Biopsychology Flashcards
(Localisation of function A03)
Evidence for language areas
Wernicke’s area - active during listening task
Broca’s area - active during reading task
Peterson
(Localisation of function A03)
Memory
PET scans, radioactive gold
Episodic memory - frontal lobes
Semantic memory - posterior lobes
Tulving
(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
Dougherty
(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
Lashley
(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
Gopnick
(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
Maguire
(Plasticity)
Bilingual people - parietal cortex
- Found significantly larger parietal cortex in brains of bilingual people compared to monolingual controls
Mechelli
(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
Tang
(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
Ramachandran and Hirstein
(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
Bezzola
(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
Hubel and Wiesel
(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
Schneider
(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)
Sperry
(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
Pucetti
(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
Siffre
(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
Folkard
(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
Boivin
(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
Czeiler
(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
Dr Kelley
(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
Folkard
(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
Stern and McClintock
(Biological rhythms - infradian rhythms)
Debate over menstrual synchrony
- Would increase mating competition for highest quality males
Schank
(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
Eastman
(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
Decoursey
(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
Ralph
(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
Dement and Kleitman
(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
Kleitman
(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
Ericsson
(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
Campbell and Murphy
(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
Miles
(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
Damiola
