chapter 4 and 5

Question 1

Brain vs heart:

Answer 1

The origin of this debate can be tracked to be 500 BC, to Classical Greece. The debate argues whether the mental processes happen in the brain or the heart.

Question 2

Mind body problem:

Answer 2

Mind and body dualism represents the ideology that the mind and body are two separate entities each with different natures. According to Rene Descartes, human body and mind could not exist in unity. Therefore as opposed by René “a person lives through two histories one is what happens in and to the body the other what happens in and to ones life”.

Question 3

phrenology :

Answer 3

• Different parts of the brain had different functions (localisation of brain function).
• Personality characteristics and mental abilities were controlled by different parts (‘brain organs’) which were located on its outer surface.
• The size of each parts indicated how fully developed it was and therefore the strength of its influence.
• The development of a particular part would push out the surrounding skull to the extent that it would cause a bump on the head that could be observed or felt externally.
• Gall started to investigate Phrenology because in school, he thought people with large eyes that bulge out had better memory.

Question 4

First brain experiments:
Ablation:

Answer 4

involves destroying or removing selected brain tissue followed by an assessment of subsequent changes in behaviour, usually irreversible.

Question 5

Electrical stimulation:

Answer 5

electrical stimulation of the brain is that there were electrical signals by neurons and by modifying those signals, there would be a chance to influence and change an individual’s brain
function.

Question 6

Hindbrain:

Answer 6

A collection of lower level brain structures that include the cerebellum, medulla and pons. These control or influence various motor functions and vital, automatic (‘autonomic’) responses such as breathing and heart rate, as well as sleep and arousal (‘alertness’).

Question 7

Medulla-

Answer 7

vital bodily functions such as swallowing, breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, vomiting, salivating, coughing and sneezing, all of which occur automatically and are essential for
survival.

Question 8

cerebellum -

Answer 8

Coordinates fine muscle movement and involved in learning and memory associated with movement

Question 9

Pons-

Answer 9

Involved in sleep, dreaming and arousal from sleep (‘waking’), as well as helping control breathing and coordination of some muscle movements.

Question 10

Midbrain:
Reticular formation:

Answer 10

Helps screen incoming information so as not to overload the brain,
Regulates arousal (such as awakening from sleep) and muscle tone (tension)

Question 11

fore brain

Answer 11

A collection of upper level structures that include the hypothalamus, thalamus and cerebrum.
Regulates complex cognitive processes such as thinking, learning, memory and perception, as well as various aspects of emotion and personality.

Question 12

Hypothalamus-

Answer 12

Has a vital role in maintaining the body’s internal environment (i.e. homeostasis) and takes part in numerous behaviours.
main functions include:
The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating thirst, so damage could
result in excessive thirst.
● The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating body temperature, so
damage could result in difficulty regulating body temperature.
● The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating sex drive, so damage could
result in a reduced sex drive.
● The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating the release of sleep
hormones, so damage could result in issues in sleep cycle regulation.

Question 13

Thalamus:

Answer 13

Filters information from almost all the sense receptor sites (except the nose), then passes it to relevant areas of the brain for further processing

Question 14

Cerebrum:

Answer 14

Primarily responsible for almost everything we consciously think, feel and do.
- Divided into two cerebral hemispheres (left and right) and are connected by the corpus callosum, which enables information exchange and coordinated functioning of the brain.
- Consists of an outer surface called the cerebral cortex

Question 15

Cerebral cortex

Answer 15

Processes incoming sensory information and is involved with the planning and control of voluntary bodily movements.

The areas of the cerebral cortex and their
main functions can be organised into 3 broad categories:
Sensory areas which receive and process sensory information

Motor areas which initiate voluntary movements

Association areas which surround sensory and motor areas and deal with more complex functions that require integration of inputs of information from different areas

Question 16

Frontal lobe:

Answer 16

Responsible for planning and initiating voluntary bodily movements
Prefrontal cortex: involved with …
- Sophisticated mental abilities:
- Reasoning
- Planning
- Problem solving
- Decision making
- Symbolic thinking
- Attention
- Regulation of emotions
- Expression of emotional reactions
Self-awareness
- Aspects of personality (eg: Initiating appropriate and inhibiting inappropriate behaviour).

Question 17

Premotor cortex:

Answer 17

Prepares the appropriate movement sequence
Sends the information to the adjacent primary motor cortex

Question 18

Primary motor cortex:

Answer 18

initiates and controls voluntary movements through its
control of skeletal muscles.

Question 19

Brocras area:

Answer 19

Has a crucial role in the production of articulate speech; that is, speech that is clear and fluent.

Question 20

Parietal lobe:

Answer 20

Receives and processes bodily, or ‘somatosensory’, information.

This sensory information includes:
Touch and temperature (from the skin)
Information about muscle movement and the body’s position (from muscles, tendons and joints).

Question 21

PRIMARY SOMATOSENSORY CORTEX

Answer 21

Located at the front of each parietal lobe, near the primary motor cortex
Receives and processes sensory information from the skin and body parts such as arms, hands, legs, feet, lip, tongue.

Question 22

OCCIPITAL LOBE

Answer 22

The largest by far is the primary visual cortex, which is the major destination of visual information from the two eyes.
The information comes to the primary visual cortex from visual sensory receptors
located on the retina at the back of each eye.

Question 23

TEMPORAL LOBE

Answer 23

Involved with auditory perception
Also plays an important role in:
- Memory
- Aspects of visual perception such as our ability to identify objects and recognise faces,
- Emotional responses to sensory information and memories.

Question 24

AUDITORY CORTEX

Answer 24

• Receives and processes sounds from both ears so that we can perceive and identify different types of sounds
• Different areas of this cortex are specialised to register and respond to different features of sound.

Question 25

Wernicke’s area:

Answer 25

• Involved in speech production
• Has a crucial role in the comprehension of speech; more specifically, in interpreting the sounds of human speech.

Question 26

Neuroplasticity

Answer 26

Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain and other parts of the nervous system to
change in response to experience.

Question 27

synapse

Answer 27

The synapse is a tiny space between neurons where communication occurs. Individual neurons and their connections can be modified for different reasons.the site where adjacent (next to) neurons communicate by transmitting neural signals to one another.

Question 28

sprouting and rerouting

Answer 28

Neurons damaged through brain injury can grow new connections to replace lost ones in a process called sprouting.

Sprouting is the creation of new connections between neurons, or nerve cells. Rerouting involves creating an alternative neural pathway by deleting damaged neurons and forming a new pathway between active neurons.

Traumatic brain injury is a type of acquired brain injury that occurs when an external force causes damage to the brain.

This can result from a blow to the head, the head being forced to move rapidly back and forth or when an object pierces the skull and enters brain tissue.

This refers to injury occurring after birth, which is different to damage or disorder
due to a developmental condition.This is why the term acquired brain injury

Question 29

Psychological damage

Answer 29

Changes that primarily involve emotions, personality, social processes & cognition > impact behaviour

Question 30

Biological damage

Answer 30

Changes that are primarily physical in nature

Question 30

Social damage

Answer 30

Changes relating to relationships with others & our environment

Question 30

Aphasia

Answer 30

Aphasia is a language disorder that results from an acquired brain injury to an area responsible for language production or processing.

Question 31

Aphasia broca

Answer 31

Also called nonfluent aphasia, expressive aphasia or motor aphasia because of difficulty producing speech.

Question 32

Wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 32

Also called fluent aphasia, receptive aphasia or sensory aphasia because of difficulty understanding spoken or written language and speaking in a meaningful way.

Question 33

advantages of a case study

Answer 33

• Case study method is responsible for intensive study . It is the investigation and exploration of an event thoroughly and deeply. You get a very detailed and in-depth study of a person or event. This is especially the case with subjects that cannot be physically or ethically recreated.This is one of the biggest advantages of the Genie case. You cannot lock up a child for 13 years and deprive them of everything. So when the opportunity presented itself, researchers could not look away. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn about feral children.

-Case studies are one of the best ways to stimulate new research. A case study can be completed, and if the findings are valuable, they can lead to new and advanced research in the field.

-Contradicting Established Ideas or Theories
Oftentimes there are theories that may be questioned with case studies.

• Giving New Insight
  Case studies have the ability to give insight into phenomena that cannot be learned in any other way.

Question 34

disadvantages of a case study

Answer 34

• Inability to Replicate
• Researcher Bias
• No Classification
  Any classification is not possible due to studying a small unit. This generalization of results is limited, since the study is only focusing on one small group. However, this isn’t always a problem, especially if generalization is not one of the study’s goals.
  -Case studies can be very time consuming
  -Possibility of Errors:
  Case study method may have errors of memory or judgment. Since reconstructing case history is based on memory, this can lead to errors.

-ethical issues:
With small studies, there is always the question of ethics. At what point does a study become unethical? The Genie case was riddled with accusations of being unethical, and people still debate about it today.

Question 35

what is a traumatic brain injury

Answer 35

A traumatic brain injury is one caused by an external force (unlike a non-
traumatic injury which is caused by internal factors, like a tumour or stroke).

Question 36

CTE

Answer 36

is progressive and fatal brain disease associated with repeated exposure to injuries
-repeated blows to the head trigger abnormal build up of protein which leads to death of brain cells

Question 37

degenerative brain disease

Answer 37

Degenerative brain diseases are caused by the decline and death of nerve cells called neurons. These diseases are progressive, meaning that the condition worsens over time as greater numbers of neurons in the brain die.