct
•generalisation issues, casual relationships hard to establish, split brain compared to neurotypical control group no epilepsy, confounding variable, differences=epilepsy

Question 21

Plasticity A01

Answer 21

•plasticity: brains tendency to adapt as a result of new learning, peaking around 15K per neuron at 2-3 year, synaptic pruning
•Maguire, London taxi drivers, found more grey matter in posterior hippocampus than control, development of spatial and navigational skills, complex test ‘the knowledge’, alters brain structure, the longer time in job the more pronounced difference
•Draganski: imaged medical students brain before and after, learning induced changes in posterior hippocampus and pariental cortex

Question 22

Functional recovery A01

Answer 22

•after brain trauma unaffected areas of the brain adapt and compensate for damaged areas= neural plasticity, occurs quickly after trauma, slows down after weeks, require rehabilitative therapy
•axonal sprouting: growth of new nerve endings connect to undamaged nerve cells for new neuronal pathways
•denervation supersensitivty: axons with similar job become aroused
•recruitment of homologous: areas of opposite side of brain

Question 23

Plasticity A03

Answer 23

•negative behavioural consequences, prolonged drug use leads to poorer cognitive functioning later in life, increased risk of dementia, 60-80% of amputees develop phantom limb syndrome, feeling of missing limb, unpleasant not always beneficial
•life long ability, Bezzola, 40hrs of golf produced changes in neural representations of movements for 40-60 aged ppl, fMRI increased motor cortex than control, continue through life span

Question 24

Functional recovery A03

Answer 24

•real world, contribute to field of neurorehabilitation, understand axon growth encourages new therapies, constraint-induced movement therapy used for stroke patients, held medical professionals know when interventions needed
•level of education may influence recovery rates, Schneider, revealed more time people with brain injury were in education, greater chances of disability free recovery, 40% of those who achieved DFR had 16 years to 10% who had less than 12, brian damage have insufficient DFR= less likely full recovery

Question 25

fMRI A01 and A03

Answer 25

•detects changes in blood oxygenation and flow, shows which regions are active, produce 3D images
•risk free, non invasive, high spatial
•expensive, poor temporal resolution

Question 26

EEG A01 and A03

Answer 26

•measure brainwave patterns from thousands of neurons via electrodes
•real world uses (sleep stages, diagnosis of epilepsy), high temporal resolution
•comes from 1000s of neurons can’t identify source

Question 27

ERP A01 and A03

Answer 27

•brain waves triggered by particular events filtered from EEG recordings
•more specific then EEG, higher temporal resolution than fMRI
•no standardised method, background noise not easy to control

Question 28

Post Mortem A01 and A03

Answer 28

•study of brain after death in order to find brain areas to observed behaviour decfixurs
•early research (broca)
•causation an issue, consent issues

Question 29

Circadian rhythm’s A03 strengths

Answer 29

•shift work, understanding when they are disrupted, eg night workers have reduced concentration, mistakes and accidents more likely, shift work and poor health (more likely to develop heart disease than people who work typically), real economical implications worker productivity
•used to improve medical treatment, coordinate basic processes leads to field of chronotherapeutics= most effective way to take drugs eg aspirin best if last thing at night bc heart attacks most common in morning, increased effectiveness of drug treatments

Question 30

Circadian rhythms A03 Limitations

Answer 30

•individual differences, generalisation difficult to make, ppt from very small sample, sleep and wake varies from person to resin bc Czeisler found varies from 13-65 hours, duffy found people are larks (bed and rising early) or owls, siffre observed his sleep cycle slowed down, difficult to use data to discuss anything more than averages

Question 31

Infradian rhythms: synchronising menstrual cycle A01

Answer 31

•McClintock studied 29 women with irregular periods, gathered pheromones from 9 women at different stages of cycle via cotton pad under armpit(8hrs) ,
pads treated with alcohol and frozen to be rubbed on upper lip and on day one pads were applied to all 20 women and day two from second day ext, 68% of women have changed to cycle closer to odour donor

Question 32

Ultradian rhythms A01

Answer 32

•sleep cycle
stage 1 and 2: light sleep, easily woken, high frequency, short amplitude, alpha waves stage 2, occasional sleep spindles
stage 3 and 4: deep sleep or slow wave sleep, delta waves with lower frequency and higher amplitudes, difficult to wake
stage 5: REM sleep, body paralysed yet brain activity closely resembles that of awake brain, theta waves, eyes moves around(REM) dreams here or deep sleep

Question 33

infradian rhythms A03

Answer 33

•evolutionary basis, mestral synchrony explained by natural selection, evolutionary value as ancestors may have seen women menstruating together and pregnant at same time as good só still have access to breast milk improves chances of survival, adaptive strategy
•methodological shortcomings, factors that effect change to menstrual cycle eg stress, diet ect = confounding variable só patterns of synchronisation expected to occur by chance, explain failure of replicability, flawed

Question 34

Ultradian rhythms A03

Answer 34

•improved understanding of age related changes in sleep, SWS reduces with age, growth hormone is mostly produced during SWS therefore it is reduced in older ppl, Cauter: resulting sleep deficit explains issues in old age eg reduced alertness, increase SWS= relaxation and medication, practical value
•individual differences, variation between people, Tucker found large differences in duration of sleep stage between ppts particularly stage 3 and 4, biologically determined, difficult to describe normal sleep

Question 35

Summation

Answer 35

Net effect of adding up the excitatory and inhibitory synaptic input, to decide whether the neurons should fire