biopsychology Flashcards
What is the central nervous system made up of and what does it do.
made up of the spinal cord and the brain.
It receives information from the senses and controls the body’s responses
What is the peripheral nervous system.
the part of the nervous system that is outside the brain and spinal cord
what does the PNS include
autonomic nervous system and somatic nervous system.
where are sensory neurons found?
found in receptors e.g eyes, tongues,ears and carry nerve impulses to the spinal cord and brain
what are the functions of motor neurons?
to form synapses with muscles and control their contractions
what do the excitatory neurotransmitters do?
They increase the likelihood that an excitatory signal is sent to the postsynaptic cell.
where are relay neurons found?
found between sensory input and motor output
what is the synaptic gap?
a gap between the presynaptic neuron and post-synaptic neuron
what do the inhibitory neurotransmitters do?
decrease the likelihood of an excitatory signal being sent to the post-synaptic cell, making it less likely to fire
what is action potential?
it’s the electrical signal that arrives from the axon
what are the steps of synaptic transmission?
- action potential or neurotransmitter arrives at terminal from axon.
- NT is packaged in vesicles
- vesicles fuse with cell membrane
4.NT diffuses across the synaptic gap
extra neurotransmitters are broken down or recycled by reuptake channels.
5.NTs bind to the specialised receptors on the surface of the cell that recognise it. - Once the NTs have been activated, the receptor molecules produce either excitatory or inhibitory effects.
what is a vesicle?
a bubble like structures that store neurotransmitters
outline the function of neurotransmitters?
they bind to the receptors on the muscle which triggers muscle movement.
what are neurotransmitters?
chemical substances that transmits nerve impulses across the synaptic gap to the receptor site on the postsynaptic cell
what is a synapse?
the conjunction at the end of the axon of one neuron and the dendrite or cell body of another
what is the amygdala?
it’s the part of the brain processing fear and pain
what is the hypothalamus?
the part of the brain controlling homeostasis
what is the pituitary gland?
also known as the master gland it controls all the other glands
what is the adrenal cortex produce?
cortisol
what does the CRF do?
starts the production of cortisol
what does the ACTH do?
starts production of (nor)adrenaline
what does the adrenal medulla do?
produces (nor) adrenaline
what are hormones?
chemical messengers that travel through the bloodstream.
what is the flight or fight response?
it’s a sequence of activities within the body that is triggered when the body prepares itself for defending or attacking (fight) or running away (flight).
what is the hpa axis?
describes the sequence of bodily activity in response to stress that involves the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal cortex
what is the somatic nervous system?
it’s the part of the peripheral nervous system responsible for carrying sensory and motor information to and from the CNS
what does the autonomic nervous system do?
it governs the brain’s involuntary activities + its self regulating
what is the spinal cord?
a bundle of nerve fibres enclosed within the spinal column which connects nearly all parts of the body to the brain
what is a synapse?
the conjunction at the end of an axon of one neuron and dendrite.
what does the sympathetic nervous system do?
it’s involved in responses that help us deal with emergencies. e.g increasing heart rate and blood pressure and dilating blood vessels in the muscles.
what is the parasympathetic nervous system?
relaxes a person after they’ve have faced an emergency.
It slows down the heart beat and reduces the blood pressure
what is a dendrite?
the parts of the neuron that receive stimulation
outline the function of relay neurons?
to allow sensory and motor neurons to communicate
What is GABA (gamma- aminobutyric acid)?
a neurotransmitter that regulates excitement in the nervous system, thus acting as a natural form of anxiety reducer.
What are the most commonly used drugs for OCD?
Antidepressants.
What is synaptic transmission?
it refers to the process by which a nerve impulse passes across the synaptic cleft from the presynaptic neuron to the postsynaptic neuron.
What is the motor cortex?
A region of the brain that is responsible for the generation of voluntary motor movements
What is synaptic transmission?
It’s the process where a nerve impulse passes across the synaptic gap from the presynaptic neuron to the postsynaptic neuron.
What is the role of the endocrine glands?
to produce and secrete hormones, that regulate the activity of cells or organs in the body
What is the Endocrine System?
A network of glands throughout the body that manufacture and secrete hormones
What is Endocrine glands?
Special groups of cells within the endocrine system, whose function is to produce and secrete hormones.
What is Broca’s Area?
An area in the frontal lobe of the brain, usually in the left hemisphere, related to speech production.
What is localisation of function?
Refers to the belief that specific areas of the brain are associated with specific cognitive processes.
What is the Motor Cortex?
A region of the brain responsible for the generation of voluntary motor movements.
What is the Somatosensory cortex?
A region of the brain that processes input from sensory receptors in the body that are sensitive to touch.
What is Wernicke’s area?
An area in the temporal lobe of the brain important in the comprehension of language.
What is Brain Plasticity?
Refers to the brain’s ability to modify its own structure and function as a result of experience.
What is Functional Recovery?
refers to the recovery of abilities and mental processes that have been compromised as a result of brain injury or disease.
What is an EEG?
A method of recording changes in the electrical activity of the brain using electrodes attached to the scalp.
What is an ERP?
A technique that takes raw EEG data and uses it to investigate cognitive processing of a specific event.
It achieves this by taking multiple readings and averaging them in order to filter out all brain activity that isn’t related to the appearance of the stimulus
What is Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?
A technique for measuring brain activity. It works by detecting changes in blood oxygenation and flow that indicate increased neural activity.
What are post-mortem examinations?
Ways of examining the brains of people who’ve shown particular psychological abnormalities prior to death in an attempt to establish the possible neurobiological cause for this behaviour.
What is Split-brain research?
Research that studies individuals who have been subjected to the surgical separation of the two hemispheres of the brain as a result of severing the corpus callosum
What is Hemispheric lateralisation?
Refers to the fact that some mental processes in the brain are mainly specialised to either the left or right hemisphere.
Describe Split-Brain Research
- Sperry and Gazzaniga, took advantage of the fact that information from the left visual field goes to the right hemisphere and information from the right visual field goes to the left hemisphere.
- patient would fixate on a dot in the centre of the screen while info was presented to either the right or left visual field.
- they would then be asked to make responses with either their left hand (controlled by the right hemisphere) or the right hand (controlled by the left hemisphere) or verbally (controlled by the left hemisphere) without being able to see what their hands were doing.
- e.g dog right visual field answer “dog”, cat left visual field patient would say he/she saw nothing
what are the 4 stages of neuroplasticity?
- synaptic pruning - axons that aren’t used will be weakened and eventually lost
- neuronal unmasking - a hormone, nerve growth factor encourages growth
- axonal sprouting - “Guidance proteins” called neurotrophins sustain and encourage growth
4 synaptic connection - the new connection makes it’s parents connection stronger
what is summation?
the combined effect of all the excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter influences on the post-synaptic neuron. if a threshold is reached, than new action potential will form in the post-synaptic cell.
What is hyperpolarisation?
when inhibitory neurotransmitters make the electrical charge more negative and less likely to fire.
what is depolarisation?
when detected by receptors in the post-synaptic cell, excitatory neurotransmitters make the electrical charge more positive and more likely to fire
