Human Biologyπ«π«π§ Flashcards
Give the function of endorphins
Reducing the intensity of pain
Give 2 examples of when the body would increase its levels of endorphins
β’ being shot at war
β’ hurting a muscle as an athlete
Give the function of dopamine
Induces feelings of pleasure
Give 2 examples of a time when the body would increase its levels of dopamine
β’ during sex
β’ when eating
Name the three types of neutrons
β’ sensory
β’ Inter
β’ Motor
State the function of the axon and dendrite
Transport electrical impulses for the dendrites to receive
Give the function of the myelin sheath
surrounds axons in order to insulate them
increases the speed of impulse conduction
Why would a 1 year old have less coordination than an adult?
A 1 year old has less myelin
Explain the role of glial cells?
They produce the myelin sheath and provide physical support to the neurons
Describe the neuropathway
- Nervous impulse travels down the pre-synaptic axon
- Vesicles with neurotransmitters trigger to move to and fuse with pre-synaptic membrane
- Neuro-transmitter secreted into synaptic cleft
- Receptors in post-synaptic membrane recognise transmitter molecules
- Nervous impulse continues along dendritic of post-synaptic neuron
What are acetylcholine broken by?
Enzymes
Whatβs a converging neural pathway?
impulses from several neurons travel to one neuron
E.g. retina of the eye increase sensitivity to low level illumination
Whatβs a diverging neural pathway?
Impulses from one neuron travel to several neurons so affecting more than one destination at the same time
E.g. writing
Whatβs a reverberating pathway?
Neurons later in the pathway link with earlier neurons sending the impulse back through the pathway
E.g. breathing (repeating activities)
What is the cerebral cortex?
The centre of conscious thought
Stages of memory
Encoding β> storage β> retrieval
What is encoding
Transfer of information into memory
What is storage
The retention of information over a period of time anything from 30 seconds to a lifetime
What is retrieval?
Remembering/recalling information that has been stored in either STM or LTM
How can STM be improved?
β’ chunking
β’ rehearsal
Whatβs the serial position effect?
remember the first and last items in a list better than those in the middle.
How can STM turn to LTM
β’ rehearsal
β’ organisation
β’ elaboration
Whatβs a contextual cue?
When a piece of information is called up and retrieved from the LTM which can be triggered through emotion/dramatic effect/ sound/ smell
What is the inflammatory response?
When the body suffers an injury such as a cut or the invasion by microorganisms
- responds with a localised defence mechanism
