L8 - influence of biological structures and neurochemistry on behaviour

Question 1

what is the parietal lobe

Answer 1

back of brain
sensation and reaction to environment

Question 2

what is the frontal lobe

Answer 2

front of brian
emotional control e.g. personality

Question 3

what is the temporal lobe

Answer 3

side of brain
memory

Question 4

what is the occipital lobe

Answer 4

back of brain
visual/hearing

Question 5

strength of biological structures

Answer 5

relies on use of scans e.g. PET/MRI
post mortem studies adds to scientific evidence which can support biological approach
viewed as most scientific model/approach

Question 6

2 weaknesses of biological structures

Answer 6

• more applicable at explaining causes of some behaviours but not others, e.g. infection of brain can cause schizophrenia but cannot explain development of phobias
• cause and effect, can psychologists be sure that a brain malfunction is causing behaviour, e.g. smaller hippocampus causing schizophrenia

Question 7

neural correlates study by swayze

Answer 7

studied 50 schizophrenic patients using MRI
structure could be examined and found that there were structural abnormalities
decreased brain weight
enlarged ventricles filled with water
smaller hippocampus
less grey matter - where intelligence is held and seemed to have deteriorated

Question 8

strength of study by swayze

Answer 8

supporting psychological evidence that schizophrenia is caused by neural correlates occurring during pre-natal development
but does not explain why it occurs in adult hood not infancy

Question 9

weakness of study by swayze

Answer 9

cause and effect
do neural correlates cause schizophrenia or the other way

Question 10

what is the neurochemistry approach

Answer 10

looks at biochem of CNS - hormones and neurotransmitters

Question 11

strength of neurochemistry

Answer 11

if we know that a lack of a particular hormone has an effect
we can look for relevant treatments to help solve the issue
e.g. giving depressed people SSRI drugs to increase serotonin

Question 12

weakness of neurochemistry

Answer 12

cause and effect
how can we be sure that high/low levels of neurotransmitters actually cause a change in behaviour

Question 13

what is the dopamine hypothesis

Answer 13

schizophrenic patients have high levels of dopamine
when phenothiazines are given, positive symptoms decrease e.g. delusions/hallucinations
L-Dopa increases dopamine levels in brain - given to healthy people and shown to induce schizophrenia
dopamine metabolism in schizophreniacs is abnormal

Question 14

strength of dopamine hypothesis

Answer 14

research to support that schizophrenic patients have high levels of dopamine in their brain
davidson found that schizophrenic patients who had L-Dopa had intensified symptoms

Question 15

2 weaknesses of dopamine hypothesis

Answer 15

cause and effect.
dopamine associated with other illnesses such as bipolar, illness is not alleviated by drugs so dopamine has complex role in the brain and may be associated with different psychological illnesses