Biopsychology - The Nervous System Flashcards

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1
Q

What does bio psychology use to explain behaviour?

A

How biology influences behaviour.

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2
Q

WHat does the nervous system allow you to do?

A
  • Respond to changes in your environment (stimuli)

- To coordinate your actions

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3
Q

What detects stimuli?

A

Receptors

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4
Q

What brings about a response to the stimulus? What do they include?

A

Effectors. Include muscle cells and cells found in glands e.g. pancreas.

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5
Q

How do receptors and effectors communicate?

A

Via the nervous or endocrine system, or both.

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6
Q

What do the nervous and endocrine systems coordinate.

A

The response to a stimuli.

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7
Q

What are the two parts of the nervous system?

A

The central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS).

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8
Q

What is the central nervous system (CNS) made up of?

A

The brain and spinal cord.

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9
Q

What is the peripheral nervous system made up of?

A

The neutrons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body.

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10
Q

What are the two different systems of the PNS?

A

The somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system (ANS).

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11
Q

What does the somatic nervous system control?

A

Conscious activities e.g. running and playing video games.

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12
Q

What does the autonomic nervous system control?

A

Unconscious activities e.g. digestion.

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13
Q

What are the two divisions of the autonomic nervous system?

A

The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.

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14
Q

What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?

A

Calms the body down. It’s the ‘rest and digest system’.

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15
Q

What dos the sympathetic nervous system do?

A

Gets the body ready for action. It’s the ‘flight or fight system’.

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16
Q

What does the somatic nervous system connect CNS with?

A

The senses.

17
Q

What are neurons?

A

The cells of the nervous system.

18
Q

What do neurons do?

A

Transmit electrical information as electrical impulses around the body.

19
Q

What are dendrites?

A

The part of the neuron that receives information from other neurons.

20
Q

In what form does information pass along the axon?

A

As an electrical impulse.

21
Q

As the electrical impulse passes along the axon, where does it end up?

A

At the synaptic knob.

22
Q

What insulates the axon and for what purpose?

A

The myelin sheath insulates the axon to speed up nervous transmission.

23
Q

What are neurotransmitters and where are they released from?

A

Chemicals released form the synaptic knob.

24
Q

After neurotransmitters are released from the synaptic knob what happens to them?

A

They pass across the synapse, to pass on the signal to the dendrites of the next neuron.

25
Q

What do biopsychologists look at neurotransmitters for?

A

To work out what they do and how they can be influenced by things like diet, exercise and drugs.

26
Q

Why do biopsychologists work out how to manipulate neurotransmitters with medication?

A

To NORTON different behaviours. E.g. if a medication or diet was developed to reduce the neurotransmitters that signal stress, this could help people who get stressed out too easily.

27
Q

What are the three different types of neurons?

A

Sensory neurons, relay neurons and motor neurons.

28
Q

Sensory Neurons

A

The nerve cells that transmit electrical impulses from receptors to the CNS.

29
Q

Relay Neurons

A

The nerve cells that transmit electrical impulses between sensory neurons and motor neurons.

30
Q

Motor Neurons

A

The nerve cells that transmit electrical impulses from the CNS to effectors.

31
Q

Transmission of information to and from the CNS diagram:

A

Relay Neuron
Sensory Neuron —> Motor Neuron
Stimulus —> Receptors —> CNS —> Effectors —> Response

32
Q

What do reflexes help prevent?

A

Injury and damage.

33
Q

What are reflexes?

A

Fast, automatic responses to certain stimuli.

34
Q

Why are reflexes so rapid?

A

They bypass your conscious brain completely - instead they go through the spinal cord or through an unconscious part of the brain.

35
Q

What is a synapse?

A

The junction between a neuron and another neuron, or between a neuron and an effector cell, e.g. a muscle or gland cell.

36
Q

What is the tiny gap between the cells at a synapse called?

A

The synaptic cleft/ gap.