Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Psychology > Biopsychology > Flashcards

Biopsychology Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
Psychology 101 flashcards GRE® Psychology flashcards AP® Psychology flashcards
1
Q

Nervous system - structure

A

Central NS (master control unit)
- spinal cord
- brain stem
- brain
Peripheral NS (body link to outside world)
- autonomic NS (involuntary bodily processes without conscious direction)
- somatic NS (sensory information from organs to CNS and relays motor commands to muscles)

AUTONOMIC

  1. sympathetic - prepares body for action and stress
  2. parasympathetic - calms body and helps the body to conserve energy.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Endocrine system

A

Adrenal - adrenaline
Pancreas - insulin
Ovaries - estrogen
Testes - testosterone

Works with nervous system - help body function in stressful situations

  • ANS changes from parasympathetic to sympathetic
  • adrenaline - released from medulla
  • triggers a physiological change (fight or flight)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Endocrine - evaluation

A
  1. Understanding allows for diagnosis e.g. diabetes
  2. Scientific methods
  3. More than fight or flight (tend and befriend)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Neurons - types and functions

A

Order - sensory, relay, motor

Dendrite - listen
Axon - talk

Sensory - long dendrite, short axon, lives in PNS and does sensory to relay
Relay - short dendrite, short axon, lives in CNS and does relay to relay
Motor - short dendrite, long axon, lives in PNS and does motor action

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Excitation and inhibition

A

Excitation - increases positive charge of postsynaptic, higher likelihood of neuron firing. Caused by dopamine.
Inhibition - increases negative charge of postsynaptic, lower likelihood of neuron firing. Caused by serotonin.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Localisation - visual centres

A

Occipital lobe - if damaged, there is a possibility of blindness
Retina - optic nerve - thalamus - visual cortex

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Localisation - auditory centres

A

Both temporal lobes
Cochlea - nerve impulses - brain stem - auditory cortex
Analyses speech based information

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Localisation - Broca’s

A

Left frontal hemisphere
Speech production
If damaged, you understand language but can’t communicate

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Localisation - Wernicke’s

A

Border of parietal and temporal lobes
Left hemisphere
If damaged, you can say all words but don’t know meanings

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Localisation - motor cortex

A

Frontal lobe of both hemispheres
In charge of voluntary movement
Face takes up large proportion

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Localisation - somatosensory cortex

A

Parietal lobe in both hemispheres

Sensory information from skin (touch, pain, pressure and temperature)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Localisation - evaluation

A
  1. Phineas Gage - brain damage, supporting idea that certain parts have functions (but case study and lacks validity)
  2. Petersen et al - used brain scans to see which areas are activated (reading = Broca’s; hearing = Wernicke’s; speaking = motor areas)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Lateralisation

A

Corpus colosum - part of the brain connecting the two hemispheres
each hemisphere has its own roles

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Lateralisation - Sperry

A

Participants - all had disconnected hemispheres |(due to epilepsy surgery)

  • Image shown to left visual field (went to right brain)
  • second image shown to right visual field (went to left brain)
  • if it went to right visual field, could be said
  • if it went to left visual field, it couldn’t be said because of a disconnect with language centre
  • could be drawn, then said
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Lateralisation - evaluation

A
  1. Most don’t have split brains - generalisation is hard
  2. Epilepsy - could be a confounding variable
  3. Very artificial task - low ecological validity
  4. Pucetti and dolphins - but extrapolation
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Methods of study - post mortem

A

Good spatial resolution but correlation isn’t causation

17
Q

Methods of study - fMRI

A

Measures blood flow during a task

Not invasive but bad temporal resolution

18
Q

Methods of study - EEG

A

Measures electrical signals over a period of time

Good temporal resolution but poor spatial resolution

19
Q

Methods of study - ERP

A

Researcher looks at response to stimulus

Good temporal resolution but uncomfortable for patient

20
Q

Plasticity

A

Brains are constantly learning
Synaptic pruning - gets rid of unused connections

Macguire - positive correlation between size of hippocampus and knowledge of London locations. Spatial on right side was larger.

21
Q

Functional recovery

A

3 types

  1. Axonal sprouting - damaged area tries to reform connections with healthy areas
  2. Reformation of blood vessels - blood going to damaged area is redirected.
22
Q

Functional recovery - evaluation

A
  1. Phantom limb syndrome - Ramchandran and Hirtstein discovered 60 - 80% suffer from this
  2. Mirror box treatment
  3. Neurorehabilitation - practical treatment using electrical stimulation
  4. Age and plasticity - Bezzola et al showed that in participants aged 40 - 60. 40 hours of golf a week produced neural changes
23
Q

Synaptic transmission

A

Process by which one neuron communicates with another

  1. information passed down axon as electrical signal
  2. at end of axon terminal are synaptic vesicles (which contain neurotransmitters)
  3. when action potential reaches the vesicles, the neurotransmitter is released
  4. neurotransmitters then carry signal across synaptic gap
  5. bind to receptor sites on post - synaptic neuron
24
Q

Types of neuron

A

Sensory - cell body on the side
Relay - cell body right at tip
Motor - cell body in middle of sun

25
Q

Types of rhythms

A

Circadian - roughly 24 hours long (sleep/wake cycle)
Infradian - longer than 24 hours (menstrual cycle)
Ultradian - shorter than 24 hours (sleep cycle)

26
Q

Endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers

A
  1. internal biological structures that regulate. SCN chats to pineal gland and releases hormone.
  2. external environmental factors that influence e.g. light (SCN is sensitive to this)
27
Q

Rhythms - Siffre

A

Siffre (1975) found that the absence of external cues significantly altered his circadian rhythm: When he returned from an underground stay with no clocks or light, he believed the date to be a month earlier than it was. This suggests that his 24-hour sleep-wake cycle was increased by the lack of external cues, making him believe one day was longer than it was, and leading to his thinking that fewer days had passed.

28
Q

Rhythms - evaluation

A
  1. Individual differences

2. IRL - medication taken at same time helps

29
Q

Infradian rhythm - expansion

A

Menstrual cycle

  • 28 to 40 days
  • 3 to 7 days long
  • FSH (maturation)
  • LH (ovulation)
  • estrogen (growth of lining)
  • progesterone (maintenance)

EV - used as an excuse and contraceptive pill

30
Q

Ultradian rhythm - expansion

A

Sleep cycle

  1. lightest stage - drowsy and easily woken. Slow brain activity
  2. light sleep - body temperature and heart rate decrease
  3. deep sleep - restorative and has delta waves
  4. REM sleep - dreaming stage

EV - Randy Gardener and individual differences

Psychology (11 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions