Biopsychology bk2- The Brain

Question 1

Visual centre

Answer 1

In occipital lobe, processes visual information
Light enters the eye and stimulate the retina. Nerve impulses are transmitted via the optic nerve to the thalamus. Message then transmitted to visual cortex in occipital lobes. Visual info from the right side is transferred to the left hemisphere.

Question 2

Auditory centre

Answer 2

In temporal lobe, processes auditory sound.
Sound enters the ear and when the cochlea is stimulated nerve impulses travel via the auditory nerve to the brain stem. Message continued to the thalamus then to the auditory cortex where message is interpreted.

Question 3

Motor cortex

Answer 3

In frontal lobe, controls muscle movement.
Sends nerve impulses to the muscles. Different areas of motor cortes control different muscle movement. Right side of the body is processed in left hemisphere and left side in right hemisphere.

Question 4

Somatosensory cortex

Answer 4

In parietal lobe, processes sensory info from the skin.

Question 5

Language centres

Answer 5

Restricted to left side of the brain in most people.

Broca’s and Wernicke’s area

Question 6

Broca’s area

Answer 6

Involved in speech production

Question 7

Wernicke’s area

Answer 7

Involved in speech comprehension

Question 8

How does the brain work for language

Answer 8

A person says “how are you?” The words are heard in the auditory cortex and understood in the Wernickes area. The person chooses to respond in the Brocas area and the motor cortex moves the muscles to respond with an answer e.g. “i am fine, thank you”

Question 9

Evaluate localisation of functions

Answer 9

+ tan
Supporting evidence, damaged broca’s, could only say tan, could understand
+phineas gage
Damage to frontal lobe, personality changed, temporment from calm to angry
-lashley
Counter argument, localisation is reductionist, argued it should be more holistic, rats brains and maze
+brain scans
Shows different areas active when completing different tasks

Question 10

Lateralisation

Answer 10

Refers to the fact that some mental processes in the brain are mainly specialised to either right or left hemisphere. Left side of brain controls right side of the body- language and speech. Right side of brain controls left side of body - facial recognition

Question 11

Split brain AO1

Answer 11

Sperry
All ppts have cut corpus callosum, used as treatment for severe epilepsy.
Lab, image projected to ppts left visual field or right visual field. When info is presented to one hemisphere in split brain patients info isnt transferred to other hemisphere. Different experiments e.g. describe what u say task, picture presented to either the left or right visual field and ppt had to describe what they saw. Left hemisphere dominant in speech and language. Secondly, right hemisphere is dominant in terms of visual motor tasks

Question 12

Split brain AO3

Answer 12

+ lab experiment, controlled methods using computer where ppts were measured objectively, however behaviour can be different in natural environment

• sample biased, all patients suffered from epilepsy, different amounts of corpus collosum, individual differences, cant be generalised to wider population lack population validity
• reductionist, too simplistic for all human function
• plasticity

Question 13

Plasticity and functional recovery

Answer 13

Changes in neural pathways and synapses. Occurs as a result of changes in behaviour, environment, and neural processes. Brain can change and is constantly changing through life
Parts of the brain account for others when damage occurs.

Question 14

Dormant synapses

Answer 14

Synaptic connections that exist anatomically but function is blocked.

Question 15

Stem cells

Answer 15

Unspecialised cells that have the potential to give rise to different cell types that carry out different functions.

Question 16

Plasticity and functional recovery AO3

Answer 16

+ taxi driver supports plasticity
Significantly more volume of grey matter in posterior hippocampus than in matched control group. This part is associated with spatial and navigational skills. As part of their training do a test called “the knowledge” assess recall of streets ect. Alters structure of brains, longer they have been in job more pronounced was the structural difference
+ medical students supports plasticity
Brains 3 months before and after final exams. Learning induced changes seen in posterior hippocampus and parietal cortex as a result of exam
•age, younger more likely to recover from trauma
•education, more education youve had more likely to recover