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Abnormal Psychology > Chapter 4: The Biological Approach to Neuroscience > Flashcards

Chapter 4: The Biological Approach to Neuroscience Flashcards

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1
Q

Diathesis Stress Model

A

-Constitutional vulnerability to a particular disorder
-Assumes a exposure to a stressful
environment can trigger behavioral
disturbances in the vulnerable individual.
-Buffering environment
Environments that provide experience that
make the person more resilient to stress
-Both make interplay between biology and experience.

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2
Q

Genotype

A

Specific set of genes inherited by an individual

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3
Q

Phenotype

A
  • Refers to the specific physical or behavioral characteristics associated with a particular genotype
  • Behavioral phenotypes are not as clear-cut as those for physical characteristics. They vary along continuum behavior.
  • Association between geno- and phenotype is stronger for physical rather than behavioral characteristics.
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4
Q

Polygenic

A

-Many genes contributing to a trait or behavior.

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5
Q

Penetrance

A

-Likelihood that a particular gene or genotype will be expressed.

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6
Q

Discordant

A

If two members of the MZ twin pair are exposed to different environmental factors, they may manifest different behaviors.

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7
Q

Alleles

A

Pairs of genes

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8
Q

Research Methods in Behavioral Genetics

A

1) Twin method
2) Adoption method
3) Parental comparison
4) Genetic linkage analysis
a. Genetic linkage analysis: begins by locating
families where several members are suffering
from a particular disorder.
b. Investigators then focus on specific genes
or “markers” that have a known location on a
particular chromosome.
I. E.g., Amish family with well-documented
family lineage and the presence of bipolar
disorder.
5) Quantitative genetic methods:
a. Using mathematical equations, statistics and
date on a large sample of people.
b. This gives researchers an idea just how
much a person’s genotype vs. environmental
factor contributes to a particular disorder or
trait.
6) Altering specific genes in animals.
a. By altering a specific gene, researchers can find out how that alteration on that gene influences behavior
I. Involves injecting genes into embryo during
stage of single cell.
1. Creates a transgenic gene
Knockout procedure: can also
eliminate specific genes

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9
Q

Soma

A

Cell body

a. DNA contained in the nucleus and determines what kind of neuron the cell will become, where it will end up living and in part when it will die.
b. DNA determines the cell’s developmental process and plays central role in cell’s functions, especially in synthesis of biochemicals.

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10
Q

Amount of neurons in the human brain

A

10^11

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11
Q

Axon

A

Projects from the cell body and is insulated by a myelin sheath that speeds electrical signals through the axon.

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12
Q

Catecholamines: Dopamine

A

-Involved in many neurological and mental disorders such as Parkinson’s and Schizophrenia
-Increased by stress
-Plays role in reward system of brain
-Animals will engage in activity to produce more if brain does not produce enough
-In humans, this takes form in use of illegal drugs.
Attention, mood, motivation, muscle movement

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13
Q

Catecholamines: Norepinephrine

A
  • Arousal, attention, cognitive alertness
  • Production triggered by stress
  • Areas of the body that produce or are affected by norepinephrine are described as noradrenergic
  • When norepinephrine is released into the heart, it causes it to speed up.
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14
Q

Catecholamines: Epinephrine

A
  • Regulates heart rate, blood vessel and air passage diameters, and metabolic shifts
  • Crucial component of the fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system.
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15
Q

Monoamine Neurotransmitter: Seretonin

A
  • Modulates activity of many neurons in the brain and affects the way we process information
  • Mediates gut movements and the animal’s perceptions of resource availability
  • Mood elevator.
  • Tied closely with the availability of resources and, in more complex animals, social dominance.
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16
Q

Amino Acid: Glutamate

A
  • An important neurotransmitter that plays a key role in long-lasting enhancement in signal transmission between two neurons (Long-term potentiation).
  • Important for learning and memory.
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17
Q

Amino Acid: Gama Aminobutyric Acid (GABA)

A
  • Plays role in anxiety
  • Regulates neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system.
  • In humans, it is also directly responsible for the regulation of muscle tone
  • Xanax blocks this chemical
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18
Q

Three areas that produce hormone:

A

1) Thyroid
2) Adrenal
3) Pituitary

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19
Q

2 Types of Electrical Signal Actions

A

1) Excitatory: + activity

2) Inhibitory: - activity

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20
Q

Three ways neurotransmitters are removed from synapses

A

1) Diffusion
Mingle with outside chemical and are diffused
2) Degradation
enzymes decompose transmitter
3) Reuptake
chemical taken back to the presynaptic neuron

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21
Q

Natal Development Phases:

A

Week 4: formation of mid-, fore- and hindbrain
Week 7: cortex
Week 10: thalamus and hypothalamus
Week 12: Cerebral hemispheres
2nd Trimester: Myelin sheath.
Not finished until 20th year of age.
3rd trimester: nervous system capable of processing information and engaging in motor behavior, such as sucking amniotic fluid, thumb, turning and blinking.

22
Q

Postnatal Development: Infancy

A
  • Cortical volume (tissue in the cortex) of the newborn infant is about 1/3 of what it will be as an adult
  • Due to growth of neurons and interconnections and further myelination of the brain
  • Myelination speed up communication between neurons and brain circuits
  • Continues into early adulthood.
  • Not complete until third decade of life
  • Synaptic pruning: connection among neurons are also eliminated with development.
  • # of synapses in the human brain increases through first year of life, then declines.
  • Rids brain of faulty or irrelevant connections
23
Q

Postnatal Development: Toddler

A
  • Increase in nerve fibers connecting hemispheres of brain
    • volume of corpus collosum, nerve fibers that connect two hemispheres
    • volume of the gray matter cortex, especially in frontal cortex.
24
Q

Postnatal Development

A
  • Greatest of this activity is during age of seven and puberty
  • Children advance most in social interaction and problem solving skills during this time, consequently.
  • Adolescents demonstrate notable improvements in abstract reasoning
25
Q

Postnatal Development: Middle Age

A

Brain loses volume and brain metabolism declines
Cortical regions show this the most
- in hippocampus volume and neurotransmitter concentration, serotonin, dopamine and acetylcholine receptors.
+ activity with the HPA system and cortisol levels
More stress but less chances of schizophrenia

26
Q

Define “Explicit Memory”

A
  • Stored knowledge about objects, people and events.
    - Involves conscious attention and effort.
    - Primarily involves the hippocampus.
27
Q

Define Implicit Memory

A
  • Does not depend on conscious awareness but includes stored knowledge about perceptual and motor skills and various procedures and principles.
    - E.g. grammar
    - Amygdala
28
Q

Define “Sensitization”

A
  • A non-associative learning process in which repeated administrations of a stimulus results in the progressive amplification of a response.
  • Sensitization often is characterized by an enhancement of response to a whole class of stimuli in addition to the one that is repeated.
  • For example, repetition of a painful stimulus may make one more responsive to a loud noise.
29
Q

Somatic Nervous System

A

-Consists of a network of nerves that connect either to sensory receptors or to muscles that you can move voluntarily, such as muscles in your limbs, back, neck, and chest. Nerves in the somatic nervous system usually contain two kinds of fibers.

30
Q

Somatic Nervous System: Afferent or sensory fibers

A

-Carry information from sensory receptors in the skin, muscles, and other organs to the spinal cord and brain.

31
Q

Somatic Nervous System: Efferent or Nervous Fibers

A

–Or “motor fibers” carry information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles.

32
Q

Autonomic Nervous System

A

Regulates:

  • Heart rate
  • Breathing
  • Blood pressure
  • Digestion
  • Hormone secretion

-Functions without conscious effort though few of its responses, such as breathing, can also be controlled voluntarily.

33
Q

Autonomic Nervous System: Somatic System

A

Fight or flight responses

34
Q

Autonomic Nervous System: Parasympathetic Nervous System

A
  • Returns body to a calmer state.

- Involved in digestion

35
Q

Midbrain

A

Pleasure and reward part of the brain.
Involuntary auditory reflexes
Processes information from the senses

36
Q

Hindbrain: Pons

A

Bridge between spinal cord and brain. Also produces melatonin.

37
Q

Hindbrain: Medulla

A
  • Located at the top of the spinal cord
  • Involves a group of cells that control vital movements and reflexes, such as respiration, heart rate and blood pressure.
38
Q

Hindbrain: Cerebellum

A
  • Back, underneath the brain
  • Coordinates but does not initiate motor movements.
  • Timed motor responses, e.g., video games, sports and automatic reflexive learning
39
Q

Frontal Lobe

A
  • personality
  • emotions
  • behavior
  • performing voluntary
  • motor movements
  • interpreting and performing emotional behaviors
  • behaving normally in social situations
  • maintaining a healthy personality
  • paying attention to things in the environment
  • making decisions, and executing plans.
40
Q

Parietal Lobe

A
  • Sensory experience and perception
  • Spatial orientation
  • Language abilities
  • Visual and auditory attention
  • Memory
  • Numerical processing
41
Q

Occipital Lobe

A

-Used in processing visual information

42
Q

Temporal Lobe

A

-Hearing and speaking

43
Q

Limbic System

A

Deals with primal urges, such as flight, fight, freeze, need for water, food, sex, defending territory

44
Q

Limbic System: Hypothalamus

A

-Regulates many motivational behaviors, including eating, drinking, and sexual responses; emotional behaviors, such as arousing the body when fighting or fleeing; and the secretion of hormones, such as occurs at puberty

45
Q

Limbic System: Amaygdala

A
  • Located in the tip of the temporal lobe, receives input from all the senses. It plays a major role in evaluating the emotional significance of stimuli and facial expressions, especially those involving fear, distress, or threat.
  • Implicit memory
46
Q

Limbic System: Thalamus

A

-Involved in receiving sensory information, doing some initial processing, and then relaying the sensory information to areas of the cortex, including the somatosensory cortex, primary auditory cortex, and primary visual cortex.

47
Q

Limbic System: Hippocampus

A
  • Involved in saving many kinds of fleeting memories by putting them into permanent storage in various parts of the brain.
  • Explicit memory
48
Q

Left Brain

A

a. Verbal
b. Mathematical
c. Analytical
d. Recognizing self

49
Q

Right Brain

A
  1. Right hemisphere
    a. Nonverbal: read, write, spell and understand speech.
    b. Spatial: Spatial problem-solving
    c. Holistic: Combining parts into a meaningful whole.
    d. Recognizing others
50
Q

Forebrain

A
  • Largest part of the brain
  • Right and left sides called hemispheres
  • Responsible for memory, learning, speaking and language, having emotional responses, experiencing sensations, initiating voluntary movements, planning, decision-making.

Abnormal Psychology (13 decks)

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