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Psychology > Biopsychology > Flashcards

Biopsychology Flashcards

1
Q

(Localisation of function A03)

Evidence for language areas

Wernicke’s area - active during listening task
Broca’s area - active during reading task

A

Peterson

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2
Q

(Localisation of function A03)

Memory

PET scans, radioactive gold
Episodic memory - frontal lobes
Semantic memory - posterior lobes

A

Tulving

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3
Q

(Localisation of function A03)

Neurosurgery

  • 44 OCD, depression patients
  • Cingulotomy - lesioning of cingulate gyrus - decision-making, emotional regulation

After 32 weeks

  • One-third had significant response
  • 14% had partial response
A

Dougherty

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4
Q

(Localisation of function A03)

Animal studies

Holism - some processes may be too complex to be localised

  • Remove 10-50% of cortex in rats learning a maze
  • No area appeared to be more important than others
  • Process of learning seemed to require every part of the brain
A

Lashley

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5
Q

(Plasticity)

Synaptic pruning

  • Our number of synaptic connections peaks at 2-3 years old
  • Approximately 15,000 (double the adult brain)
  • As we age, less frequently are depleted and others are strengthened
A

Gopnick

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6
Q

(Plasticity)

Taxi drivers - posterior hippocampus

  • Found significantly more grey matter in posterior hippocampus than control group
  • Associated with spatial and navigational skills
  • Positive correlation between time on the job and grey matter
A

Maguire

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7
Q

(Plasticity)

Bilingual people - parietal cortex

  • Found significantly larger parietal cortex in brains of bilingual people compared to monolingual controls
A

Mechelli

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8
Q

(Plasticity A03)

Positive plasticity

Meditation - anterior cingulate cortex

  • 4 weeks of meditation led to an increase in white matter in the anterior cingulate cortex
  • Associated with self-regulation and control
A

Tang

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9
Q

(Plasticity A03)

Negative plasticity

Phantom limb syndrome - somatosensory cortex

  • 60%-80% of amputees experience phantom limb syndrome
  • May due to reorganisation of the somatosensory cortex
A

Ramachandran and Hirstein

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10
Q

(Plasticity A03)

Golf - motor cortex

  • Used fMRI scans on 40-60 year old golfers (40 hours) and controls
  • Reduced activity in motor cortex for golfers
  • Suggests more efficient neural connections formed
A

Bezzola

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11
Q

(Plasticity A03)

Animal studies - visual cortex

  • Sewed one eye of kitten shut
  • The visual cortex associated with the eye was not idle , but continued to process information from other visual field
A

Hubel and Wiesel

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12
Q

(Plasticity A03)

Intellectual attainment and recovery

  • The more time spent in education, the greater the chances of disability-free recovery (DFR)

DFR patients - two-thirds in education for over 16 years
Other patients - 10% had less than 12 years in education

A

Schneider

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13
Q

(Hemispheric lateralisation)

Split-brain research

  • Describing images
    Image in right visual field - could be described
    Image in left visual field - could not describe/ reported that nothing was there
    (Because language centres are in the left hemisphere)
  • Touch recognition
    Image in left visual field - could not describe object, but could select matching one from a bag, or even a related object
    (Right hemisphere has no language centres but must store information about the purpose of objects - e.g. procedural memory)
A

Sperry

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14
Q

(Hemispheric lateralisation A03)

Theory - ‘duality in the brain’

  • We are all in two minds
  • The two hemispheres are functionally different and work independently of one another

Others argue that both are involved in everyday tasks - they do not usually work in isolation

A

Pucetti

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15
Q

(Biological rhythms - circadian rhythms)

Sleep/ wake cycle - cave study

  • Spent 6 months in a cave without natural light
  • Sleep/ wake cycle extended to about 25 hours, but remained regular

Light levels may help the body clock adjust to 24 hour cycle

A

Siffre

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16
Q

(Biological rhythms - circadian rhythms)

Sleep/ wake cycle - 22 hour day

  • 12 people in cave for 3 weeks
  • 11:45pm - 7:45am cycle
  • Researchers gradually sped up clocks
  • Only 1 participant able to comfortably adjust, others stayed awake or overslept

The body clock (suprachiasmatic nucleus) cannot be overriden by changes in light levels

A

Folkard

17
Q

(Biological rhythms - circadian rhythms A03)

Real-life application - shift work

  • Circadian trough - period of reduced concentration
  • Occurs at 6am: increased risk of accidents, poor productivity
A

Boivin

18
Q

(Biological rhythms - circadian rhythms A03)

Siffre’s cave study used artificial light

  • Successfully adjusted participant’s sleep/ wake cycles to 28 hours using constant dim light
  • Suggested high levels of light may acts as the equivalent of a drug that adjusts sleep patterns
A

Czeiler

19
Q

(Biolgogical rhythms - circadian rhythms A03)

Age differences

  • High school students allowed to start school at 10 am
  • Positive outcomes on academia and health
  • Younger people may need more sleep
A

Dr Kelley

20
Q

(Biological rhythms - circadian rhythms)

Core body temperature

  • Children who had stories read to them at 3pm more likely to recall them in a week than those who heard the same story at 9am
  • Suggested recall was better as their core body temperature was lower in the afternoon
A

Folkard

21
Q

(Biological rhythms - infradian rhythms)

Exogenous factors influencing the menstrual cycle

  • 29 women with irregular periods
  • “Odour donors” wore cotton pads on armpits to collect pheromones for each day of their cycle
    Rubbed on the lip on other woman
  • 68% experiened changes in their cycle that bought them closer to the cycle of their donor
A

Stern and McClintock

22
Q

(Biological rhythms - infradian rhythms)

Debate over menstrual synchrony

  • Would increase mating competition for highest quality males
A

Schank

23
Q

(Biological rhythms - infradian rhythms)

Real life application for SAD - phototherapy

  • Lightboxes use strong articial light that mimicks daylight to reset melatonin levels
  • 60% of sufferers seemed to benefit
  • However, there was a placebo effect of 30% when deactivated negative-ion generators’ were used
A

Eastman

24
Q

(Endogenous pacemakers)

Chipmunks

  • 30 chipmunks
  • Suprachiasmatic nucleus severed
  • Observed for 80 days
  • Sleep/wake cycle became irregular - most killed by pray as they were awake during the day
A

Decoursey

25
Q

(Endogenous pacemakers)

‘Mutant hamsters’

  • Bred hamsters with 20-hour sleep/ wake cycle
  • Removed the nucleus of normal hamsters and implanted SCN cells from ‘mutant hamsters’
  • The non-mutant hamsters inherited the 20-hour cycle
A

Ralph

26
Q

(Biological rhythms - circadian rhythms)

EEG evidence

  • EEG scans of 9 ppts in ‘sleep lab’
  • Controlled for effects of caffeine and alcohol
  • REM activity highly correlated with experience of dreaming
  • Ppts woken up in this stage had precise recall of dreams, and vivid dreams were associated with increased activity
A

Dement and Kleitman

27
Q

(Biological rhythms - Ultradian rhythms)

Basic rest-activity cycle (BRAC)

  • Suggested 90 minute rhythm continues during waking hours
    Periods of awakeness followed by fatigue
  • Studies show most people can concerate for around 90 minutes
  • Most people take breaks when working
A

Kleitman

28
Q

(Biological rhythms - ultradian rhythms)

BRAC evidence

  • Best violinists tended to practise for 3 sessions a day of no longer than 90 minutes with breaks inbetween
A

Ericsson

29
Q

(Endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitebers)

Light may also be absorbed by skin

  • Light pads shone on the back of ppt’s knees (absorbed by skin receptor sites)
  • 15 ppts woken up at various points
  • Managed to produce deviations in sleep cycles of up to 3 hours
A

Campbell and Murphy

30
Q

(Endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers)

Lack of influence of social cues

  • Case study of man blind from birth
  • Circadian rhythm of 24.9 hours
  • Social cues unable to adjust this
  • Had to take sedatives at night and stimulants in the morning
A

Miles

31
Q

(Endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers)

Other endogenous pacemakers - liver

  • Changing feeding patterns of mice could alter the circadian rhythms of cells in the liver by up to 12 hours
  • However, the rhythm of the SCN was unaffected
A

Damiola

Psychology (8 decks)

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