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A2 Psychology > Biopsychology > Flashcards

Biopsychology Flashcards

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1
Q

What does the central nervous system consist of?

A

The brain and spinal cord

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2
Q

What is the peripheral nervous system subdivided into?

A

The autonomic and somatic nervous system

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3
Q

What is the role of the somatic nervous system?

A

Controls muscle movement and receives information from sensory receptors.

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4
Q

What is the role of the autonomic nervous system?

A

Governs vital functions such as breathing and hear rate. Subdivided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system

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5
Q

What is the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system?

A

The sympathetic nervous system generally increases bodily activities where as the parasympathetic nervous system maintains or decreases bodily activities

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6
Q

Sensory neurons

A

Tell the rest of the brain about external and internal environment by processing information taken from the senses

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7
Q

Relay neurons

A

Carry messages from one part of the CNS to another. Also they link sensory and motor neurones

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8
Q

Structure of a neurone

A

Dendrites- carry impulses from neighbouring neurons towards the cell body

Myelin sheath- Protects the icon an speeds up electrical transmission of the impulse

Axon- Carries impulses away from the cell body down the neuron

Cell body- Contains the nucleus

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9
Q

What is synaptic transmission?

A

The process for transmitting messages from neuron to neuron

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10
Q

Outline the process of synaptic transmission

A
  • In the pre synaptic neuron neurotransmitters will be collected together as vesicles
  • An electrical impulse travels down the neuron, causing an action potential
  • This causes the vesicles to be released into the synaptic cleft
  • The vesicles will then move towards the receptors on the postsynaptic neuron and they will bind here
  • The neurotransmitter will then either make that cell more or less likely to fire (excitatory/ inhibitory neurotransmitters)
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11
Q

Give an example of an excitatory neurotransmitter and an inhibitory neurotransmitter

A

Excitatory- Adrenaline

Inhibitory- Serotonin

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12
Q

Give an example of glands and the hormones released

A

Adrenal gland- adrenaline (fight or flight)
Testes- testosterone (reproduction)
Ovaries- oestrogen and progesterone(regulates the menstrual cycle)

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13
Q

Outline the process of the fight or flight response

A
  • The hypothalamus recognises that there is a threat and sends a message to the adrenal medulla
  • This trigger the release of adrenaline and prompts physiological changes
  • When the threat has passed, the parasympathetic nervous system returns the body to resting state
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14
Q

What are the physiological changes in the fight or fight response?

A
  • Increase heart and breathing rate
  • Pupils dilate
  • Inhibits digestion
  • Muscle tension increases
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15
Q

What is location of function of the brain?

A

The theory that different parts of the brain are responsible for different behaviours

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16
Q

Areas of the brain

A
  • Motor cortex= Involved in regulating movement
  • Somatosensory cortex= Processes sensory info
  • Primary visual cortex= Receives and processes visual information
  • Primary auditory cortex= Analysis of speech
  • Broca’s area= Responsible for speech production
  • Wernicke’s area= Responsible for language comprehension
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17
Q

Broca’s area

A

Case study of a patient who suffered from epilepsy and eventually lost the ability to speak other than use the word ‘tan’. Following a post mortem, Broca discovered a lesion on the left temporal lobe, leading to Broca asserting this area as in charge of language production

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18
Q

Wernicke’s area

A

Studies patients who could speak fluently but had problems comprehending language.

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19
Q

What is hemispheric lateralisation?

A

The idea that the 2 hemispheres are functionally different

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20
Q

The corpus callosum

A
  • The hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum
  • The optic nerve from each eye crosses over into the opposite hemisphere so our left eye will send signals the the right hemisphere and vice beers
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21
Q

What does the left and high hemisphere specialise in?

A

Left- language processing

Right- Analysis by touch

22
Q

Split brain patients

A

Removing the corpus callosum was a way of treating epilepsy. This allowed researcher to investigate the extent to which the 2 hemispheres were specialised for certain functions

23
Q

Evaluation of split brain studies

A
  • Rare and unique cases which provide a huge amount of rich information
  • Small sample and very unrepresentative
  • Anomalies my be exaggerated
  • The patients mostly had epilepsy which could have damaged the brain already and this means we are not sure whether the same effects would occur in people who hadn’t suffered from epilepsy
24
Q

Sperry

A
  • Participants would be presented with an image in one field of vision and then the other
  • Objects placed in the left hand couldn’t be identified by cold when they were placed in the right
  • Participants couldn’t describe images presented to their left hand side of their visual field but could point them out from a line of objects
25
Q

Maguire (2000)

A
  • Studied brains of london taxi drivers compared to non taxi controls
  • Taxi drivers had larger posterior hippocampus which is the area of the brain associated with spatial and navigational skills
  • The longer the taxi driver had been in the job, the larger their posterior hippocampus
  • Supports brain plasticity as it shows how brains can change due to learning
26
Q

What is an issue with Maguire’s study?

A
  • Androcentric
  • Can’t be generalised to the wider population
  • e.g research has shown that men and women’s brains differ such as women tend to have larger Broca’s and Wernicke’s area
  • This shows that men and women’s brains change in different ways
27
Q

Kuhn (2004)

A
  • Participants player Super Mario for at least 30 mins a day for 2 months and their brain development was compared to a control group who hadn’t played super Mario
  • It was found that the faming participants had more grey matter, particularly in the cortex, hippocampus and the cerebellum than the control group
28
Q

What is brain plasticity?

A

Refers to how the brain changes due to experience and learning. E.g infants experience rapid growth in the number of synaptic connections and this is known as bridging. With age, pruning occurs which is where rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connects are strengthens

29
Q

Explain axon sprouting in functional recovery

A

The brain sprouts new, neighbouring axons which replaces the damaged connections

30
Q

Explain the use of stem cells in functional recovery

A
  • A stem cell is an unspecialised cell which has the potential to become any other type of cell
  • E.g direct implants would replace the damaged cells and rescue implants would release hormones to repair the damaged cells
31
Q

Case study- EB

A
  • At the age of 2 and a half, EB had surgery which was required to remove a tumour
  • The surgery involves having virtually his entire left brain hemisphere removed which caused him to suffer loss of his nascent language abilities
  • However, with the help of rehab, his language fluency improved and he performed normally on many tasks
  • Shows it’s possible to recovery and more likely to recovery if young
32
Q

FMRI scans

A
  • The participant lies in the scanner
  • The scanners use a magnetic field to measure the amount of haemoglobin that is being used by different areas of the brain
  • Therefore when a part of the brain is active it is using oxygen and the scanner can detect with the haemoglobin is having oxygen and where it isn’t
33
Q

Evaluation of FMRI

A
  • More detailed picture than a PET scan and safer
  • Expensive
  • Require stillness and therefore it is very difficult to scan the brain whilst the participant is acting normally or doing normal everyday tasks
  • Claustrophobic
34
Q

EEG

A
  • A method of monitoring the brain

- The participant wears a cap which is fitted with electrodes placed at different parts of the skull

35
Q

ERP

A

The participant may be doing different tasks and the electrical activity is monitored whilst doing different tasks, producing a graph of activity

36
Q

Evaluation of EEG/ERP

A
  • Difficult to interpret

- Cheap

37
Q

Post mortems

A

After death

38
Q

What is an ultradian rhythm?

A

Occur more than once a day. E.g sleep cycles

39
Q

What is a circadian rhythm?

A

Occur about once a day E.g sleep wake cycle

40
Q

What is an infradian rhythm?

A

Occur less than once a day E.g menstrual cycle

41
Q

What are endogenous pacemakers?

A

Internal factors than influence biological rhythms

42
Q

What are exogenous zeitgebers?

A

External factos which regulate the timing o biological rhythms

43
Q

Outline the role of the suprachiasmatic nuclei in the sleep wake cycle

A

The SCN sends signal to the pineal gland to increase or decrease the production of melatonin which is an important hormone in the regulation of sleep

44
Q

Ralph (1990)

A

-Took SCN from a mutant beed of golden hamster with a circadian rhythm of just 20 hours and transplanted it into a hamster with a normal 24 hour rhythm
-The normal hamster then started to show a shorter rhythm
=Suggests that the SCN plays a role in determining the length of the circadian rhythm

45
Q

Siffre (1972)

A
  • Lived in a cafe for 6 months away from natural light and other zeitgebers so his biological clock could be ‘free running’
  • He settled into a cycle of about 25 hours
46
Q

How do light levels influence the sleep wake cycle

A

Low levels of light detected by photoreceptors in the eyes

  • Message sent to SNC
  • Pineal gland released melatonin which causes reduced brain activity (sleepiness)
47
Q

Body temp

A
  • Body temperature follows a circadian rhythm

- Boy temp tends to be highest about 4pm in the afternoon and lowest at around 4am

48
Q

Stages of sleep

A

-We start with a period of non REM sleep and then cycle between non REM and REM about every 90 mins

49
Q

Stages of sleep

A

Stage 1- light sleep, sense of falling common
Stage 2, Body temp drops, heart rate slows
Stages 3&4- deep sleep, delta waves
Stage 5- REM sleep- rapid eye movement

50
Q

Exogenous Zeitgebers in the mensural cycle

A
  • It seems that external factors can influence the menstrual cycle
  • The cycle appears to be affected by pheromones (chemicals that transmit information from one person to another)
51
Q

Russell et al (1980)

A
  • Collected sweat from one women each day and put it on wipes which were rubbed under the noses of another women each day
  • The womans menstrual cycle started to become synchronised with that of the first woman

A2 Psychology (11 decks)

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