Biopsychology

Question 1

Nervous system

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Central Nervous System

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Somatic Nervous System

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Autonomic Nervous System

Answer 4

Transmits info to and from internal bodily organs. I is automatic as the system operates involuntarily. It has 2 main divisions: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

Question 5

peripheral nervous system

Answer 5

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

Question 6

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

Gland

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Hormones

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Flight or fight

Answer 9

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

Question 10

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-stimulating the hear rate, contracting blood vessels and dilating air passages.

Question 11

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

Sensory Neurons

Answer 12

These carry messages from the PNS to the CNS. They have long dendrites and short axons.

Question 13

Relay Neurons

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Motor Neurons

Answer 14

These connect the CNS to effectors such as muscles and glands. They have short dendrites and long axons.

Question 15

Synaptic Transmission

Answer 15

The process by which neighbouring neurons communicate with each other by sending chemical messages across the synaptic cleft that separates them.

Question 16

Neurotransmitter

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Excitation

Answer 17

When a neurotransmitter (EG adrenaline) increases the positive charge of the post-synaptic neuron. This increases the likelihood that the neuron will fire and pass on the electrical impulse.

Question 18

Inhibition

Answer 18

When a neurotransmitter (EG Serotonin) makes the charge of the post-synaptic neuron more negative. This decreases the likelihood that the neuron will fire and pass on the electrical impulse.

Question 19

Localisation of Function

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Motor Area

Answer 20

A region of the frontal lobe involved in regulating movement.

Question 21

Somatosensory Area

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Visual Area

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Auditory Area

Answer 23

Located in the temporal lobe and concerned with the analysis of speech based information.

Question 24

Broca’s Area

Answer 24

An area of the frontal lobe of the brain in the left hemisphere responsible for speech production.

Question 25

Wernicke’s Area

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Plasticity

Answer 26

The brain’s tendency to change and adapt as a result of experience and new learning.

Question 27

Functional Recovery

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Synaptic pruning

Answer 28

As we age rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened.

Question 29

Hemispheric lateralisation

Answer 29

The idea that the 2 halves of the brain are functionally different and that certain mental processes and behaviours are mainly controlled by one hemisphere rather than the other EG language which is localised and lateralised.

Question 30

Split-Brain Research

Answer 30

A series of studies which began into the 1960s involving epileptic patients who had experience a surgical separation of the hemispheres of the brain. This allowed researchers to investigate the extent to which brain function is lateralised.

Question 31

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Answer 31

Method used to measure brain activity while a person is performing a task that uses MRI technology. This enables researchers to detect which regions of the brain are rich in oxygen and thus are active.

Question 32

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Post-Mortem Examinations

Answer 34

The brain is analysed after death to determine whether certain observed behaviours during the patient’s lifetime can be linked to abnormalities in the brain.

Question 35

Biological rhythms

Answer 35

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

Question 36

Circadian rhythm

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Infradian Rhythm

Answer 37

A type of biological rhythm with a frequency of less than one cycle in 24hrs (EG menstruation and seasonal affective disorder: SAD.)

Question 38

Ultradian Rhythm

Answer 38

A type of biological rhythm with a frequency of more than one cycle in 24hrs (EG stages of sleep.)

Question 39

Endogenous Pacemakers

Answer 39

Internal body clocks that regulate many of our biological rhythms EG. the influence of the suprachiasmatic nucleus on the sleep/wake cycle

Question 40

Exogenous Zeitgebers

Answer 40

External cues that may affect/entrain our biological rhythms EG. influence of light on the sleep/wake cycle.

Question 41

Sleep/Wake Cycle

Answer 41

A daily cycle of biological activity based on a 24hr period that is influenced by regular variations in the environment EG the alternation of night and day.