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Psychology A Level Approaches > Biopsychology > Flashcards

Biopsychology Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the divisions of the nervous system?

A

Peripheral nervous system

Central nervous system

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2
Q

What are the divisions of the central nervous system?

A

Brain

Spinal cord

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3
Q

What are the divisions of the peripheral nervous system?

A

Somatic nervous system

Autonomic nervous system

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4
Q

What are the divisions of the autonomic nervous system?

A

Sympathetic nervous system

Parasympathetic nervous system

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5
Q

What is the spinal cord’s main function?

A

To relay information between the brain and the rest of the body. This allows the brain to monitor and regulate bodily processes, such as digestion and breathing, and to coordinate voluntary movements

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6
Q

What is the auntonomic nervous system responsible for?

A

Regulates involuntary actions e.g heart beat

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7
Q

What is the somatic nervous system responsible for?

A

Carries sensory and motor information to and from the CNS

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8
Q

What is the sympathetic nervous system responsible for?

A

Helps us to deal with emergencies (fight or flight) such as increasing heart rate and blood pressure and dilating blood vessels in the muscles

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9
Q

What is the parasympathetic nervous system responsible for?

A

Relaxing a person again once an emergency has passed by reducing heart beat and blood pressure

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10
Q

What is the peripheral nervous system?

A

The part of the nervous system outside of the spinal cord and the brain

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11
Q

What is the action potential?

A

The electrical signal that travels down the axon

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12
Q

What are the three different types of neurons?

A

Motor
Sensory
Relay

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13
Q

What do neurons typically consist of?

A

Cell body
Dendrites
Axon

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14
Q

What is the myelin sheath?

A

Insulating layer that forms around the axon - this allows nerve impulses to transmit more rapidly along the axon

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15
Q

What are sensory neurons responsible for?

A

Carry nerve impulses from sensory receptors to the spinal cord and the brain

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16
Q

What are the relay neurons responsible for?

A

Allow sensory and motor neurons to communicate with each other

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17
Q

What are motor neurons responsible for?

A

They form synapses with muscles and control their contractions (located in CNS)

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18
Q

Describe a sensory neuron

A

Cell body is in the middle of axon
Located in sensory receptors
Carry messages to the brain

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19
Q

Describe a relay neuron

A

No myelin sheath they are slightly shorter because that’s their purpose
Located in brain and spinal cord

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20
Q

Describe a motor neuron

A

Longer axon than sensory
Located in central nervous system
Carries messages away from the brain

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21
Q

What is the function of the pituitary gland?

A

Often called master gland

Hormones released are important for regulating the endocrine system

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22
Q

What is the function of the adrenal gland?

A

It is important in the fight/flight response as it facilitates the release of adrenaline

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23
Q

What are the testicles function?

A

Facilitate the release of testosterone

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24
Q

What are the functions of the ovaries?

A

Facilitate that release of oestrogen and progesterone

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25
Q

What is the function of the endocrine system?

A

Manufactures and secretes chemical messengers known as hormones and instructs glands to release these hormones into bloodstream via blood vessels

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26
Q

What controls the pituitary gland?

A

Hypothalamus

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27
Q

What are the two parts of the pituitary gland?

A

Anterior (front) posterior (back)

28
Q

What hormones does the anterior pituitary gland produce?

A

ACTH - stimulates adrenal glands to produce cortisol
LH
FSH - females - stimulate ovaries to produce oestrogen and progesterone males - stimulate testes to produce testosterone

29
Q

What hormones does the posterior pituitary release?

A

Oxytocin which stimulates the contraction of the uterus in childbirth and is important for mother - infant bonding

30
Q

What are the two parts of the adrenal gland?

A

Adrenal medulla

Adrenal Cortex

31
Q

What hormones do the adrenal cortex produce?

A

Cortisol - stress hormone

Aldosterone - maintains blood volume and pressure

32
Q

What hormones do the adrenal medulla release?

A

Adrenaline and noradrenaline - prepares body for fight / flight

33
Q

What is the body’s response to accute stress?

A

Sympathetic nervous system is triggered
Sends a signal to the adrenal medulla
Releases adrenaline into bloodstream
Adrenaline circulates through the body and causes heart to beat faster, pushing blood to muscles, heart and other vital organs and blood pressure increases
Breathing becomes rapid in order to take in as much oxygen as possible and the body release glucose and fats which flood into bloodstream supplying energy to body
Parasympathetic nervous system is activated when the threat has passed, slowing down heart beat and reducing blood pressure.

34
Q

What is the body’s response to chronic stress?

A

Hypothalamus releases CRH into the blood stream
When it arrives at the pituitary gland it produces and releases ACTH
ACTH is transported in the bloodstream to its target site in the adrenal glands
ACTH stimulates the adrenal cortex
Releases cortisol which has several effects on the body : quick burst of energy / impaired cognitive performance

35
Q

What is a negative of fight or flight?

A

Females may have a different mechanism / tend and befriend / making alliances with other people / primary caregiver wants to protect their offspring

36
Q

Why can fight / flight be positive rather than negative?

A

Von Dawans et al challenged the females tend and befriend and males fight or flight found that acute stress can lead to cooperative behaviour even in men explaining human connection during times of crisis e.g 9/11

37
Q

Why doesn’t flight / fight tell the whole story

A

Gray argues that the first phase of reaction to a threat is not to fight or flee but to avoid confrontation / must animals display the initial freeze response

38
Q

What is the genetic basis to sex differences in fight / flight?

A

Lee and Harley have found evidence of a genetic basis - SRY gene found on Y chromosomes in males promote aggression resulting in fight or flight response as it releases adrenaline so absence of the SRY gene in females / oestrogen and oxytocin may prevent stress response

39
Q

What is localisation of function?

A

Is the idea that certain functions e.g. Language, memory have certain locations or areas within the brain. This idea has been supported b recent neuroimaging studies, but was also examine much earlier, typically using case studies.

40
Q

Where is the Motor area located?

A

Frontal lobe

41
Q

What is the motor area responsible for?

A

Voluntary movements by sending signals to the muscles in the body.

42
Q

Who researched the motor area in localisation of function of the brain?

A

Hitzig and Fritsch

43
Q

What did Hitzig and Fritch discover when researching the motor area of the brain?

A

Different muscles are coordinated by different areas of the motor cortex by electrically stimulating the motor area of dogs. This resulted in muscular contractions in different areas of the body depending on where the probe was inserted. This resulted in muscular contractions in different areas of the body depending on where the probe was inserted. The regions of the motor area are arranged in a logical order, for example, the region that controls finger movement is located next to the region that controls the hand and arm and so on.

44
Q

Where is the somatosensory area located?

A

Parietal lobe and receives incoming sensory information from the skin to produce sensations related to pressure, pain, temperature, etc.

45
Q

Who studied somatosensory area in localisation of function?

A

Robertson found that this area of the brain is highly adaptable, with Braille readers having larger areas in the somatosensory area for their fingertips compared to normal sighted participants.

46
Q

Where is the visual area of the brain located?

A

Occipital lobe, receives and processes visual information.

47
Q

In the visual area, where is information in the right hand side processed?

A

Left hemisphere

48
Q

Where is information from the right hand side visual field processed?

A

Left hemisphere

49
Q

What do the visual areas contain parts that process?

A

Colour, shape or movement

50
Q

Where is the auditory area located in the brain?

A

Temporal lobe and is responsible for analysing and processing acoustic information.

51
Q

Where does information from the right ear go?

A

Primarily to the left hemisphere and vice versa

52
Q

What parts does the auditory area contain?

A

Processing features of sound, including volume, tempo and pitch

53
Q

What is a case study that supports localisation of function of the brain?

A

Phinease gage

54
Q

How does Phineas Gage support localisation of function of the brain?

A

In 1848 while working on a rail line, he experienced a drastic accident in which a piece of iron went through his skull. Although Gage survived this ordeal, he did experience a change in personality, such as loss of inhibition and anger. This change provided evidence to support the theory of localisation of brain function, as it was believed that the area the iron stake damaged was responsible for personality

55
Q

How does Dronkers et al not support localisation of function of the brain?

A

Dronkers et al conducted an MRI scan on Tan’s brain, to try to confirm Broca’s findings. Although there was lesion found in Broca’s area, they also found evidence to suggest other areas may have contributed to the failure in speech production. These results suggest that the Broca’s area may not be the only region responsible for speech production and the deficits found in patients with Broca’s aphasia could be the result of damage to other neighbouring regions.

56
Q

How does Lashley not support localisation of function of the brain?

A

Lashley proposed the equipotentiality theory, which suggests that the basic motor sensory functions are localised, but that higher mental functions are not. This therefore casts doubt on theories about the localisation of functions, suggesting that functions are not localised to just one region

57
Q

What kind of reductionist is localisation of function of the brain?

A

Biologically reductionist

58
Q

What areas of the brain support localisation of function of the brain?

A

Broca and Wernicke’s area

59
Q

What is lateralisation?

A

The idea that the two halves of the brain are functionally different and that each hemisphere has functional specialisations, e.g. the left is dominant for language, and the right excels at visual motor tasks. The two hemispheres are connected through nerve fibres called the corpus callosum, which facilitate interhemispheric communication: allowing the left and right hemispheres to talk to one another

60
Q

who researched split brain?

A

Sorry and Gazzaniga

61
Q

What was the aim of sperry and gazzaniga’s research into split brain?

A

Examine the extent to which the two hemispheres are specialised for certain functions

62
Q

What is the method of Sperry and Gazzaniga’s research?

A

An image/ word is projected to the patients left visual field which is processed by the right hemisphere or the right visual field which is processed by the left hemisphere. When information is presented to one hemisphere in a split brain patient, the information is not transferred to the other hemisphere (as the corpus callosum is cut). Sperry and Gazzaniga conducted many different experiments, including describe what you see tasks, tactile tests and drawing tasks

In the describe what you see task a picture was presented to either the left or right visual field and the participant had to simply describe what they saw. In the tactile test, an object was placed in the patients left or right hand and they had to either describe what they felt, or delft a similar object from a series of alternate objects. Finally, in the drawing task, participants were presented with a picture in either their left or right visual field, and they had to simply draw what they saw

63
Q

What was Sperry and Gazzaniga’s conclusion?

A

There research highlights a number of key differences between the two hemispheres. Firstly, the left hemisphere is dominant in terms of speech and language. Secondly, the right hemisphere is dominant in terms of visual motor tasks

64
Q

How can Turk et al’s research not support split brain research?

A

Language may not be restricted to the left hemisphere. Turk et al discovered a patient who suffered damage to the left hemisphere but developed the capacity to speak in the right hemisphere, eventually leading to the ability to speak about the information presented to either side of the brain. This suggests that perhaps lateralisation is not fixed and that the brain can adapt following damage to certain areas.

65
Q

How can the fact that lateralisation changes with age not support split brain research?

A

Language became more lateralised to the left hemisphere with increasing age in children and adolescents, but after the age of 25, lateralisation decreased with each decade of life. This raises questions about lateralisation, such as whether everyone has one hemisphere that is dominant over the other and whether this dominance changes with age.

66
Q

How does Rogers et al research support split brain research?

A

Lateralisation increases neural processing capacity. Rogers et al found that in a domestic chicken, brain lateralisation is associated with an enhanced ability to perform two tasks simultaneously using only one hemisphere to engage in a task leaves the other hemisphere free to engage in other functions. This provides evidence for the advantages of brain lateralisation and demonstrates how it can enhance brain efficiency in cognitive tasks

67
Q

How can the split brain research be ideographic?

A

However because this research was carried out on animals it is impossible to conclude the same of humans. Unfortunately, much of the research into lateralisation is flawed because the split brain procedure is rarely carried out now, meaning patients are difficult to come by. Such studies often include very few participants, and often the research takes an ideographic approach

Psychology A Level Approaches (7 decks)

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