Biopsychology

Question 1

What is the nervous system?

Answer 1

Consists of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.

Question 2

What is the central nervous system (CNS)?

Answer 2

Consists of the brain and the spinal cord and is the origin of all complex commands and decisions.

Question 3

What is the peripheral nervous system (PNS)?

Answer 3

Sends information to the CNS from the outside world, and transmits messages from the CNS to muscles and glands in the body.

Question 4

What is the somatic nervous system?

Answer 4

Transmits information from receptor cells in the sense organs to the CNS. It also receives information from the CNS that directs muscles to act.

Question 5

What is the autonomic nervous system?

Answer 5

Transmits information to and from internal bodily organs. It is ‘autonomic’ as the system operates involuntarily (it is automatic). It has two main divisions: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

Question 6

What is the endocrine system?

Answer 6

One of the body’s major information systems that instructs glands to release hormones directly into the bloodstream. These hormones are carried towards target organs in the body.

Question 7

Define Gland

Answer 7

An organ in the body that synthesises substances such as hormones.

Question 8

Define Hormones

Answer 8

Chemical substances that circulate in the bloodstream and only affect target organs. They are produced in large quantities but disappear quickly. Their effects are very powerful.

Question 9

What is the fight or flight response?

Answer 9

The way an animal responds when stressed. The body becomes physiologically aroused in readiness to fight an aggressor or, in some cases flee.

Question 10

Define Adrenaline

Answer 10

A hormone produced by the adrenal glands which is part of the human body’s immediate stress response system. Adrenaline has a strong effect on the cells of the cardiovascular system - stimulation the heart rate, contracting blood vessels and dilating air passages.

Question 11

Define Neuron

Answer 11

The basic building blocks of the nervous system, neurons are nerve cells that process and transmit messages through electrical and chemical signals.

Question 12

Define Sensory Neurons

Answer 12

These carry messages from the PNS (peripheral nervous system) to the CNS. They have long dendrites and short axons.

Question 13

Define Relay Neurons

Answer 13

These connect the sensory neurons to the motor or other relay neurons. They have short dendrites and short axons.

Question 14

Define Motor Neurons

Answer 14

These connect the CNS (central nervous system) to effectors such as muscles and glands. They have short dendrites and long axons.

Question 15

Define Synaptic Transmission

Answer 15

The process by which neighbouring neurons communicate with each other by sending chemical messages across the gap (the synapse) that separates them.

Question 16

Define Neurotransmitter

Answer 16

Brain chemicals released from synaptic vesicles that relay signals across the synapse from one neuron to another. Neurotransmitters can be broadly divided into those that perform an excitatory function and those that perform and inhibitory function.

Question 17

Define Excitation

Answer 17

When a neurotransmitter, such as adrenaline, increases the positive charge of the postsynaptic neuron. This increases the likelihood that the neuron will fire and pass on the electrical impulse.

Question 18

Define Inhibition

Answer 18

When a neurotransmitter, such as serotonin, increases the negative charge of the postsynaptic neuron. This decreases the likelihood that the neuron will fire and pass on the electrical impulse.

Question 19

A Level Only

Define Localisation of Function

Answer 19

The theory that different areas of the brain are responsible for different behaviours, processes or activities.

Question 21

A Level Only

Define Motor area

Answer 21

A region of the frontal lobe involved in regulating movement.

Question 22

A Level Only

Define Somatosensory area

Answer 22

An area of the parietal lobe that processes sensory information such as touch.

Question 23

A Level Only

Define Visual area

Answer 23

A part of the occipital lobe that receives and processes visual information

Question 24

A Level Only

Define Broca’s area

Answer 24

An area of the frontal lobe of the brain in the left hemisphere (in most people) responsible for speech production.

Question 25

A Level Only

Define Wernicke’s area

Answer 25

An area of the temporal lobe (encircling the auditory cortex) in the left hemisphere (in most people) responsible for language comprehension.

Question 26

A Level Only

Define Plasticity

Answer 26

Also referred to as neuroplasticity or cortical remapping. This describes the brain’s tendency to change and adapt (functionally and physically) as a result of experience and new learning.

Question 27

A Level Only

Define Functional Recovery

Answer 27

A form of plasticity. Following damage through trauma, the brain’s ability to redistribute or transfer functions usually performed by a damaged area(s) to other, undamaged area(s).

Question 28

A Level Only

Define Hemispheric Lateralisation

Answer 28

The idea that the two halves (hemispheres) of the brain are functionally different and that certain mental processes and behaviours are mainly controlled by one hemisphere rather than the other, as in the example of language (which is localised as well as lateralised).

Question 29

A Level Only

What is ‘split brain research’?

Answer 29

A series of studies which began in the 1960s (and are still ongoing) involving epileptic patients who had experienced a surgical separation of the hemispheres of the brain. This allowed researchers to investigate the extent to which brain function is lateralised.

Question 30

A Level Only

Define Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Answer 30

A method used to measure brain activity while a person is performing a task that uses MRI technology (detecting radio waves from changing magnetic fields). This enables researchers to detect which regions of the brain are rich is oxygen and thus are active.

Question 31

A Level Only

Define Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Answer 31

A record of the tiny electrical impulses produced by the brain’s activity. By measuring characteristic wave patterns, the EEG can help diagnose certain conditions of the brain.

Question 32

A Level Only

Define Event-related potential (ERPs)

Answer 32

The brain’s electrophysiological response to a specific sensory, cognitive or motor event can be isolate through statistical analysis of EEG data.

Question 33

A Level Only

What are circadian rhythms?

Answer 33

A type of biological rhythm, subject to a 24 hour cycle, which regulates a number of body processes such as the sleep/wake cycle and changes in core body temperature.

Question 34

A Level Only

What are biological rhythms?

Answer 34

Distinct patterns of changes in body activity that conform to cyclical time periods. Biological rhythms are influenced by internal body blocks (endogenous pacemakers) as well as external changes to the environment (exogenous zeitgebers).

Question 35

A Level Only

What are infradian rhythms?

Answer 35

A type of biological rhythm with a frequency of less than one cycle in 24 hours, such as menstruation and seasonal affective disorder.

Question 36

A Level Only

What are ultradian rhythms?

Answer 36

A type of biological rhythm with a frequency of more than one cycle in 24 hours, such as the stages of sleep.

Question 37

A Level Only

Define Endogenous Pacemakers

Answer 37

Internal body clocks that regulate many of our biological rhythms, such as the influence of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) on the sleep/ wake cycle.

Question 38

A Level Only

Define Exogenous Zeitgebers

Answer 38

External cues that may affect or entrain our biological rhythms, such as the influence of light on the sleep/ wake cycle.

Question 39

A Level Only

What is the sleep/wake cycle?

Answer 39

A daily cycle of biological activity based on a 24-hour period (circadian rhythm) that is influenced by regular variations in the environment, such as the alternation of night and day.