Chapter 3 Flashcards
Study of the relationship between the brain and behavior/mental processes. Includes perception, memory, emotions/feelings, language, & thought
Biological psychology
Fundamental assumption of biological psychology
Anima brains provide a model not a replica
Nerve cell specialized for communication.
Functioning of brain depends on cross talk of neurons. Neurons contain about 100 billion neurons and 160 trillion connections
Neuron
Extensions on neurons. Spread out to listen in on inform from neighboring neurons and pass it on to the cell body.
Dendrites
Cell body that contains the nucleus
Soma
Very thin, long, tail-like extensions protruding
from the cell body. Sends signals and creates trigger
zone. Incased in myelin sheath.
Axons
Information is conveyed into other
cells form here
Terminal fields
Protective covering of axons
Myelin sheath
- Electrical impulse triggers the release of neurotransmitters. When this occurs, the neuron is either firing or not firing.
- Originate in trigger cells of cell body and continue down axon to axon terminal Positive charged particles flow rapidly into axon and quickly out causing a spike in positive charge and sudden decrease in charge. Inside charge ends up slightly negative to original resting value.
- When electrical charge reaches axon terminal, it triggers the release of neurotransmitters – chemical messages - - into a synapse
Steps Involved in Neural Impulse (Action Potential)
Electrical charge difference (-60 millivolts) across the neuronal membrane, when the neuron is not being stimulated or inhibited. More negative particles inside than outside the neuron.
Resting potential
Back part of the cerebral cortex responsible for vision
Occipital lobe
Object recognition as well as hearing, understanding, language and memory. Is separated from the rest of the context by lateral fissure.
Temporal lobe
Part of the cortex devoted to hearing
Auditory cortex
Language area of temporal responsible for understanding speech
Wernicke’s Area
Defect in the ability to recognize objects
Agnosia
Disability in detecting faces
Prospagnosia
Spatial attention specializing in touch and perception
Parietal lobe
Sensitive to touch, including pressure, pain, and temperature
Somatosensory cortex
Capability to feel lost limb
Phantom Limb Syndrome
Neglect of half of space following injury to parietal cortex on one side of brain
Neglect syndrome
“executive function”
Frontal lobe
Language area in the prefrontal cortex responsible for speech production
Broca’s Area
Responsible for body movement
Motor cortex
Emotional center of the brain that processes internal states. SMELL!
Limbic System
Key roles in fear, excitement, and arousal
Amygdala
Gateway from the sense organs to primary sensory cortex. Main door to limbic system organs
Thalamus
Region below the Midbrain that contains the organs of the brain stem
Hindbrain
Responsible for our sense of balance and enables us to coordinate movement and learn motor skills. Contributes to executive, spatial and linguistic abilities
Cerebellum
Connects the cortex with the cerebellum. Dreams
Pons
Involved in heartbeat and breathing
Medulla
Large band of fibers connecting the 2 cerebral hemispheres. Allows for communication between both lobes of brain.
Corpus Collosum
Helps control movement. Allows us to perform movements to obtain reward.
Basil Ganglia
Manufactures adrenaline and cortisol, emergency glands.
Adrenal gland
Regulates vlood pressure and cardiovascular functions
Cortisol
Rapid, unconscious processing of visual information in the peripheral visual field
Spatial attention
The brain’s capacity to change aspects of its structure of function based on experience, or in response to injury.
Plasticity
Red, green, yellow, blue, black test. Demonstrates that the frontal lobe is able to control certain words and things we want to say.
Stroop test
How very small synaptic currents translate into a new nerve impulse in the postsynaptic cell. If the sum of a synaptic current exceeds a certain threshold, a nerve impulse will be generated.
Synaptic Integration
How many positive and negative currents are reaching a particular point in the postsynaptic cell
Spatial summation
The frequency of the currents
Temporal Summation
Are released from presynaptic cell into the postsynaptic cell.
Neurotransmitters
Related neurotransmitters are serotonin & noepinephrine. Block reuptake of neurotransmitter
Plasticity: The brains capacity to change aspects of its structure or function based on experience, or in response to
injury. Four processes involved in plasticity:
molecules. Prozac keeps more serotonin around.
Depression
Cells that fire together, wire together
Hebb’s Rule
A cellular phenomenon with high frequency stimulation increasing the ability of cell A to fire cell B. There are two stages, induction and maintenance
Long Term Potentiation (LTP)
Showed how difficult it was to remember episodic memories with a disorder called Amnesia.
Henry Molaison
A type of long term memory that is the conscious memory for information and facts.
There are two forms: Semantic and episodic memory
Declarative memory
helps develop and form new memories. Helps us learn by looking at cues to
remember where something is
Hippocampus
Cells that produce high frequency of nerve impulses when an animal is situated in a particular place
Place cells
When you see something in your right side you wont see it if that part of the brain is unusable
Split-brain effect
