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Year 1 Biological Psychology > Dr Thomas > Flashcards

Dr Thomas Flashcards

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1
Q

What is biological psychology?

A

The application of the principles of biology to the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behaviour

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2
Q

Why is biological psychology important?

A

Mental Health:

  • Holistic
  • Emergent properties

Diminished Responsibility:

  • Section 2 of the Homicide act 1967
  • Impairments to understanding, judgement, and self-control

Social policy:
- Blank slate perspectives on behaviour can do more harm than good

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3
Q

What is a gene?

A
  • Smallest unit of inheritance
  • Composed of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
  • Size: hundreds to millions of bases
  • Stored in the cell nucleus, in chromosomes
  • Different versions of a gene are called an allele
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4
Q

What is DNA?

A
  • A double helix
  • Sugar phosphate backbone
  • Between backbones are bases (adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine
  • Organised into pairs
  • Usually grouped in three (codon)
  • Codons relate to specific amino acids, joined into chain called peptides
  • Peptide chains become proteins
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5
Q

Chromosomes

A
  • Tightly wound bundles of DNA
  • Number/length of chromosomes vary by species
  • Each formed from 2 (usually identical) chromatids
  • Each human cell has 23 pairs of chromosomes
  • Total is 46 chromosomes
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6
Q

What is an autosome?

A

Chromosomes 1 through 22 in the human body

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7
Q

What is an allosome

A

Sex chromosome in humans

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8
Q

What are DNA abnormalities and mutations and the diseases caused by them?

A

Produce a gross imbalance and multiple defects

Partial Deletions:
Chromosome is missing
- Jacobsen, Turner syndrome

Duplications:
Section of DNA is duplicated
- Cat eye, Down syndrome

Translocations:
- Down syndrome

Inversions, insertions:
- Haemophilia A

Instability/breakage:
Chromosomes are unraviling
- Fragile X syndrome

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9
Q

What is Jacobsen syndrome?

A
  • Loss of material from chromosome 11
  • Deletion at the end of the q arm
  • Genes in this region are critical for development of several body parts

Symptoms:

  • Heart defects
  • Intellectual disability
  • Low platelets
  • Dysplasia

Appearance:

  • Wide-set eyes
  • Skin folds near eye
  • Short upturned nose
  • Receding chin
  • Low set ears
  • Hammer toes
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10
Q

What is Klinefelter syndrome?

A
  • An extra X chromosome in males (aka XXY)

Symptoms include:

  • Tall stature
  • Small testicles (hypogonadism)
  • Lack of facial, pubic and underarm hair
  • Poor muscle development
  • Breast tissue development
  • Deficits in executive and language functions
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11
Q

What are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)?

A
  • Snips
  • AT CG pairs swap

Associated with:

  • ADHD
  • Lactose intolerance
  • Eye colour
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12
Q

Example of SNPs: Niwa et al (2010)

A
  • SNPs in DISC1 associated with schizophrenia in humans

- Causes symptoms when suppressed in mice during last week of foetal development

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13
Q

What is a genetic disorder?

A
  • Single gene disorders: Huntington’s disease
  • Chromosomal disorder: Down syndrome
  • Very little input from environment
  • No treatment
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14
Q

What is genetic vulnerability

A
  • Many genes x environment = disorder

- Most traits are polygenic

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15
Q

Examples of variation in environmental influence

A

Some traits develop rigidly (doesn’t have to be subjected to things in the environment to develop):

  • Hand
  • Eye
  • Fixed action patterns (FAP)
  • Imprinting (Lorenz)

Others highly flexible (environmental influence):

  • Intelligence in young children
  • Religiosity
  • Height
  • Body fat %
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16
Q

What is the central nervous system?

A
  • Formed from your brain and spinal cord
  • Controls somatic and autonomic nervous systems
  • Somatic nervous system is in charge in anything that involves you with the surrounding environment e.g. feeling something
  • Somatic nervous system also involves involuntary movement
  • Autonomic nervous system controls the internal world e.g. heart beating
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17
Q

What is the peripheral nervous system?

A
  • Anything outside of the CNS that is responsible for senses and motor control
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18
Q

CNS: The brain

A
  • Part of the CNS
  • 2 hemispheres –> connected by the corpus callosum
  • Four lobes: occipital, parietal, temporal & frontal
  • The more complex a mammal, the more folds in the brain
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19
Q

What are the folds in the brain called?

A
  • Shallow canyon: Sulcus
  • Deep canyon: Fissure
  • Bits that pop out: Gyrus
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20
Q

CNS: Spinal cord

A
  • Spinal nerves from the peripheral nervous system connect the spinal cord to skin, joints and muscles
  • Allows the voluntary and involuntary motions of muscles and perception of senses
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21
Q

Examples of spinal cord injury

A 
C2 injury (cervical) - Tetraplegia --> neck down
C6 injury (cervical) - Tetraplegia --> chest down 
T6 injury (Thoracic) - Paraplegia -->stomach down 
L1 injury (Lumbar) - Paraplegia --> Hips down
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22
Q

Peripheral nervous system: Somatic

A
  • Somatic nervous system is responsible for muscle control of body movements
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23
Q

Peripheral nervous system: Autonomic

A
  • Autonomic nervous system controls bodily functions not consciously directed
  • Parasympathetic nerves: “Rest and digest”
  • Sympathetic nerves: “Fight or flight”
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24
Q

What is the endocrine system?

A
  • Means of communication
  • Secretes hormones
  • Unlike the nervous system, relatively slow, longer-lasting messages
  • Coordinates with the nervous system
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25
Q

Etymology of endocrine system

A 
Endo = within 
Crine = secrete
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26
Q

Types of hormones: Water-soluble hormones

A
  • Hydrophilic
  • Dissolve in water
  • Formed from amino acids
  • Can’t pass through cell membranes
  • Affect cells by binding to receptors on the surface of the target cell
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27
Q

Types of hormones: Fat-soluble

A
  • Dissolve in fats rather than in water
  • Are usually formed from cholesterol
  • Cell membranes are made (in part) with cholesterol, so the hormones can pass through them
  • Affect cells by binding to receptors inside the target cell
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28
Q

What is the pituitary gland?

A
  • The ‘master gland’
  • Its hormones regulate the functions of other endocrine glands
  • Has 2 parts each with a separate function
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29
Q

What is the hypothalamus?

A
  • Controls the release or inhibition of pituitary hormone production
  • Secretes releasing and inhibiting hormones
  • Links the nervous and endocrine systems
  • 2 connections with the pituitary gland
  • Anterior lobe –> via a special portal blood system
  • Posterior lobe –> directly via neurons
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30
Q

Cortisol regulation

A
  1. Neural signal reaches the hypothalamus
  2. Hypothalamus releases corticotropin-releasing hormone
  3. CRF reaches thee pituitary gland
  4. Pituitary gland releases adrenocorticotropic hormone
  5. ACTH reaches adrenal medulla
  6. Cortisol produced
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31
Q

What is Cushing’s disease

A
  • Pituitary gland overproduces ACTH –> adrenal glands overproduce cortisol
  • Due to tumours or growths in the pituitary glands

Symptoms:

  • Weight gain, moon face, extra fat around neck, red face
  • Red stretch marks
  • High blood pressure and impaired immunological function
  • Poor working memory and concentration
32
Q

What is the thyroid?

A
  • Regulates metabolism via 2 hormones: Thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3)
  • Controlled by the pituitary gland –> produces TSH = thyroid-stimulating hormone
33
Q

Graces’s Disease

A
  • Autoimmune disease
  • Immune system attacks thyroid gland
  • Leads to hyperthyroidism (too much T3 and T4)
  • Affects approx. 1 in 200 people

Symptoms:

  • Heart failure, stroke
  • Osteoporosis, thinning of skin, brittle hair
  • Inflammation and build up of tissue behind eyes, can put pressure of optic nerve
34
Q

Anatomy of a neuron

A

Soma - cell body
Axon - sends signals to next cell
Dendrites - receive signals from the axons of other cells

35
Q

What is the soma (neurons)

A
  • Cell body of neuron
  • Metabolic centre
  • DNA stored here
  • Information processed here
36
Q

What are dendrites (neurons)

A
  • Branch-like fibres, extend out from a neuron and receive information from other neurons
  • Thousands of branches
37
Q

What is the axon (neurons)

A
  • Tail-like part of a neuron that serves as a transmitter
  • Action potentials travel down the axon to other neurons
  • Terminal buttons –> release neurotransmitters
38
Q

What are the different types of neurons?

A

Sensory neurons - bring information to the CNS

Interneurons - associate sensory and motor activity in the CNS

Motor neurons - send signals from the brain and spinal cord to muscles

39
Q

What are glial cells?

A

Type of neuron that is a supporting cell in the nervous system

40
Q

What is myelination?

A
  • Mammalian axons are myelinated by Schwann cells
  • Schwann cells are a type of glial cell
  • Myelination is a lipid-rich tissue (fat)
  • Nerve fibres transmit electricity and, like wire, benefit from myelination and its insulation
41
Q

What does damage and degeneration of the myelin sheath cause?

A

Multiple sclerosis

Symptoms:

  • Changes in sensation
  • Visual problems
  • Muscle weakness
  • Depression
  • Difficulties with coordination and speech
  • Severe fatigue
  • Pain
42
Q

What is within neural transmission

A

Action potential goes from dendrite –> soma –> axon –> terminal buttons

43
Q

What is the synapse?

A
  • Tiny gap between the terminal buttons of one neuron and the dendrite of the next
  • Chemicals flow into the synapse from the terminal buttons
  • Not constantly
44
Q

What is the resting potential?

A
  • Electrical charge is different inside and outside of resting neurons
  • Charge created by number of electrically charged particles
  • Some outside (sodium and chloride)
  • Some inside (potassium and proteins)
  • Resting charge is maintained by a pump in the cell wall
  • Pumps more sodium out than potassium in
45
Q

How does potential change in a neuron?

A
  • Cell membrane is selectively permeable to different particles via different channels
  • Some open based on charge within neuron
  • Others open via a neurotransmitter, other physical movement of the neuron
46
Q

How do action potentials work?

A
  • Change in neuron’s charge that cascades down a neuron’s axon
  • Cell loses its negative charge = depolarisation
  • Cell becomes more negatively charged = hyperpolarization
  • Depolarisation of 55mv triggers an action potential
  • Causes a chain reaction involving voltage gates
  • A positive charge cascades down the axon
47
Q

What are neurotransmitters

A
  • When action potential reaches the terminal button, it causes the release of vesicles of neurotransmitters
  • These activate receptors in the postsynaptic membrane
  • May bee excitatory or inhibitory (depending on the receptor)
48
Q

Types of neurotransmitters: Acetylcholine

A
  • Triggering muscle contraction

- Important in memory

49
Q

Types of neurotransmitters: Dopamine

A
  • Smooth/controlled movements
  • Attention
  • Memory
  • Pleasure
50
Q

Types of neurotransmitters: Serotonin

A
  • Regulation of sleep, dreaming and mood
  • Arousal
  • Depression
    Anxiety
51
Q

Types of neurotransmitters: Noradrenaline

A
  • Alertness

- State of arousal

52
Q

Types of neurotransmitters: Gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA)

A
  • Inhibitory effect
  • anxiety
  • Muscle relaxation
53
Q

What is the hindbrain?

A
  • The life centre
  • Controls heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and digestion
  • Also, coordination of motor movement, posture and sleep patterns

Substructures:

  • Medulla
  • Pons
  • Reticular formation
  • Cerebellum
54
Q

What is the cerebellum?

A
  • Cerebellar cortex
  • The ‘silent area’
  • Serves higher cognitive functions
  • Processes and integrates sensory information in the context of action
  • Voluntary, coordinated, smooth movement
  • Allows modification of behaviour with experience
55
Q

What is the midbrain?

A
  • The relay station
  • Coordinates sensory information
  • Important for visual (and auditory) reflexes like tracking

Substructures:

  • Tectum
  • Superior colliculus
  • Inferior colliculus
  • Tegmentum
  • Substantia nigra
56
Q

What is the forebrain?

A
  • Higher-level cognitive processes

Substructures:

  • Cerebral cortex
  • Diencephalon (thalamus and hypothalamus)
  • Limbic system (including amygdala, hippocampus)
57
Q

What is the cerebral cortex?

A

Frontal:

  • Planning
  • Decision making
  • Personality

Parietal:

  • Processing sensations of touch
  • Temperature
  • Pain

Temporal:

  • Auditory processing
  • Speech
  • Language comprehension

Occipital:
- Vision

58
Q

What is the diencephalon?

A

Thalamus:

  • Processing
  • Relay centre
  • All sensory modalities (except olfaction)
  • Arousal, awareness, motor function, Memory involvement

Hypothalamus:

  • Control of ANS
  • Hormone release
  • Homeostasis
59
Q

What is the limbic system?

A
  • Border between cerebral cortex and brainstem
  • Memory, learning, motivation and emotion
  • Link between sub-cortical structures and the cerebral cortex
  • Influences the endocrine system and ANS

Substructures:

  • Amygdala
  • Cingulate gyrus/cortex
  • Parahippocampal gyrus
  • Olfactory tract
60
Q

What is the basal ganglia?

A
  • Motor control and action selection (intentional movement)
  • Also involved in learning and executive function and emotional processing
  • Huntington’s/Parkinson’s involve irregular output from basal ganglia
61
Q

What are the organisational effects of hormones?

A
  • Permanent effects on structure and function of body and NS
  • Have a critical period of development e.g. foetal development
62
Q

What are the activational effects of hormones?

A
  • Immediate effects that ‘come and go’
  • may cause some structural change
  • Hippocampus can shrink in the absence of some H
63
Q

Organisational effects: sex hormones (study)

A
  • 102 neonates (babies)
  • Average 37 hours old
  • Presented (70s at 20cm) with face or mobile
  • Blind judges coded looking time for all the neonates
  • 43% boys v 17% girls showed clear mobile preference
  • 36% girls v 25% boys had a clear face preference
  • Rest were of equal preference
  • However, most sexual differentiation is limited until puberty
64
Q

What is the impact on brain development during the organisational effects of sex hormones?

A
  • Preoptic area of hypothalamus is larger in men
  • Women’s brain share more functions bilaterally than men’s
  • Men’s brain are slightly larger overall
  • Women’s have more grey matter
65
Q

How sex hormones are regulated in women

A
  • Gonadotropin-releasing hormone varies over 28 days
  • As does pituitary sensitivity to gonadotropin-releasing
  • Ovary sensitivity to luteinising hormone and follicle stimulating hormone
  • LH and FSH crucial to ovulation
66
Q

What are androgens?

A
  • ‘Male’ sex hormones
  • Most commonly Testosterone
  • In both sexes, but 20x more in men
  • Androgens can be increased or decreased following social cues
67
Q

What are androgens associated with?

A
  • Regulating sexual behaviour
  • Developing secondary sexual characteristics
  • Muscle hypertrophy
  • Spermatogenesis
  • Suppressed immune system
  • Decreased fat stores
  • Increased risk of cancer
  • Aggression
  • Reduced parental behaviour
68
Q

Testosterone behaviour in rats

Wallen (2001)

A
  • Phases of sexual behaviour in rats (sniffing and mounting) depend on testosterone
  • Castrated males fail to show these behaviours (varies with how experienced the rat is before castration)
  • Behaviours can be reinstated using artificial T implants
  • Anti-androgens also have a similar effect
69
Q

Testosterone behaviour in humans: natural experiments

Wang et al. (2000)

A
  • Used hypogonadal men: reduced sexual functioning, poor mood, lower muscle strength
  • Used a transdermal T patch for 180 days to normalise their T levels
  • Increase in sexual performance, motivation and desire at 30 days
  • Increase in erections and maintenance of those erections at 30 days
  • increase in positive moods and decrease in negative mood at 30 days
  • Increase in leg press usage and increase in lean body mass at 90 days
70
Q

Testosterone behaviour in humans: other natural experiments

Midgley et al. (2001)

A
  • 60% of those who take steroids report an increase in irritability and temper
  • Also more likely to work as doormen
  • Anticipation of sexual contact can lead to an increase in testosterone
71
Q

Testosterone behaviour in humans: Lab controlled experiments

Nave et al. (2017)

A
  • Apply T gel to men

- Can cause men to make rash decisions in reflective tasks such as riddles

72
Q

What are oestrogens?

A
  • ‘Female’ sex hormones most commonly oestradiol (E)
  • In both sexes but up to 8x more in women
  • O levels change across the menstrual cycle and work in conjunction with progesterone
73
Q

What is oestrogen associated with?

A
  • Sexual behaviour
  • Secondary sex characteristics
  • Skin elasticity and firmness
  • Sensitivity of brain to oxytocin
  • Regulates ovulation
  • Bone density and strength
  • Mood and wellbeing
  • Helps regulate pregnancy
  • Too high levels can cause endometriosis
74
Q

Oestradiol and behaviour in rats

Takahashi (1990)

A
  • Ovariectomised rats are not sexually receptive
  • This can be reinstated by administering large doses of O
  • More effective to do a small amount of O followed by P
  • O has a ‘priming’ effect for P
75
Q

Oestradiol and behaviour in humans: Natural experiments in women with menopause

Nathorst-Böös et al. (1993)

A
  • Menopause = lack of eggs = ovaries shrink
  • There is also a decrease in hormones
  • Used an O patch
  • At 90 days there was an increase in vaginal lubrication, sexual enjoyment, sexual fantasies and sexual frequency
  • There was a decrease in pain during intercourse
76
Q

Oestradiol and behaviour in humans: Other natural experiments in women with menopause

Polo-Kantola et al. (1998)

A
  • Randomised, double blind, cross-over study
  • Replacement therapy for ) improved sleep complaints at 90 days
  • Increased sleep quality, falling asleep and mood
  • Decreased restlessness, awakenings and daytime tiredness

Year 1 Biological Psychology (3 decks)

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