Brain and Neuropsychology Flashcards
What does the nervous system do?
It collects and responds to information in the environment
And controls working of different organs and cells
What does the peripheral nervous system do?
It receives messages from the central nervous system and sends messages to it via neurons
What does the somatic nervous system do?
It sends information from the brain to muscles and takes in information from sensory organs such as the eyes and skin.
What does the autonomic nervous system do?
It governs automatic functions and is home to the sympathetic division and the parasympathetic division
What does the parasympathetic division do?
It returns the body to a normal ‘rest and digest’ state
What does the sympathetic division do?
Works in opposition to the parasympathetic division
It endures a state of physiological arousal ready for the fight or flight response
What does the central nervous system consist of?
The brain and the spinal cord
What does the brain do in the cns?
It is divided into two hemispheres, the right controls the left side of the body and vice verse
It is the centre of conscious awareness and where all decision making takes place
The brain stem governs some automatic functions and reflex responses
What does the spinal cord do in the central nervous system?
It carries incoming and outgoing messages between the brain and the rest of the body
What is homeostasis?
Keeping the body in a constant and balanced internal state
Explain brain detects threat as an element of the fight or flight response
The first thing to happen
The hypothalamus identifies a threatening event
Triggers the sympathetic division of the ANS to act
Explain release of adrenaline as an element of the fight or flight response
The ANS changes from resting state to an aroused state
The stress hormone adrenaline is released from the adrenal glands into the bloodstream
Explain fight or flight response as en element of the fight or flight response
Immediate and automatic
Adrenaline targets the cardiovascular system, increasing heart rate and breathing
Inhibits digestion and increases saliva production
Prepares the body to confront the threat (fight) or provide the energy to run away (flight)
Explain ‘once the threat has passed’ as an element of the fight or flight response
Parasympathetic division returns body to normal ‘rest and digest’ state
Digestion and hunger stimulated
Outline the James-Lange theory of emotion
Physiological arousal comes first and then the brain interprets the physiological activity which causes emotions. If no physiological changes occur then emotions are not experienced
What is a strength of the James-Lange theory?
Real life examples
A fear of public situations can develop as a result of the anxiety created from falling down in public
This shows emotional responses are a result of physiological arousal like increased heart rate
What are two weaknesses of the James-Lange theory of emotion?
Is challenged by the Cannon-Bard theory that says we experience some emotions at the same time as physiological arousal
Is challenged by the two factor theory that says we need arousal plus social cues to correctly label the emotion we are feeling (Schachter and Singer)
What are neurons?
Nerve cells that send electrical and chemical signals to communicate
There are 100 billion in the human body
What are the three types of neuron?
Sensory
Relay
Motor
What are sensory neurons?
They carry messages from the PNS to the CNS, they have long dendrites and short axons
What are relay neurons?
They connect sensory neurons to motor neurons, they have short dendrites and short axons
What are motor neurons?
They carry messages from the CNS to muscles and glands, they have short dendrites and long axons.
What are the four main elements of a neuron?
Cell body
Axon
Myelin sheath
Terminal button
What is the purpose of the cell body?
Nucleus contains genetic material
What is the purpose of the Axon?
It carries signals from the cell body down the neuron, covered in the myelin sheath
What is the myelin sheath?
A fatty layer which acts as insulation and gaps speed up the signal
What is the terminal button?
The end of the axon forming part of the synapse
How do neurons communicate with each other?
Through the release of neurotransmitters from the prsynaptic neuron to the postsynaptic neuron across the space between the two neurons
Explain the release of neurotransmitters
They are stored in vesicles at terminal buttons of presynaptic neuron
Electrical signal releases neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft
Explain the reuptake of neurotransmitters
They attach themselves to the next neuron at post synaptic receptor sites
The chemical message is turned back to an electrical impulsive
The neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft are broken down by enzymes and reabsorbed by the presynaptic neuron
What is excitation?
Excitatory neurotransmitters increase the post synaptic neuron’s positive charge and make it more likely to fire
What is inhibition (neurons)?
Inhibitory neurotransmitters increase the postsynaptic neuron’s negative change and make it less likely to fire
What is summation?
It occurs if there are more excitatory signals than inhibitory signals from the thousands of signals received from other neurons
Explain ‘the brain is plastic’
Synaptic connections in the brain become stronger the more they are used
The brain has the ability to change and develop
Explain ‘the Brain adapts’ (Hebb)
The brain changed structure and connections in response to new experiences
Any learning at any age will do this
Explain ‘learning produces and engram’
Learning leaves a trace (engram)
This can be made permanent if we practise and rehearse what we are learning
What are cell assemblies?
Groups of neurons that fire together
The more they fire, the more the synaptic connections grow and strengthen
What is neuronal growth?
It occurs as the cel, assemblies retire to manage new learning
What are two strengths of Hebb’s theory?
It is scientific as he explained learning in terms of brain function which provides and objective basis
It can be applied to education as he found that rats raised in stimulating settings were better able to find their way through mazes as adults
What is a weakness of Hebb’s theory?
It reduces learning to a neuronal level which means that other levels of understanding are ignored, such as Piaget’s theory about how accommodation moves learning forwards
Summarise the frontal lobe
Front of the brain
Controls thinking, planning and movement
Contains one language area (broca’s area)
Summarise the parietal lobe
Back of the brain
Controls vision
Summarise the temporal lobe and auditory/language area
Behind the frontal lobe and below occipital lobe
Auditory area related to speech and hearing
Includes part of the language area (Wernicke’s area)
Contain the amygdala which processes information
What does the cerebellum do?
Receives information from the spinal cord and the brain. Main role is movement, coordination and balance . Also involved in attention and language
What does localisation mean?
Specific brain areas do particular jobs
What does damage to the motor area in the left hemisphere affect?
The right side of the body
It can lead to the person struggling with find and complex movements
Describe the somatosensory area
The most sensitive parts take up most ‘space’
Damage means less ability to feel pain and temperature
Describe the visual area of the brain
Right visual field of each eye sends information to the visual area in the left hemisphere, and vice verse.
Damage to the visual area in the left hemisphere may cause blindness in the right visual field of both eyes
What can damage to the auditory area result in?
Deafness
Where are the areas controlling language?
Left hemisphere only
What does Broca’s area do?
Controls speech production
What does damage to Broca’s area result in?
Broca’s aphasia, which is a difficulty remembering and forming words
What does Wernicke’s area do?
Understands language
What does damage to Wernicke’s area result in?
Wernicke’s aphasia which means they may have difficulty understanding language and are unable to produce meaningful speech
What is the aim of Penfield’s study?
To investigate patients’ responses when their brain was electrically stimulated
What was the method of Penfield’s study?
He operated on people to treat their epilepsy.
His technique meant that a conscious patient’s brain was exposed and areas could be electrically stimulated
Patients could the. Report their thoughts and sensations
What were the results of Penfield’s study?
With temporal lobe stimulation, patients recalled experiences or recalled feelings associated with the experiences, including experiences of dékà vu.
The same memory was recalled each time the same area was stimulated.
What were the conclusions of Penfield’s study?
Suggests that memories of previous experiences are stored in the temporal lobe.
As associated area stores the personal meaning of the experience
Penfield called this the interpretive cortex
What is cognitive neuroscience?
Scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
What is a strength of Penfield’s study?
He used a very precise method of studying the brain. He could stimulate the exact same area of the brain repeatedly and patients could report their experiences
What are two weaknesses of Penfield’s study
His later research did not always support his original findings . Only 40 of the 520 patients he studied reported vivid memories when their lobe was stimulated
The participants in the study made up an unusual sample. The patients were suffering from severe epilepsy
What does cognitive neuropsychology aim to do?
Create a deatailed map of localised functions in the brain,
What is cognition?
Mental processes of the mind - like memory and perception
What effects do low serotonin have?
Affects thinking and behaviour
Describe stroke in terms of the brain
The brain is deprived of oxygen because of distribution to its blood supply, the specific areas affected will die
The effects may not be permanent if other parts of the brain take over localised functions
Summarise a CT scan
Large doughnut-shaped rotates around the person to take lots of X-rays of the brain
Images are taken from different angles and are combined to build up a detailed picture
What are two strengths of CT scans?
Useful for revealing abnormal structures like tumours
Quality of the images provided is higher than traditional X-rays
What are two weakness of CT scans?
Requires more radiation than X-rays
Only produces still images
Summarise PET scans
Patient is injected with a radioactive substance like glucose
Brain activity shown On a computer screen
What are two strengths of PET scans?
Shows brain in action
Shows localisation of function when person asked to person a specific task
What are three weaknesses of PET scans?
Expensive
Images difficult to interpret
Ethical issues due to the injection of radioactive substance
Summarise fMRI scans
Measure changes in blood oxygen levels in the brain
Brain activity displayed as 3D images produced on a computer screen
What are three strengths of fMRI scans?
Shown brain in action
Clear images
No radiation
What are three weaknesses of fMRI scans?
Expensive
Person must stay very still
Time lag between activity and image appearing
What is the aim of Tulving’s gold memory study?
To investigate whether episodic memories produced different blood flow from semantic memories
What was the method of Tulving’s gold memory study?
Six participants were injected with radioactive gold.
Repeated measures design
4 episodic trials - thought of personal experience
4 semantic trials - thought of fact
Blood flow in the brain was monitored on a PET scan
What were the results of Tulving’s gold study?
Different blood flow patterns found in three out of six participants
Semantic memories created a greater concentration of blood flow in the posterior cortex
Episodic memories created greater flow in the frontal lobe
What were the conclusions of Tulving’s gold study?
Episodic and semantic memories are localised in different parts of the brain
Memory has a biological basis
What is a strength of Tulving’s gold memory study?
It produced scientific evidence from brain scans that is difficult to fake which made the evidence more unbiased
What are two weaknesses of Tulving’s gold memory study?
The sample was restricted - only six participants were used and differences were only seen in half.
Episodic and semantic memories are often very similar as memories for personal events also contain facts and knowledge so it is difficult to work out which type of memory is being studied
