idk the first test Flashcards
the three main approaches to psychology
the biological, the cognitive, the sociocultural
define psychology
the scientific study of the behaviours of individuals and their mental processes
define behaviour
the way creatures adjust to the environment
individual
you become a possible psyvhological study the moment yoy are born, that applies to humans and animals, sometimes individuals dont even realise they are being studied (when they are studied in natural habitat (ie at the park)
mental processes
what goes on in your mind, the good, the bad, every thought. necessary to understand human behaviours some ppl consider those more important than behaviours
mri
so soft tissue contains water molecules and the magnetic field created by the giant tube acts upon protons found in water in response to the mri radio waves the protons send out an echo which is organised into a picture later but basically n the giant tube magnetic field forces the protons to allign with it and then we can anaylyse them
provides images of the non-bony parts or the soft tissues
it can diagnose tumours, brain disorders, soft tissue injuries, joint injury//disease, spinal injury, disease of internal organs
benefits: provides better soft tissue contrast than ct, it can differentiate between different tissues (muscle, fat, water)
minus: money, tough on claustrophobic people, long (min 40mins)
fmri
its a specific type of an mri that helps people analyse specific parts of the brain are working they help measure blood flow without surgery
so yet again we have a magnetic field that detects brain activity it takes advantages of activated neurones requiring more oxygen from red blood cells this increase in activity leads to a clog in bloodflow that fmri detects taking notes of alteration in blood flow and electrical activity
so it can measure small changes in blood flow that occur with brain activity to help understand the effect of a stroke or a different disease
it can diagnose a stroke, brain tumour, brain injury, alzheimers disease and epilepsy
benefits: non invasive, detects abnormalities
minuses: money, you have to be completely still so tough for kids, still not fully understood
eeg
an eeg is a test that detects abnormalities in your brain waves, or in the electrical activity of your brain. during the procedure, electrodes consisting of small metal discs with thin wires are pasted onto your scalp. the electrodes detect tiny electrical charges that result from the activity of your brain cells. then they transfter those into a computer graph.
there are a few brain disorder chamges in the brain activity that are useful to detecting brain conditions such as epilepsy and seizure disorders
it can diagnose: sleep disorders (narcolepsy), head injuries, brain infection, haemorrhage, alzheimer, degeneration of brain tissues
benefits: excellent temporal resolution, cheap, safe, there aren’t any safety//health restrictions
minus: poor spatial resolution, high noise
ct scan
its a series of xray images taken from different angles around the body and then we use the computer to create cross-selectional images (slices) of bones, blood vessels and soft tissues
it can locate the tumour, monitor treatment effectiveness, detect internal injury and bleeding, can help guide procedures
it can diagnose: muscle disorder, bone disorder (bone tumours and fractures), cancer, heart disease and lung nodles
benefits: more detailed than xrays and mri
minuses: restricted for pregnant people, ionising radiation that might lead to cancer
pet
a small amount of radioactive glucose is injected into veins and the pet scanner takes pics to see where its being used the most the tracer will collect in places with a bigger amount of metabolic biochemical activity
detailed dimensional images of the inside of the body revealing metabolic or biochemical functions of tissues and organs
it can diagnose: cancer, coronary artery disease (cad), other heart problems) brain disorders [epilepsy, dementia, alzheimer]
benefits: more detailed than mri, noninvasive, painless, short
minuses: expensive, not widely avaioable, its hard to analyse the result graphs and yiu need experts for that and it just sucsk because you can pay so much money for the procedure and so much for an analyse tgat might not even be correct
thecortex
the layer of neurones with a folded surface covering the brain on the outside. its the largest part of the human brain associated with higher order functions such as abstract thought or voluntary action, this is the part of the brain which develops last it devides into lobes
name lobes
frontal lobes, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, temporal lobes
frontal lobes
reasoning planning thinkimh decision makimg valuntary action complex emotions
parietal lobe
movement orientation perception recognition
temporal lobes
processing auditory informatiom memory and speecg
occippital
visual processing
qualitive
words, case studies, natural observations, interviews
purpose: to answer “why” types of questions
data type: observations, symbols, words
approach: observe and analyse
analysis: groupings of common data (not statistics)
quantitive
numbers and statistics, experiments, surveys, correlational research
purpose: to answer “how many” and “how much” questions
data type: numbers//statistics
approach:measure and test
analysis: statistical analysis
scientific study
> It consists of a set of orderly steps to analyse and solve problems.
Information is collected objectively.
Conclusions are drawn from facts.
the limbic system
evolutionarily older subcortical structure it is referred to as the emotional brain
hippocampus
MEMORY, learning, transferring short. them memory to a permanent store, spatial orientaltion
brain stem
its underneath the limbic system and its main function is to regulate the basic vital processes such as breathing so its responsible for basic brain actions it also connevts the brain to the spinal cord
cerebellum
the little brain, coordination, movement, balance it looks like the cortex, has two hemispheres and a folded surface, it stores our talents (that we are practising), detects errors in movement and adjusts
paul broca
the study of tam. so this bloke louis leborgre lost his ability to speak (and everyrhing else about him was working fine)when hw was 30 and he could only say the syllable tam (he repeated it so it was like..) tam-tam and when he died at 51 broca did an autopsy and shocker there was a lension in the frontal area of the left hemisphere (brocas area) and this sickness actually has a name brocas aphasia
brocas aphasia
the loss of articulated speech
wernickes area
an area located in the temporal lobe on the dominant hemisphere (usually left) responsible for comprehension of written and spoken language
quasi experiment vs experiment
so in the experiment its a group of random people and in a quasi experiment its a typical group of people for example taxi drivers
neuro pruning
the brain eliminates skills, connections you dont use anymore
if you dont use it you lose it
correlation study
investigates a relationship between two or more variables without the researchers manipulating them
case study
a research approach that is used to generate an in-depth, multi-faceted understanding of a complex issue in its real-life context.
mguire 2000
Aim: examining whether structural changes can be detected in the brain of a person with extensive experience of spatial navigation
Method: mri scans. 16 right handed male london cabbies took part, they were all driving for more than 1,5 years. to compare they also scanned normal people
Results: 1) increased grey matter found in taxi drivers brains, the right and left hippocampus. the increased value was located in postterior (rear) hippocampus
2)changes with navigation experiance- there was a correlation found between the amount of time spent as a taxi driver and volume in the right posterior hippocampus
Conclusion: the result show us the evidence for structural differences between the cabbies and control participants hence extensive practice with spatial navigation affects the hippocampus
neuroplasticity
its the ability of the brain to adapt to the enviroment
bogdan droganski 2004//2006
he took scans of peiples brains, told them to learn to juggle and gave them exactky three months for it and after those three months he took brain scans again and the temporal globes and the hippocampus grew and then forced them to stop practicing for three months and took scans of their brains and the size of the grey matter decreased however it was not as small as before they learned how to juggle so the size was almost back to normal
neuro pruning (use it or you lose it)
