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Biopsychology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the Holistic view?

A

That all parts of the brain are involved in processing action and thought

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2
Q

What was Broca and Wernicke’s view in the 19th century?

A

They argued localisation of function which refers to the principle that specific functions e.g language and memory have specific locations in the brain and if that part of the brain is injured that particular function is affected

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3
Q

What is the brain divided into?

A

2 symmetrical halves known as the left and right hemisphere which control particular functions

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4
Q

What is lateralisation?

A

Where hemispheres control particular functions

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5
Q

What is the general rule for lateralisation?

A

Everything that happens on the right hand side of the body is controlled by the left hemisphere and vice versa

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6
Q

What is the outer layer of a hemisphere called?

A

Cerebral cortex

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7
Q

What are the features of the cerebral cortex?

A

Covers inside of brain
3mm thick
Appears grey due to local cell body
Separates us from animals

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8
Q

What is the cortex divided into?

A

4 lobes

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9
Q

What are the 4 lobes called?

A

Frontal
Parietal
Occipital
Temporal

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10
Q

What is located at the back of the frontal lobe?

A

The motor area

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11
Q

What is motor area responsible for?

A

Voluntary movement on the opposite side of the body

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12
Q

What could damage to the motor area result in?

A

Loss of control over finer motor movements

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13
Q

What is located at the front of the parietal lobe?

A

Somatosensory area

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14
Q

What is the somatosensory area responsible for?

A

An area where sensory information from the skin e.g. touch and pressure is recieved

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15
Q

What does the amount of somatosensory area devoted to a body part determine?

A

How sensitive that body part is

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16
Q

What area of the body is over half the somatosensory area devoted to?

A

The hands and the face

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17
Q

What is the role of the occipital lobe?

A

Home of visual areas/cortex where it recieves info from the eye and stores it in left hemisphere

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18
Q

What does damage to the occipital lobe result in?

A

Damage to both eyes due to them both being controlled by the left hemisphere

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19
Q

What is the function of the temporal lobe?

A

It is the auditory area which analyses speech based info

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20
Q

What does damage to the temporal lobe affect?

A

May result in hearing loss

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21
Q

Which hemisphere is the language area of the brain mostly restricted to?

A

Left

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22
Q

What is the Broca area?

A

A small area in the frontal lobe responsible for speech production

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23
Q

What can damage to the Broca’s area cause?

A

Broca’s aphasia characterised by slow speech, which is laborised and lacking fluency

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24
Q

What is Wernicke’s area?

A

A small area in the left temporal lobe responsible for language

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25
Q

What would damage to the Wernicke’s area cause?

A

Wernicke aphasia where patients produced nonsense sentences that were meaningless

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26
Q

How did Wernicke discover the Wernicke’s area?

A

He noticed that patients who had no problems producing language had problems understanding it, as there speech produced was meaningless but fluid.

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27
Q

How does brain scan evidence support the idea of localisation?

A

Supports theory in relation to language and memory as Peterson et al used brain scanning to demonstrate how W area was active during a listening task and B area was active during a reading task suggesting that these areas of the brain have different functions.

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28
Q

How does Tulving research support localisation?

A

Said semantic and episodic memories reside in different parts of the prefrontal cortex

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29
Q

How does dougherty support the idea that behaviour and symptoms of the mentally ill are localised?

A

Reported on 44 OCD patients who had undergone a cingulotomy (lesioning of cingulate gyrus) at post surgical follow up after 32 weeks a third met the criteria for a successful response and 14% for a partial response

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30
Q

How do case studies support the idea of localisation?

A

Phineas Gage was involved in an explosive accident where a metre pole was hurtled through his left cheek and eye and brain, removing the frontal lobe. This resulted in a severe change in personality from calm to quick tempered and rude.

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31
Q

What does the case study of Phineas Gage suggest about the frontal lobe?

A

It is important for regulating mood.

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32
Q

Who developed the Lobotomy and what did it involve?

A

Walter Freeman in the 1950’s. It involved the severing of severe connections in the frontal lobe in an attempt to control aggressive behaviour.

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33
Q

When is the technique of lobotomy still used in todays society?

A

In extreme cases of OCD and depression

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34
Q

How does Lashley disagree with localisation?

A

Higher cognitive functions are not localised but distributed in a holistic way. He removed 10-50% of the cortex in rats that were learning how to exit a maze. The process of learning appeared to use every part of the brain rather than this one confined area suggesting that learning is too complex to be confined to one area.

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35
Q

Why does plasticity goes against localisation?

A

Plasticity suggests that when an area of the brain is damaged due to illness of accident and a particular function is lost, the other parts of the brain work together to recover some of this lost function

36
Q

What does the Law of Equipotentiality suggest?

A

Surviving brain circuits chip in to achieve same neurological function

37
Q

What is plasticity?

A

Brains tendency to adapt and change as a result of experience and new learning

38
Q

What is functional recovery?

A

A form of plasticity. Following damage to the brain through a trauma- the brains ability to redistribute or transfer functions usually performed by the damaged area to other areas which remain undamaged

39
Q

What is brain plasticity like in infancy?

A

The brain experience rapid growth in a number of synaptic connections - 15,000 by age 2-3 which Gopnick states to be twice as many as adults

40
Q

What happens to connections as we age?

A

Rarely used connections are deleted and more frequently used connections are strengthened- this is known as synaptic pruning

41
Q

What was previously thought about an adults brain and what is believed now?

A

Previously thought an adults brain was fixed in terms of function and structure - research now shows neural connections can change at any time

42
Q

What is the most known research into plasticity and what does it show?

A

Maguire 2000 studied the brains of London Taxi drivers. They had significant more volume of grey matter in posterious hippocampus than in control group. This part of brain is linked to navigational and spatial skills. In training “The Knowledge” is completed to assess ability to navigate streets using all possible routes which strengthens this area of the brain. The longer they worked the job the more pronounced the structural differences- positive correlation.

43
Q

What did Draganski research entail and show?

A

Imaged the brains of medical students 3 months before a final exam and after the final exam. Found that structural changes occurred in posterious hippocampus and parietal cortex.

44
Q

What did Mechelli find out?

A

Larger parietal cortex in those who were bilingual compared to those who were monolingual.

45
Q

How does functional recovery work?

A

Immediately after a trauma/injury e.g. a stroke healthy brain areas may take over unhealthy brain areas which are unable to perform a particular function. This is known as spontaneous recovery. It will then slow down after several weeks/ months and at this point a patient may require further rehabilitation therapy

46
Q

What is brain injury recovery?

A

The brain is able to rewire and re-organise itself by forming new synaptic connections close to the area of damage. Secondary neural pathways are activated to enable functioning to continue.

47
Q

What is axonal sprouting?

A

The growth of the nerve endings which connect to the other undamaged nerve cells to create new neural pathways.

48
Q

What is reformation of blood vessels?

A

Recruitment of similar areas on the opposite side of the brain to perform specific tasks e.g Broca area damaged so right side compensates.

49
Q

What is a practical application of plasticity?

A

Neuro- Rehabilitation has developed following injury or illness to the brain. Sponetaneous recovery tends to slow down after several week so further therapy is required to maintain functioning e.g. movement therapy and electrical stimulation. Shows brain has ability to partly fix itself but requires further support.

50
Q

What is negative plasticity?

A

The brain has the ability to revive itself but this can sometimes have maldaptive consequences e.g. prolonged drug use = poorer cognitive functioning and a higher risk of dementia

51
Q

What did Medina et al 2007 study show?

A

60-80% of amputees have been known to develop phantom limb syndrome - the continued sensations of missing limb which are unpleasant and painful and due to cortical re-organisation in somatosensory cortex

52
Q

What is the relationship with age and plasticity?

A

Functional plasticity tends to reduce with age. The brain is more able to reorganise in childhood as it is constantly changing to new experiences.

53
Q

What did Bezzola study show?

A

40 hours of golf training produced changes in the neural representation of movement in people 40-60 years. Using FMRI researchers observed reduced motor cortex activity in novice golfers compared to control group suggesting that training gives more efficient neural representations. Shows neural plasticity occurs throughout lifespan.

54
Q

How do animal studies support plasticity?

A

Hubel and Wiesel involved sewing one kitten eye shut and analysing the brain cortical responses. They found that the area of the visual cortex associated with the shut eye was not idle but continued to process info from the open eye

55
Q

How does education impact plasticity?

A

Evidence suggests that education attainment influences how well the brain adapts after injury. Schnieder discovered the more time a patient had spent in education the greater their chances of being disability free.

56
Q

How does the case of Gabby Giffords support plasticity?

A

Gabby was a politician who survived an assassination attempt when she was shot in the head. She was placed in a waking coma and made excellent progress. With rehabilitation she was able to walk again and regain control of her left arm, leg and hand. Sh could read, understand and speak phrases. Placed in top 5% of those who have recovered from brain injury.

57
Q

What is hemispheric lateralisation?

A

The ability to produce and understand language is controlled by the left hemisphere, rather than both hemispheres

58
Q

Who were the RPS in Sperry experiment?

A

A group of individuals who had undergone the same surgery where the corpus collosum was cut down the middle in an attempt to control seizures, meaning that the main line of communication was cut off

59
Q

Why did Sperry choose patients who had undergone a commissurotomy?

A

So he could see the extent to which the two hemispheres were specialised and whether tasks were performed independent of each other

60
Q

What was Sperry’s procedure?

A

An image or word is presented to a patients right visual field, processed by the left hemisphere and in the normal brain the corpus collosum would share the info between both hemispheres giving a complete picture. Presenting the image to only one hemisphere meant the other could not access the info.

61
Q

Sperry key findings?

A

When an object was shown to a patients right visual field they could perfectly describe it, when shown to the left they stated that there was no object there. This was due to the language area being in the left hemisphere.

62
Q

What was the importance of recognition by touch in Sperry’s experiment?

A

Participants could select a corresponding object with their left hand which represented what they had been shown with their left eye even though they had no idea why they selected this object.

63
Q

What was the importance of composite words in Sperry’s experiment?

A

Patients were presented with two simultaneous words e.g. key on the left and ring on the right. Participants would write the word key but speak the word ring. This shows the superiority of the right hemisphere in drawing tasks.

64
Q

Why was Sperry’s methodology so strong?

A

Made use of highly specialised and standardised procedures. The method of presenting visual information to one hemisphere at a time was ingenius. Using case studies as well as experiements allowed Sperry to collect both types of data. Using both also increased reliability and validity.

65
Q

Why was Sperry methodology weak?

A

Only small sample of 11 patients- hard to generalise. Difficult to say whether the response would be the same in people who didn’t have epilepsy. Criticised for lack of ecological validity.

66
Q

What was the theoretical basis of Sperry’s experiment?

A

Prompted a theoretical and philosophical debate about the degree of communication between the 2 hemispheres

67
Q

What did Pucetti conclude from Sperry experiment?

A

That there is a form of duality in the mind and that were are in fact 2 minds

68
Q

What is a growing problem with Sperry’ work?

A

The growing psychological literature is beginning to over simplify the functional distinction between the left and right hemisphere which neuroscientists claim to be a lot messier and less clear cut that what is believed.

69
Q

How do FMRI work?

A

Work by detecting changes in the blood oxygenation and for that to occur there must be neural activity in the specific parts of the brain. When the brain is more active it consumes more oxygen and to meet this increased demand blood flow is directed to the active area. FMRI produces 3D images to show which part of the brain are involved in particular mental functions.

70
Q

How does an EEG work?

A

Measure overall electrical activity in the brain via electrodes. It picks up the signal of many neurons firing together- not individual ones. This produces a pattern of waves which represent different levels of arousal or consciousness e.g. different stages of sleep have different wave patterns.

71
Q

Use of FMRI?

A

Can be used for medical purposes to diagnose problems by showing diseased/ damaged areas of the brain

72
Q

What are EEG’s often used by clinicians for?

A

Used as a diagnostic tool for unusual patterns of activity that indicate neurological abnormalities such as epilepsy tumours or sleep disorders.

73
Q

How do ERP’s work?

A

Bio-psychologists can look at how EEG wave patterns can change in response to a stimulus. If a specific stimulus is presented a specific change in wave pattern is expected.

74
Q

How do post- mortems work?

A

Examining the brain after death involves dissection which allows researchers to physically look at the internal structure of the brain.

75
Q

Use of post-mortem?

A

If a person had a medical condition when they were alive, a post mortem could show up any structural abnormalities that could explain their condition.

76
Q

What did Brown et al find out when he studied a post mortem?

A

That people with schizophrenia had larger ventricles.

77
Q

Strength of FMRI?

A

Doesn’t rely on radiation, if carried out correctly it is basically risk free and straight forward. Images are high spatial and provide a clear picture.

78
Q

Weakness of FRMI?

A

Expensive compared to other techniques and can only capture a clear image if a person remains still. Can only measure blood flow in brain and cannot home in on the activity of individual neurons so it can be difficult to tell what can of brain activity is being represented.

79
Q

EEG strength?

A

High temporal resolution and EEG can accurately detect brain activity at a resolution of one millisecond

80
Q

Weakness of EEG?

A

The generalised nature received. Signal not useful for pinpointing the exact area of neural activity and cannot distinguish between activity happening in different but adjacent locations

81
Q

Strength of ERP?

A

Limitations of EEG are addressed in ERP’s. They are more specific and have excellent temporal resolution. Many different types e.g. P300 helps with maintenance of working memory.

82
Q

Weakness of ERP?

A

There is a lack of standardisation in ERP methodology. ERP require 0 background noise and extraneous material must be eliminated.

83
Q

Strength of Post mortem?

A

Vital in establishing early processes in brain e.g. Broca and Wernicke relied on them to make links between language, brain and behaviour. They improve medical knowledge.

84
Q

Weakness of post mortem?

A

Observed damaged may not be linked to deficits under review but to other trauma. Ethical issue of consent.

85
Q

Link between FMRI and lie detectors?

A

Argument that the analysis of blood flow is preferrable to tracking pulse and GSR in the case of traditional lie detectors.

Psychology (54 decks)

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