Neuro/physiological Psychology Flashcards
What was one of the early theories on presonality and intellect and who came up with.
Franz Gall, phrenology, studied the shape of people’s brains. Even though wrong it formed the impetus for future works.
First studies used what to study brain mechanics.
Extirpation/ablation parts of the brain are removed.
What did William James contribute?
How the mind functioned in adapting to the environment. This theory was termed functionalism as opposed to structuralism.
Who was another famous functionalist?
John Dewy, believed studying the whole organism was better than studying isolated parts.
Behavioral deficits in people with brain damage was looked at by?
Paul Broca, hence Broca’s area
Who was Phineas Gage,
Rod through the skull which dammaged the Frontal lobe. Developed notable changes in his personality.
Who measured the speed of the neuron first?
Herman von Helmholtz
Who did pioneering work on the ANS?
Walter Cannon
Parasympathetic is controlled by which neurotransmitter?
Acetylcholine
What neurotransmitter controls sympathetic
Norepinephrine and epinephrine
3 basic brain regions
hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain
Where is this located?
Cerebral Cortex?
Forebrain
Where is the basal ganglia located?
Forebrain
Where is the Thalmus located
Forebrain
Where is the Hypothalmus located?
What does it do?
Forebrain
Hunger, thirst emotion
What is in the midbrain?
What do these structures do?
Inferior and Superior colliculi
They are responsible for sensorimotor reflexes for vision and hearing
What is in the hindbrain?
What do each of these structures do?
Cerebellum: refined motor movements
medulla oblongata: vital system function (breathing and digestion)
Reticular formation: arousal and alertness
What are the divisions of the hypothalmus?
What different functions do they perform?
lateral hypothalmus, ventromedial, hypothalmus, anterior hypothalmus.
Generally, plays a major role in homeostasis and is a key palyer in emotional experince during high arousal states, agressive behavior and sexual behavior.
What is osmoregulation and osmoreceptors? What controls this?
Water balance in the body, water receptors and it is controlled by the hypothalmus.
The lateral hypothalmus is used to control what?
Hunger
What is the disorder where you refuse to swallow or eat food because of lack of drive?
Aphagia, but can also mean an inability to swallow to motor dysfunction or throat dysfunction.
What is the satety center?
It is the ventromedial hypthalmus, controls when you have had enough to eat.
What is a disorder of the ventromedial hypothalmus?
hyperphagia, which means excessive eating.
What is sham rage and what structure of the brain does it have to do with?
Removal of the cerebral cortex but left the hypothalmus, this rage was provoked by all sorts of sensory stimuli.
If the hypothalmus is removed then you have an inability to defend yourself for survival.
What does electrical stimulation of the anterior hypothalmus lead to?
aggresive sexual behavior. i.e. animals that will mount anything. Damage will lead to a loss of sexual behavior.
Basal Ganglia
Where is it located?
What kind of functions does it control?
Deep cerbral cortex (telencephlon)
Relays information to the extrapyramidal motor system (makes smooth movements and our posture stable.) Also serves as motivation for change in movements.
What is a disease associated with the Basal Ganglia? What psychopathology has been attributed to the basal ganglia
Parkinson’s disease, and Schizophrenia
What changes occur in the ventricles with schizophrenia?
Enlarged ventricles
What is composed of the limbic system?
Where is it located?
Primary funcitons?
septum, amygdala, and hippocampus
central cerbral hemispheres
associated with memory, emotion and
What is the septum or septal area?
It is one of the primary pleasure centers in the brain. Mild stimulation leads to intensely pleasurable and sexually arousing feelings.
What center in the limbic system plays a central role in defensive and aggresive behaviors?
What would a lesion produce?
The amygdala.
Docility and hypersexual states.
What is the effect if the hipcampus is removed to control epiliptic seizures?
anterograde amnesia, an inability to form new memories and interference with recent memories that have not reached long term storage i.e. consolidation
Describe the cortex, names of the lobes, the role convolutions
Also called the neocortex, convolutions increase the size and cellular mass of the cortex.
The different lobes are: frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal.
How many regions are in the frontal lobe?
What are their functions?
Prefrontal and motor cortex
Prefrontal manages various cognitive functions and inhibits some emotional processes. Regulates attention and awareness. It communicates with brainstem telling you to wake up or relax.
Motor cortex: organizes voluntary movement and position.
What is the difference between associaton areas and projection areas?
Associative areas: combine inputs from diverse areas.
Projection areas: which receive infomcing sensory information or send out motor-impulse commands.
examples of projection areas are the motor cortex or the visual cortex
examples of associative areas are the prefrontal cortex.
What was an early treatment for schizophrenia?
Prefrontal lobotomies.
Disconnect the frontal lobe from the limbic system.
Where is the parietal lobe and what does it do?
Behind the frontal lobe, contains the somatosensory cortex.
Destionation of all incoming somatosensory signals.
Responsible for spatial processing and orienting.
Helps with the manipulaiton of objects.
What does the occipital lobe do, what is another name for it?
Visual cortex which is also called the striate cortex.
What is the area in the temporal lobe that has a specific effect on language? What is the effect of a lesion in this area?
Wernike’s area. It is this area that allows us to understand spoken langauge.
Besides audiotory comprehension what else is done in the temporal cortex?
memory processing, emotional control and language. Stimulation of this area can stimulate long term memories. This is because the hipocampus is located in the temporal cortex.
Which is generally the dominant hemisphere?
Thes side oppositte that used for writing.
Left vs right hemisphere with respect to visual ssytem
Left: letters and words
Right: Faces
Left vs. Rigth with respect to the auditory center?
Left: language related-words
Right: Music
Left vs Right with respect to movement
Left: complex voluntary movement (more on left than right but both)