brain learning and motivation: intro to biological psychology and the brain Flashcards
Descartes
philosopher and defender of dualism
proposed:are humans merely physical machines? physical things?
he answered nno with two arguments in favour of dualism
Descartes arguments for dualism
1 humans can do things machines could never do e.g. mechanical duck by Jacques de Vaucanson (1737) the duck mimicked eating and defecting but couldn’t decide what it ate but humans can
2 he used doubt and discovered people are not really sure of anything
dualsim
dualism is the theory that the mental and the physical—or mind and body or mind and brain—are, in some sense, radically different kinds of thing.
if you put your brain in soeone else’s body would it still b you
levels of analasys from molecules to memories
to understand who we are, we need to understand the mechanisms of our brains. Our consciousness cannot exist outside our brain. We are just a specific assembly of nerve cells and their associative compounds
we are the sum of our experiences and those are stored in a neural structure unique to each individual
said by crick THE ASTONISHING HYPOTHESIS (1994)
idea that the ind is what the brain does, this idea is favoured more by scientists than dualism
individual brain differences
allbrains have differences structurally even siblings
alziemers age and alcohol effects on the brain
people with theses have many large vacuoles in the brain and their braindoesnt quite fill the skull
biopsychological approach
human and non human subjects
Quasiexperimental research
case studies
pure and applied research
biopsychology: pisiological psychology
study of the neural mechanisms of behavior by manipula1ng the nervous systems of nonhuman animals in
controlled experiments.
psychopharmacology
study of drugs and their affect on brain and behaviour
Neuropsychology
study the psychological effects of brain damage in human pa1ents.
psychophisiology
study of the rela1on between physiological ac1vity and psychological processes in human subjects by non invasive physiological recording.
cognative neuroscience
study of the neural mechanisms of human cogni1on, largely through the use of func1onal brain imaging.
comparative psychology
study of the evolu1on, gene1cs and adap1veness of behavior largely through the use of the compara1ve
method.
physiological psycologists: researching memory would…
use hypocampal lesion patients such as HM
or make hypothetical lessons using techniques preciously discussed
psychopharmacologists: when studying memory would…
investigate Neurochemistry of Alzheimer’s disease – the
role of acetylcholine in memory
neuropsychologists: when studying memory would…
alcohol-produced brain damage: Korsakoff’s syndrome
phsychophysiologists: when studying memory would…
erp’s of familiar faces compared to unfamiliar faces
cognative neuroscientists: when studying memory would…
imaging successfully and unsuccessfully stored
informa1on
comparative psychologists: when studying memory would…
birds cache seeds- hippocampal size
cognitiave psychologists: when studying memory would…
investigate schemas and memory
socialpsychologists: when investigating memory would…
investigate stereotype threat and its effect on exam results
developmental psychologists: when investigating memory would…
investigat infantile amnesia
counselling psychologists: when investigating memory would..
investigate intrusively into traumatic memories and PTSD
applied psychologists: wen investigating memory would…
look a facial recognition and witnesses
invertaspectrum problem
woman sees red when man sees blue due to different pattern of neural firing so she has a different experience of these colours than him
…these differences are communicated through language
the astonishing hypothesis…
Our minds would not exist without neurones, their interac1ons, the chemicals that bind them together
proof:
there is strong evidence that the brain is involved in mental life
nervous system
divided into:
central nervous system
peripheral nervous system
central nervous system
made up of:
brain
spinal cord
periforal nervous system
everything outside brain and spinal cordmade up of:
somatic nervous system
autonomic nervous system
periforal nervous system: somatic nervous system
control of getting messages to and from brain includes: skin muscle joints
made up of sensory and motor neurone signals
all send signals to spinal cord and brain
spinal cord and brain also send signals to these areas
periforal nervous system: autonomic nervous system
sends and receives information to and from
include:
Glands
internal organs
from brain and spinal cord and vice versa
autonomic nervous system
part of system that sends information is further divided into:
sympathetic nervous system
para-sympathetic nervous system
both maintain balance of homeostasis
autonomic nervous system: sympathetic nervous system
activates processes e.g. fight or flight response
sends signals to different parts of body
eg dialates pupil
autonomic nervous system: para-sympathetic nervous system
sends signals to different parts of body to calm down so opposite of sympathetic
eg constricts pupil
central nervous system: spinal cord
densely packed bundle of nerve fibres
relay station between body and brain
connects most parts of peripheral system with brain
control of fast reactions without conscious though
eg hand in fire
transfers information from and to sensory and motor neurons
structure of the brain
the brain is made up of 3 main sections:
the forebrain
the midbrain
the hindbrain
structure of the brain: the forebrain
where most of the thinking happens made up of:
Thalamus
Hypothalamus
Cerebrum (including cerebral cortex on both hemispheres)
Limbic system
corpus callosm
structure of the brain: the hindbrain
oldest part of the brain made up of: the cerebellum Pons Medulla Oblongata ...controld vital movements eg heart
structure of the brain: midbrain
relay station between spinal cord and brain
contains clusters of sensory and motor nerves relating to hind and for brain
hindbrain: medulla oblongata
control of: breathing heart beating staying alive unconscious movements
hindbrain: pons
control of:
sleep
arousal
carries nerve impulses between higher and lower levels of system
hindbrain: cerebellum
older part of brain
control of:
movement
co-ordination and complex movement
densely packed with neutrons and connections, densely folded structure
one of first places affected by alcohol
also plays a small role in learning and memory
midbrain: Reticular formation
arts higher centres of the brain that messages are coming and either blocks or allows messages
also carries the information related to seep and arousal
Forebrain: Cerebrum
considered most evolutionary advanced area of brain
made up of two large hemispheres that wrap around brain stem
forebrain: the Thalamus
switchboard that organises sensory inputs and rooutes then to the appropriate areas of the brain
dense connection between Thalamus and amygdila
amygdila
part of the brain that processes fear etc
Thalamo-cortical projections
seem to be dysfunctional in patients with Schizofreenia which may explain problems in sensoty gating
forgebrain: Hypothalamus
plays a major role in motivation and emotion controls hormonal secretions that regulate: sexual behaviour metabolism reactions to stress pleasure pain also regulates: hunger thirst sleep and also contains the superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN) circadian sleep and wake cycles
forebrain: Limbic system
helps co-ordinate behaviour needed to satisfy emotional and motivational urges that arise in hypothalmus
controls emotion and motivation
involved in memory
contains hipocampus and amygdila
Limbic system: Hipocampus
involved in forming and retrieving memories
Lymbic system: Amygdila
organises emotional and motivational response patterns.,
aggression and fear processing
structure nd function of cerebral cortex
makes up 80% of brain
but only 2-3mm thick
hence convoluted folded structure
Cerebral cortex
sheet of grey unmyelinated cells
form outermost layers of human brain
folds allow for greater surface area
Fissures separate brain into 4 lobes
Four lobes of brain
frontal lobe
parietal lobe
occipital lobe
temporal lobe
Frontal lobe
thought
planning
movement
Temporal lobe
hearing
memory
occipital lobe
vision
parietal lobe
touch
spatial relations
Franz Gall
neuroanatomist
physiologist
pioneer in locating mental functions in the brain
developed Crainoscopy (renamed (Phrenology) to determine
to determine the personality and development of mental and moral faculties
on the basis of external shape of skull
doesn’t hold up to scientific scrutiny
functional location of behaviour
Paul Broca (1824-1880)
studied damage to left side of frontal lobe
discovered brokers area after Ga;;
Broca area
A brain area crucial for speech producFon through its connecFons with the motor cortex region
Wernike area
A brain area adjacent to the auditory projecFon area, damage to which leads to deficits in understanding word meaning or speech comprehension
Brocas Aphasia
The organisation of speech suffers. So while the ideas are all right, the fluency suffers
Wernicke’s Aphasia
Fluency is intact, but the ability to speak meaningful words is disrupted.
Latteralisation in the brain: Hemisphere asymmetry
two hemispheres
not all function is replicated in both e.g. Broca and Wince only occurs in left side
left hemisphere almost always larger than right
right hemisphere
contains many long neural fibres that connect widely separate areas of the brain
dominant for spatial relationships
images from left side come here
negative emotions
left hemisphere
contains shorter fibres with rich interconnections within a more limited area
dominant for language
images from right side come here
the interpreter strives to make sense of events
splitting the brain…
…splits the conscious mind
two hemispheres connected by corpus colas (dense nerve fibres
severing corpus collasm produces split brain
split brain patients
questions can be posed to one hemisphere but no to the other revealing specialisation of each
the spread of electrical activity from one hemisphere to another is reduced
functional organisation of the cerebral cortex
spacific areas of brain correspond with specific senses
spacific regions of the cortex in these areas are responsible for specific body parts and corresponding senses
also:
contrlateral control
ascociation areas
functional organisation of the cerebral cortex : contralateral control
left hemisphere controls right hand gf body and vice versa
functional organisation of the cerebral cortex : ascociation areas
corFcal areas that are neither motor or sensory but are thought to be involved in higher processing of informaFon
the cerebral cortex: primary somatosensory cortex
strip of cortex located at from of parietal lobe behind primary motor area in frontal lobe
is the primary projecFon area for bodily sensaFons, including touch, pain, and temperature
the cerebral cortex: primary motor cortex
A strip of cortex located at the back of the frontal lobe just ahead of the primary sensory projection area in the parietal lobe.
This region is the primary projection area for muscular movements.
parietal lobe: funtions and damage
organises visual and auditory space
end point of visual pathway telling us where things are located in space
detects moving objects in space
determines which part of space we pay attention to
damage here causes neglect symptoms
temporal lobe: functions and
The lobe of the cortex lying below the temples in each cerebral hemisphere,
includes the:
primary auditory projection area,
Wernicke’s area,
subcorFcally, the amygdala and hippocampus.
temporal lobe: damage
causes:
disturbance of visual and auditory and percepFon, impaired organization and categorization of verbal material, disturbance of language comprehension,
impaired long-term memory
Right side lesions can also effect recognition of visual content e.g. recall of faces
Capgras delusion) damage to the temporal lobe
a Capgras delusion is a false belief that someone you know very well
has been replaced by an idenFcal duplicate.
• the paFent will say that the individual in quesFon may look and sound like the real person, and may be totally indisFnguishable from the real person, but the paFent will sFll claim that this is an imposter and not the real person.
• If the person calls the paFent on the phone, the paFent oZen can sFll recognize the voice as belonging to the “true” person!
the frontal lobes
29% of human brain
least understood part of brain
damage can result in loss of intellectual abilities such as planning and carrying out action sequences
involved in emotional experience
prefrontal cortex
seat of executive functions
prefrontal cortex: executive functions
mental abilities that allow people to direct their behaviour in an adaptive fashion
• Goal selng, judgment, strategic planning, impulse control
prefrontal cortex: damage
results in inability to understand and anticipate future consequences
Phineas Gage (1848)
An accidental explosion blasted a one meter rod cleanly through his head.
• He lived for several years aZer the accident Phineas Gage suffered prefrontal cortex damage in an accident and underwent personality change.
problems in controlling emotions and impulsivity
planning frontal lobes and response inhibition
to be rational we may have to inhibit some strong responses in ourselves
these responses may be strongly controlled by drives or aggression
the arcuate fasciculus
The arcuate fasciculus (Latin, curved bundle) is a bundle of axons that forms part of the superior longitudinal fasciculus. The arcuate bidirectionally connects caudal temporal cortex and inferior parietal cortex to locations in the frontal lobe.[1][2]
the brains core governs
basic physiological functioning
endocrine system
through the use of hormones this system transmits messages from one area of the body t another
black widow spider bite causes
caused by and overproduction of acetylcholline
Alzheimers disease is caused by
an underproduction of Acetylcholline
botulinu bacteria
acetyl cholline production is blocked resulting in a possibbly fatal paralasys
psychoactive drugs
drugs that cause changes in consciousness emotions and behaviour
neuropsyhological test
example of this is the Trail making test used to test memory and planning abilities
the primary sensory area for vision lies at the rear of the…
occipital lobe
the ways in which neural functioning can be restored after damage are…
neurogenesis
neural stem cells
scientists use the following methods of destruction and stimulation to study brain
chemicals to destroy nervous tissue
surgically removing parts of brain
applying cold or heat to destroy nerve cells
destroying nervous tissue using electricity
james olds 1955 study
identified dopamine as producing rewarding behaviours in rats
synaptic vesicles
chambers within the axon terminals where transmitter molecules are stored
