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Psychology- Biological > central nervous system and human behaviours > Flashcards

central nervous system and human behaviours Flashcards

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1
Q

what is the spinal cord responsible for ?

A

reflex actions (e.g. pulling your hand away from a hot plate

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2
Q

what does the spinal cord do ?

A

passes messages to and from the brain, linking it to the peripheral nervous system

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3
Q

what is the spinal cord ?

A

a tube-like structure

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4
Q

what is the brain ?

A
  • source of our conscious awareness

- where decision making takes place

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5
Q

how is the brain divided ?

A

into two near-symmetrical hemispheres

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6
Q

what are the two hemispheres connected by ?

A

corpus callosum

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7
Q

how does the brain control the body ?

A

contralaterally- left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and vice versa

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8
Q

what distinguishes our mental activity from other animals ?

A

our cerebral cortex is highly developed

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9
Q

what is the thalamus ?

A

the brain’s relay station

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10
Q

what is the main job of the thalamus ?

A

receives information from various senses and passes it on to the appropriate areas of the cerebral cortex for high level processing

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11
Q

what are some other things that the thalamus does ?

A
  • carries out some initial processing of its own
  • acts as a ‘gate’ or filter for information
  • thought to play a role in sleep, wakefulness and obsessive compulsive disorder
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12
Q

where is the hypothalamus ?

A

sits below the thalamus

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13
Q

what three things does the hypothalamus control motivation for ?

A

1) hunger
2) thirst
3) sex

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14
Q

what subcortical structure is in control of the ‘fight or flight’ system ?

A

the hypothalamus - key role in the stress response

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15
Q

what role does the hypothalamus play in maintaining homeostasis ?

A
  • maintains balance in bodily functions such as body temperature
  • regulates the endocrine system through its connection to the pituitary gland
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16
Q

what is an example of a structure that is part of the limbic system ?

A

the amygdala

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17
Q

what role does the amygdala play ?

A

large role in regulating emotional responses (such as aggression)

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18
Q

what are two things that the limbic system plays a role in ?

A

memory and learning

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19
Q

what does the limbic system do structurally ?

A

limbic system is interconnected with areas of the cortex, integrating cortical and subcortical parts of the brain

20
Q

what does cerebellum mean ?

A

‘little brain’

21
Q

what are two characteristics of the cerebellum ?

A
  • has two hemispheres

- very convoluted (wrinkled)

22
Q

what is the primary role of the cerebellum ? how does it do this ?

A

1) coordinates posture, balance and movement

2) does this by receiving and integrating information from the spinal cord and other areas such as the motor cortex

23
Q

what is the corpus callosum ?

A

a dense collection of nerve cells

24
Q

what does the corpus callosum do ?

A
  • physically connects the two hemispheres bellow the cerebral cortex
  • allows communication between the two hemispheres by passing signals back and forth
25
Q

why is the corpus callosum so critical to the body ?

A

the brain controls the body contralaterally and the corpus callosum allows this to happen by allowing the two hemispheres to pass signals between them

26
Q

what three things does the corpus callosum play a vital role in ?

A

1) self-control
2) impulsive regulation
3) inhibition of aggressive behaviour

27
Q

what did Coccaro et al. 2007 discover about the corpus callosum in terms of aggression ?

A

they found that patients with psychiatric disorders that feature aggression, activity in the orbifrontal cortex in reduced, which disrupts the corpus callosum by imparing the impulse control function (the patients are more impulsive with their aggressive responses)

28
Q

the two hemispheres have different functions, what is this known as ?

A

lateralisation

29
Q

within each hemisphere, certain areas are responsible for specific functions and behaviours, what is this called ?

A

localisation - for example, not only are language functions lateralised to the left side of the brain. they are also localised to certain areas within it

30
Q

what is the most striking characteristic of the cerebral cortex ? and what is it its purpose ?

A

it is very convoluted - to increase the cortex’s surface area, giving it more processing power

31
Q

how is the cerebral cortex structured ?

A

it is separated into four lobes of each hemisphere named after the bones under which they lie (so eight in total and four in each hemisphere)

32
Q

what do the frontal lobes control ?

A
  • high level cognitive functions such as:
    1) thinking
    2) planning
    3) problem-solving
    4) decision-making
33
Q

what do the frontal lobes contain ?

A

the motor cortex

34
Q

what is the motor cortex ?

A

a long strip of neurons that runs down along the central sulcus of both hemispheres

35
Q

what does the motor cortex control ?

A

each motor cortex controls voluntary actions for the opposite side of the body

36
Q

what is the left frontal lobe known as ?

A

Broca’s area

37
Q

where are the parietal lobes ?

A

on the other side of the central sulcus, further back in the brain

38
Q

what lies directly alongside the central sulcus in the parietal lobes ?

A

the somatosensory cortex

39
Q

what does the somatosensory cortex do ? and in what manner ?

A

processes sensory information from the skin (e.g. touch, temperature and pressure), does this contralaterally

40
Q

where are the temporal lobes ?

A

beneath the lateral sulcus of each hemisphere

41
Q

what does each temporal lobe contain ?

A

an auditory cortex which deals with sound information coming mainly from the opposite ear

42
Q

what do the temporal lobes do ? and what does this mean ?

A

they process the location, volume and pitch of sounds - have a role in understanding language

43
Q

where are the occipital lobes ?

A

located at the back of the brain

44
Q

what does each occipital lobe contain ?

A

a primary visual cortex

45
Q

how does our vision work ?

A

everything we see in our right field of vision is initially processed by the left visual cortex before sharing (via corpus callosum) with the right visual cortex

Psychology- Biological (10 decks)

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