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Psychology AQA > Biopsychology - Paper 2 > Flashcards

Biopsychology - Paper 2 Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the two divisions of the human nervous system?

A

The central nervous system

The peripheral nervous system

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2
Q

What makes up the central nervous system?

A

The brain and spinal cord

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3
Q

What makes up the peripheral nervous system?

A

Nerve cells - carry information to and from CNS

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4
Q

What is the brain responsible for?

A

Physiological processes

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5
Q

What is the spinal cord responsible for?

A

Receiving / transmitting information to and from the brain and PNS

Reflex actions

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6
Q

What are the two systems within the PNS?

A

Somatic and autonomic

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7
Q

What does the somatic nervous system do?

A

Voluntary acts

Received info from sensory receptors

Sends info to CNS - control muscle movement

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8
Q

What does the autonomic nervous system do?

A

Involuntary acts

Heart rate

Digestive system

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9
Q

What are the two sub divisions within the autonomic nervous system?

A

Sympathetic and parasympathetic

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10
Q

What does the sympathetic nervous system do?

A

Prepares body for emergency

Increase HR - blood pressure - vasodilation

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11
Q

What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?

A

Relaxes body

Decrease HR - blood pressure

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12
Q

What are neurons?

A

Building blocks of nervous system

Transmit messages

Electrical and chemical signals

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13
Q

What are dendrites

A

End of neuron

Receives signals

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14
Q

What are dendrites connected too?

A

Cell body

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15
Q

What is connected to the cell body?

A

Axon

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16
Q

What is the axon covered in?

A

Myelin sheath - protects axon and speeds up electrical impulse

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17
Q

What is at the end of the axon?

A

Terminal buttons

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18
Q

What do terminal buttons do?

A

Communicate with the next neuron

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19
Q

What is the gap between neurons called?

A

Synapse

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20
Q

What are sensory neurons?

A

Carry messages from sensory receptors

Convert messages to neural impulses

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21
Q

What is the structure of sensory neurons?

A

Long dendrites

Short axon

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22
Q

What are relay neurons?

A

Connect sensory to motor

Allow communication between neurons

Found in CNS

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23
Q

What is the structure of relay neurons?

A

Short dendrites and short axon

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24
Q

What are motor neurons?

A

Connect CNS to muscles and glands

Control muscles

Release neurotransmitters

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25
Q

What is the structure of motor neurons?

A

Short dendrites and long axon

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26
Q

What are neurotransmitters?

A

Chemicals that diffuse across the synapse to the next neuron

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27
Q

What is excitation?

A

Leads to post synaptic neuron becoming positively charged - more likely to fire

E.g. adrenaline

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28
Q

What is inhibition?

A

Leads to post synaptic neuron becoming negatively charged - less likely to fire

E.g. GABA

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29
Q

What is the endocrine system?

A

Second system

Made up of specialist glands

Glands release hormones

Hormones transmit messages

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30
Q

Name 4 endocrine glands

A

Thyroid

Pineal

Adrenal medulla

Adrenal cortex

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31
Q

What does the thyroid gland hold and its effects?

A

Thyroxine

Metabolic rate, growth rate

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32
Q

What does the pineal gland hold and its effects?

A

Melatonin

Arousal, biological rhythms, sleep-wake cycle

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33
Q

What does the adrenal medulla gland hold and its effects?

A

Adrenaline

Fight / flight

Heart rate

Blood flow

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34
Q

What does the adrenal cortex hold and its effects?

A

Gluco-corti-coids

Sur their release of glucose

Suppression of immune system

Inflammatory response

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35
Q

What is the fight / flight response

A

Generate from autonomic nervous system

Reflex response

Increase reaction time

Facilitates optimal functioning

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36
Q

What is the process of the fight / flight response?

A

Stressful event

Hypothalamus

Pituitary gland

Adrenal cortico trophic hormone

Adrenaline

Fight / flight response

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37
Q

Fight / flight response hypothalamus send message to the

A

Pituitary gland

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38
Q

Fight / flight response pituitary gland releases

A

Adreno - cortico - trophic hormone

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39
Q

Fight / flight response ACT causes adrenal gland to release

A

Adrenaline

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40
Q

Fight / flight - adrenaline causes physiological changes, leading to the

A

Fight / flight response

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41
Q

Fight / flight after the stress the …

A

Parasympathetic branch is activated

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42
Q

What are the 6 locations in the brain

A

Motor cortex

Somatosensory cortex

Visual cortex

Wernicke’s area

Auditory cortex

Broca’s area

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43
Q

What lobe is Broca are in?

A

Frontal

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44
Q

What lobe is the motor cortex in?

A

Frontal

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45
Q

What lobe is the somatosensory cortex in?

A

Parietal

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46
Q

What lobe is the visual cortex in?

A

Occipital

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47
Q

What lobe is the Wernicke’s area in?

A

Temporal

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48
Q

What lobe is the auditory cortex in?

A

Temporal

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49
Q

Define localisation of function

A

The concept that different parts of the brain are responsible for individual and discrete functions

50
Q

What is the motor cortex responsible for?

A

Voluntary muscle movement

51
Q

What is the somatosensory cortex responsible for?

A

Processes sensory input form the skin, muscles and joints related to touch
Produces sensations of touch pressure, pain and temp

52
Q

What is the visual cortex responsible for?

A

Vision - processing colour, shape, size

53
Q

What is the auditory cortex responsible for?

A

Hearing - volume, pitch, location of sound

54
Q

What is the Wernicke’s area responsible for?

A

Understanding language

55
Q

What is the Broca’s area responsible for?

A

Producing speech, expressing thoughts, through writing

56
Q

What are the common symptoms of aphasia?

A

Problems with

Reading
Listening
Speaking
Writing / typing

57
Q

What are the common causes of aphasia?

A

Stroke

Severe head injury

Brain tumour

Progressive neurological conditions

58
Q

What is localisation?

A

Different areas of the brain being responsible for specific functions

59
Q

What is lateralisation

A

The idea that different hemispheres have different specialisations

60
Q

What is Broca’s aphasia?

A

Inability to articulate speech fluently - disjointed words - understanding of speech is normal

61
Q

What is Wernicke’s aphasia

A

Breakdown in the ability to understand speech - sentences are deficient in meaning

62
Q

How do Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas interact?

A

Sensory region picks up audio / visual input
Wernickes recognise language and associates meaning
Broca’s are identifies what speech needs to be produced

63
Q

What are the strengths of localisation of functions?

A

+ neurosurgery - damaged linked mental disorder - as treatment

+ brain scans - everyday functions localised, Wernickes during listening tasks, memories localised

64
Q

What are the weaknesses of localisation of function

A
  • language holistic - FMRI - language distributed holistic - contradicts theory
65
Q

Define brain lateralisation

A

Two halves of the human brain are not exactly alike - each hemisphere has functional specialisms

66
Q

Who carried our split brain research?

A

Sperry

67
Q

What is split brain research

A

Observing people

Corpus callosum cut down middle

Treat epilepsy

68
Q

Why was split brain research carried out?

A

To test the capabilities of each hemisphere when separated

69
Q

What are the strengths of split brain research?

A

Methodology - high control - sperry stopped natural tendency for pp to move their eye - stimulus presented 200 milliseconds

Support research - Miller et al - L hemisphere more concerned language. R hemisphere concerned with spatial

70
Q

What are the limitations of split brain research?

A

Methodology - low ecological validity - usually use both eyes

Population validity - 11 males - differences in the operations

Counter evidence - Tuck et al - JW able to speak out R hemisphere - brain can adapt

71
Q

What is brain plasticity

A

The ability of the brain to change and adapt

Synapses, pathways and structures in light of various experiences

72
Q

What is plasticity like in childhood

A

By the end of first year brain more neurons than will ever have

Older brain sculptured by environment and experiences

73
Q

What is synaptic pruning?

A

Pathways and networks that aren’t used will die off

74
Q

When does brain plasticity stop?

A

Neural connections can change at any age, as result new learning

75
Q

What research was done into brain plasticity?

A

Maguire et al

London taxi drivers

16 male taxi - 50 male non taxi

Posterior hippocampus larger

Correlation between years as taxi driver and volume of hippocampus

76
Q

What is functional recovery?

A

A form of plasticity whereby other areas of the brain take over function of the damaged area

77
Q

How does functional recovery occur?

A

Axon sprouting

Denervation super sensitivity

Recruitment of homologous areas (similar)

78
Q

What is axon sprouting

A

The axons of surviving neurons grow new branches that make synapses in areas of the brain formerly supplied by damaged neurons

79
Q

What is denervation super sensitivity

A

Occurs when axons that do a similar job become aroused to a higher level, to compensate for the ones that are lost

80
Q

What is recruitment of homologous areas

A

Example - Broca’s areas damaged - right side equivalent would take over

81
Q

What research was done into functional recovery?

A

Danelli

EB - left hemisphere removed at 2 - intensive rehabilitation = regain ability to speak. 17 years, language was comparable to normal controls

82
Q

What are the strengths of brain plasticity and functional recovery

A

Practical applications - therapy e.g. movement therapy

Research evidence - Draganski et al - students before and after finals. Posterior hippocampus.
Michelle et al - bilingual = larger parietal cortex

83
Q

What are the weaknesses of brain plasticity and functional recovery?

A

Not straight forward - speech requires a lot of effort, affected by other factors (stress, alcohol)

Gender - women better at attention / memory / language
Men better at visual analytical skills

84
Q

What is a fMRI

A

Records energy released by haemoglobin

Active area = more oxygen

1 sec time difference

85
Q

What are the strengths of fMRI’s

A

Non invasive - no brain exposure, more ethical

Objective - no verbal report, not affected by researcher bias

86
Q

What are the limitations for fMRI’s

A

Impractical - expensive, patient must be still, uncomfortable, temporal resolution

87
Q

What is an EEG

A

Measures electrical activity in the brain

Electrodes detect small electrical changed

Shown on graph

Used to show neurological abnormalities - epilepsy

88
Q

What are the strengths of an EEG

A

Accuracy - real time

Non invasive

89
Q

What are the weaknesses of an EEG

A

Not specific enough - gives general overview, cannot pinpoint

Surface measurement - superficial regions of the brain - not very deep. Limit what we can study

90
Q

What is an ERP

A

More specific than EEG

Uses statistical averaging techniques to filter put extraneous brain activity

91
Q

What are the strengths of ERP (event related potentials)

A

Accuracy - continuous measurement - determine how processing is affected by experimental manipulations

Demand characteristics - response to stimuli measure without individual giving a response

92
Q

What are the weaknesses of an ERP

A

Surface measurement - only detects neural activity of a certain strength

93
Q

What is a post mortem examination

A

See what damage has occurred

Happen on people who had rare disorder

Link psychiatric disorders and brain abnormalities

94
Q

What are the strengths of post mortem’s

A

Full access to the brain
Detailed / deeper
Hypothalamus / hippocampus

95
Q

What are the weaknesses of post mortem’s

A

Lack of control - confounding variables

Retrospective - issues establishing causation, observed damage may not be a result of the suspected cause

96
Q

What is a biological rhythm?

A

Something in out body that follows a regular cycle

97
Q

What is a biological rhythm governed by

A

Endogenous pacemakers

Exogenous zeitgebers

98
Q

What are endogenous pacemakers

A

Bodys internal biological clocks

99
Q

What are exogenous zeitgebers

A

External changes in the environment

100
Q

What are circadian rhythms

A

Lasts 24 hours

Sleep wake cycle

Regulated by release of hormones / metabolic rates / body temp

101
Q

What are the strengths of circadian rhythms

A

Support research - Folkard et al - 12 pp lived dark cave for 3 week - sped up clock 24 hours to 22 hours - no pp adjust

Practical application - shift work, consequences of adjusting cycle

102
Q

What are the limitations of circadian rhythms

A

Individual differences - Duffy, rise early or go to bed late, despite EP’s being innate there are some variations

Methodology - poor control, pp were isolated form variable - artificial light confounding variable
Small sample size - individual differences

103
Q

What did Siffre do?

A

Lived in a cave alone for 6 months

Artificial light

Sleep wake cycle 26 hours

104
Q

What is the SCN - suprachiasmatic nucleus

A

Regulated by light

Master clock

Adjust due to changing patterns of daylight

105
Q

Where is the SCN located

A

Hypothalamus

106
Q

What research was done to the SCN?

A

Ralph et al - removed SCN from genetically abnormal hamsters

Put into normal hamsters

20 hours sleep wake - normal hamsters adopted

107
Q

What is the pineal gland

A

Receives signals from SCN

Increases melatonin at night

Inhibits brain mechanisms

108
Q

How do social cues affect the sleep wake cycle

A

Mealtimes

Adapting to local times of eating when travelling changes circadian rhythms

109
Q

What research evidence had been done of social cues

A

Klein and Wegmann - jet lag - adjust better when they go outside

110
Q

What are the strengths of endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers

A

Research evidence - Siffre cave study

Practical application - jet lag, shift work

111
Q

What are the limitations of endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers

A

Methodology - Siffre - small sample size, repeated when 60, internal clock slower, hard to generalise

Artificial experiments - interact in real life

Conflicting research - arctic circle - 6 months light / no light - maintain sleep cycle

112
Q

What are infradian rhythms

A

Longer than 24 hours

113
Q

What is an example of monthly cycle

A

Menstrual cycle - mainly endogenous (hormones)

114
Q

What research has been done into the menstrual cycle

A

McClintock - 29 women, odourless compounds form armpit of other women
68% cycle became closer to odour donor

115
Q

What is an example of an annual cycle

A

Seasonal affective disorder - mainly endogenous (light)

116
Q

What is SAD?

A

Occurs in winter months
Persistent low mood
Lack of sunlight
Effects production of serotonin

117
Q

What is a ultradian rhythm

A

Less than one day

118
Q

What is BRAC

A

Kleitman
90 min ultradian cycle
Periods of alertness
Periods of fatigue
Human mind focus for 90 minutes

119
Q

What are the strengths of infradian and ultradian rhythms

A

Research evidence - 9 pps EEG during sleep, everyone REM sleep, those woken during REM more likely to remember dreams

Practical applications - SAD, light box, reset melatonin, relived 60% of sufferers however placebo affect 30%

120
Q

What are the limitations of infradian and ultradian

A

Individual differences - assessed sleep duration, time to fall asleep, amount of time in each stage
Large differences in each stage especially 3 and 4

Conflicting evidence - 186 Chinese women, dorms together, periods did not sync

Psychology AQA (11 decks)

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