Biopsychology Flashcards

Question

Somatosensory area

Answer 1

An area of the parietal lobe that processes sensory information such as touch.

Answer 2

A part of the occipital lobe that receives and processes visual information.

Answer 3

Located in the temporal lobe and concerned with the analysis of speech-based information.

Answer 4

An area of the frontal lobe in the left hemisphere responsible for speech production.

Answer 5

An area of the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere responsible for language comprehension.

Answer 6

Dougherty et al (2002) report on 44 people with OCD who had a cingulotomy found that 30% successfully responded to the surgery. Suggests behaviours associated with mental disorders may be localised.

Answer 7

Petersen et al (1988) used brain scans to demonstrate Wernicke's area was active during a listening task and Broca's area was active during a reading task.

Answer 8

Karl Lashley (1950) removed areas of the cortex in rats and this did not affect their ability to learn to navigate a maze.

Answer 9

Language streams have been identified across the cortex, including regions in the right hemisphere, subcortical regions and thalamus. Suggests that language may be holistically organised in the brain.

Answer 10

The case of Phineas Gage (1848), difficult to make meaningful generalisations from a single individual.

Answer 11

The idea that the two hemispheres of the brain are functionally different. Certain mental processes are mainly controlled by one hemisphere.

Answer 12

A series of studies in the 1960s involving people with epilepsy who had surgical separation of the hemispheres. This enabled researchers to test lateral functions of the brain in isolation.

Answer 13

Roger Sperry's (1968) system to study how two separated hemispheres deal with speech or vision for example.

Answer 14

Fink et al (1996) used PET scans to identify which brain areas were active during a visual task. RH was more active with global elements of an image (whole picture) and LH more active on finer details.

Answer 15

Nielsen et al (2013) analyzed brain scans of over 1000 people aged 7-29 years and found some evidence of lateralization but no evidence of a dominant side.

Answer 16

Rogers et al (2004) showed that lateraliation is adaptive as he showed lateralised chickens could find food while watching for predators but unlateralised chickens could not.

Answer 17

Holland et al (1996) suggested neural plasticity is also adaptive and that following trauma some functions can be taken over by non-specialised areas in the opposite hemisphere.

Answer 18

Gazzaniga with Luck et al (1989) showed that split-brain participants perform better than connected controls on certain tasks. They were faster at identifying the odd one out in an array of objects.

Answer 19

Kingstone et al (1995) suggested that in the normal brain the LH's better cognitive strategies are watered down by the inferior RH.

Answer 20

Generalisation is a limitation of Sperry's research. Causal relationships are hard to establish, as none of the participants in the control group had epilepsy this is a major confounding variable.

Answer 21

The brain's tendency to change and adapt as a result of experience

Answer 22

A form of plasticity of the brain's ability to redistribute or transfer functions following damage through trauma from damaged areas to undamaged areas.

Answer 23

Maguire et al (2000) studied the brains of taxi drivers and found significantly more volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus than the control group.

Answer 24

Draganski et al (2006) imaged the brains of medical students three months before and after their final exams and found learning-induced changes occured n the posterior hippocampus and parietal cortex,

Answer 25

The growth of new nerve endings which connect with other undamaged nerve cells to form new neural pathways.

Answer 26

Occurs when axons that do a similar job to the damaged areas become aroused to a higher level to compensate for the ones that are lost. Can have the consequence of oversensitivity.

Answer 27

When the area on the opposite side of the brain that's been damaged picks up and carries out its functions. Functionality may shift back to the other side after full recovery.

Answer 28

Medina et al (2007) showed evidence that the brain's adaptation to prolonged drug use leads to poorer cognitive functioning in later life. Phantom limb syndrome is also unpleasasnt.

Answer 29

Bezzola et al (2012) demonstrated how golf training produced changes in the neural representations of movements in participants aged 40-60. Observed increased motor cortex activity.

Answer 30

May be seasonal plasticity in response to environmental changes. Tramontin and Brenowitz (2000) observed evidence the suprachiasmatic nucleus shrinks in all animals during spring and expands through autumn.

Answer 31

Eric Schneider et al (2014) revealed the more time spent in education the greater the chance of a disability-free recovery.

Answer 32

Lazar et al (2005) demonstrated how meditators have thicker cortexes. Meditation showed an increase in grey matter in the left hippocampus, associated with learning and memory and increase in white matter in the anterior cingulate cortex, associated with self-regulation and control.

Answer 33

Uses magnetic field and radio waves to monitor blood flow in the brain. Can detect which areas of the brain are rich in oxygen and thus active. Used to measure brain activity while performing a task.

Answer 34

Electrodes are put on the scalp and detect neuronal activity directly below where they are placed. By measuring wave patterns can help diagnose conditions of the brain.

Answer 35

Electrodes are put on the scalp and detect neuronal activity in response to a stimulus introduced by the researcher. Data can be isolated through statistical analysis.

Answer 36

Brain is examined after death to determine whether certain observed behaviours in life can be linked to structural damage/abnormalities in the brain.

Answer 37

Does not rely on the use of radiation. High spatial resolution. Clear picture of brain activity.

Answer 38

Expensive. Poor temporal resolution.

Answer 39

Useful for diagnosing epilepsy. High temporal resolution. Real-word usefulness.

Answer 40

Not useful for pinpointing exact source of neural activity.

Answer 41

Patterns of changes in body activity that conform to cyclical time periods. Influenced by endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers.

Answer 42

Biological rhythms subject to 24-hour cycle which regulate body processes. Example, sleep-wake cycle, change in core body temperature.

Answer 43

A type of biological rhythm with a frequency of less than one cycle in 24 hours, such as menstruation and seasonal affective disorder.

Answer 44

A type of biological rhythm with a frequency of more than one cycle in 24 hours, such as the stages of sleep.

Answer 45

Internal body clocks that regulate many of our biological rhythms, such as the influence of the suprachiasmatic nucleus on the sleep/wale cycle.

Answer 46

External factors that affect or entrain our biological rhythms, such as the influence of light on the sleep/wake cycle.

Answer 47

A daily cycle ofbiological activity based on circadian rhythm influenced by regular variations, such as light and darkness.

Answer 48

Spent two months in a cave. Resurfaced in September but believed it was August. His biological rhythm settled to around 25 hours, he continued to fall asleep and wake up on a regular scheduele.

Answer 49

Participants spent 4 weeks in a WW2 bunker. All but one disaplyed a circadian rhythm between 24 and 25 hours. Suggests that endogenous pacemakers control our circadian rhythm more than exogenous zeitgebers.

Answer 50

Studied 12 people who lived in a cave for three weeks. Went to bed when the clock said 11:45 and woke at 7:45. The clock was gradually sped up. 24 hours day eventually lasted 22 hours. Only one of the participants comfortaly adjusted. Suggest the existence of a strong circadian rhythm that cannot be overriden by exogenous zeitgebers.

Answer 51

Strength of circadian rhytm research provides an understanding of the bad consequences if it is disturbed.Boivin et al 1996, night workers experienced reduced concentration around 6 in the morning meaning more accidents likely to happen.

Answer 52

However, studies investigating shit work use correlational methods, Difficult to establich a causal relationship.

Answer 53

Studies are based on small sample of participants and individual differences are important. Duffy et al 2001 found that some people have a natural preference as night owls or early birds.

Answer 54

Medical treatment has been adjusted to correspond with biological rhythms. Taking aspirin at night is more effective against heart attacks. Increases the effectiveness of drug treatment.

Answer 55

Study by Stern et al found menstraual cycles can sync as a result of the influence of pheromones.

Answer 56

Triggered during the winter months. Hypothesised melatonin could be the cause. Knock on effect to the production of serotonin.

Answer 57

Stage 1 and 2: Light sleep, brain waves are high frequency with short amplitude. These are alpha waves. Step 3 and 4: Deep sleep, slow wave sleep. Brain waves at lower frquency and high amplitude. Stage 5: REM sleep, body is paralysed, brain activity produces theta waves, dreaming, brain activity seems awake.