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Psychology - Paper 2 > Biopsyhology > Flashcards

Biopsyhology Flashcards

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1
Q

Describe EEGs and evaluate it

A

Use a skull cap to measure how many neurons are firing in the brain. The electrodes pick up the activity of the neurons to see the amplitude and the frequency. Synchronised patterns = waveform, desynchronised = no waveform.

+ helped in identifying epilepsy
+ high temporal resolution
- low spatial resolution as cannot ding exact location

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2
Q

Nervous system overview

A

CNS = Brain, spinal chord
PNS = autonomous NS - parasympathetic, sympathetic
= somatic NS - afferent pathways, efferent pathways

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3
Q

Describe the autonomous nervous system

A

Sympathetic

  • activated when stimulated
  • gives extra energy
  • increased heart rate, digestion
  • stops digestion, saliva

Parasympathetic

  • opposite
  • to restore energy
  • keeps heart and breathing rate low
  • directs blood flow to digestive system
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4
Q

Describe the 2 parts of the peripheral nervous system

A

Autonomous
- regulates our internal environment (heart rate, digestion etc)
Somatic
- controls muscle movement
- afferent pathways = transits info to CNS (sensory)
- efferent pathways = connected to muscles (motor)

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5
Q

Examples of infradian rhythms

A

Menstrual cycle

  • McClintock studied external factors affecting it with pheromones on 29 women
  • cotton pad on armpit of 9 women during different stages of cycle.
  • frozen and rubbed in the lip of others
  • 68% experienced changes to cycle closer to the person

SAD
- melatonin increased as lack of light means the process continues longer. Affects production of serotonin causing depressive symptoms.

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6
Q

Describe the areas of the brain

A 
Somatosensory cortex
- parietal lobe
- receives sensory info
Motor cortex
- frontal lobe
- voluntary movement
Visual cortex
- occipital lobe
- visual info
Auditory cortex
- temporal lobe
- language info
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7
Q

Examples of endogenous pacemakers

A

Melatonin/serotonin
- sleep/wake cycle affected as at night melatonin is secreted while serotonin is decreased causing sleepiness
SCN
- bundle of nerve cells in the brain that receive info about light enabling out body to adjust

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8
Q

What is excitation and inhibiton

A

Excitation

  • when a NT increases the positive charge of the postsynaptic neuron
  • increases the likelihood that the impulse will fire

Inhibition

  • increases the negative charge of the postsynaptic neuron
  • decreases the likelihood that the impulse will fire
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9
Q

Evaluation of endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers

A
  • EZ influence overstated
    Miles = blind man from birth had rhythm of 24.9hrs, despite social cues, his sleep wake cycle could not be adjusted.
    Similarly people that live in the Arctic still sleep regularly despite abnormal light levels

Interactionist approach

  • work together
  • zeitgebers affects the internal working of your body which regulate
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10
Q

Explain language and the brain

A

Language only found in the left side of the brain

Broca’s area

  • Broca aphid an autopsy on someone who could only say tan
  • found damage the the left frontal lobe
  • concluded Broca’s area responsible for speech production
  • the damage to this is called expressive aphasia

Wernickes area

  • studied patients who had no trouble producing speech, but could not produce fluent sentences and were nonsensical
  • found auditory cortex damaged
  • concluded wernickes area responsible for speech comprehension
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11
Q

Factors that affect functional recovery

A

Age - children’s pathways are much less fixed
Gender - girls recover slightly better
Education

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12
Q

Describe post mortems and evaluate it

A

Analysing a dead persons brain. They usually have a rare disorder. Areas of damage are examined to establish the likely cause of affliction.

+ provided a foundation for research into lateralisation etc

  • can never be certain of causation
  • ethical issues = informed consent
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13
Q

What is plasticity

A

The brains tendency to change and adapt due to new learning

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14
Q

Evaluation of plasticity and functional recovery

A

+ practical application after accidents can be things such as cognitive training and re-learning to rebuild the brain.
+ Maguire =
studied brains of London taxi drivers and found significantly larger hippocampus than control group. This is associated with development of spatial and navigational skills.
- phantom limb syndrome where they experience same sensations even if nothing there. These can be very painful and is due to poor reorganisation.

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15
Q

Describe synaptic transmission

A

Neurotransmitter reaches axon terminal of presynaptic neuron
NT stored in vesicles in presynaptic neuron
NT molecules releases into synapse
NT diffuses across the synaptic cleft
NT bind to receptors on postsynaptic membrane
If threshold is reached the impulse can be fired (excitatory) or inhibitory if not.

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16
Q

Describe fMRIs and evaluate it

A

detects changes in how oxygenated the blood is. When an area of the brain changes from oxygenated to deoxygenated (consumes oxygen) it shows the area is active. The end result is 3D activation map - helps localisation of function.

+ doesn’t use radiation so risk free
+ high spatial resolution
- low temporal resolution (5 second time lag)
- very expensive

17
Q

Evaluation of research into circadian rhythms

A

+ application to
drug treatments = certain times when drugs more effective
shift work = adjusting to the day cause poor performance and heath problems
- generalisations from case studies

18
Q

What is hemispheric lateralisation

A

The idea that the two halves of the brain are functionally different and certain behaviours are mainly controlled by one hemisphere

19
Q

What are exogenous zeitgebers

A

External cues that affect our biological rhythms

20
Q

Describe fight or flight

A

Streets detected
Hypothalamus activated
Sympathetic branch of ANS activated (heart rate increase)
Activates adrenal medula in kidneys
Adrenaline released (oxygen/blood increased to muscles/brain)

21
Q

Explain the endocrine system

A

Secretes hormones which are requires to regulate bodily functions. Pituitary gland seen as the master gland as it controls most of the hormones released.

22
Q

Main example of a ultradian rhythm

A

Sleep cycle

  • stages 1+2 = light sleep, easily awoken
  • stages 3+4 = slower waves, difficult to awake
  • stage 5 = R.E.M. sleep, body paralysed yet brain active (dreaming)
23
Q

What is localisation of function

A

The theory that different areas of the brain are responsible for different behaviours

24
Q

Evaluation of research into infradian rhythms

A

+ evolution and menstrual cycles
advantageous to give birth at the same time in past as it increases survival chances
- way too many extraneous variables to know the true causes of change (eg stress, dieting, exercise)

25
Q

Evaluation for lateralisation of function

A

+ case studies (broca-tan, wernickes)
- can’t make generalisations from single studies
- often large areas damaged so can’t be sure
+ conformed through brain scans = PETERSEN found both areas active during tasks associated with areas
- LASHLEY removed areas from rats and found no area is more I’m portent than another
+ cannot apply to humans

26
Q

What are Circadian rhythms

A

Lasts for around 24 hours

27
Q

Explain functional recovery

A

Regaining function after brain trauma can happen in 2 ways

  1. Neural reorganisation
    - other areas of the brain take over the functions of the damaged area
  2. Neural regeneration
    - axonal sprouting from surviving neurons can mean surviving neurons can grow new branches to form new pathways
28
Q

Explain the three types of neurons

A 
Sensory
- carry sensory info to CNS from body’s receptors 
- long dendrites, short axons
Motor
- connect CNS to effectors (muscles/glands)
- short dendrites, long axons
Relay 
- connect sensory to motor
- short dendrites, short axons
29
Q

What are ultradian rhythms

A

Less than 24 hours

30
Q

Describe ERPs and evaluate it

A

Skull cap and electrodes like EEGs. But they show the patient a stimulus and record impulses. This is done several hundred times. They can then filter out extraneous brain activity to leave an event related potential. A type of brainwave triggered by an event

+ good temporal resolution
+ much better spatial resolution
- hard to dismiss all extraneous noise, impulses etc

31
Q

Evaluation of split-brain research

A

+ highly scientific and standardised procedures - reliable

  • not generalisable and as small sample size and different operations
  • led to pop psychology where it has been over simplified as they’re in constant communication with eachother
32
Q

Examples of endocrine gland

A

Adrenal Medula = adrenaline = fight/flight
Thyroid = thyroxine = regulates metabolism
Testes = testosterone = growth and male sexual characteristics

33
Q

What are infradian rhythms

A

Over 24 hours

34
Q

Describe the parts of a neuron

A

Soma = contains nucleus
Dendrites = carry impulse toward cell body
Axon = carry impulse away from cell body
Myelin Sheath = speeds up impulse
Axon terminal = communicates with next neuron

35
Q

Examples of exogenous zeitgebers

A

Light
- affects the SCN
Social cues
- schedule - parents on a new born

36
Q

What are endogenous pacemakers

A

Internal body clocks that regulate biological rhythms

37
Q

Example of circadian rhythms and study

A

The sleep/wake cycle

Siffre

  • spent 2 months in a cave deprived of sunlight and believed it to be a month earlier than it really was
  • his rhythm changed but still did sleep/wake regularly.
38
Q

Describe Sperrys split-brain research

A

Studied people who had their corpus callosum cut, separating the two halves of the brain.
He used a divided field so that in the patients right visual field was an image and in their left was a different image.
Description - Patients shown an image on the right were able to describe it, but when the same image was shown on the left, they said nothing was there. Supports language being processed in the left hemisphere.
Matching faces - two faces, face on left selected to match.

Concluded left hemisphere = language, description whole right hemisphere = visual

Psychology - Paper 2 (3 decks)

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