Neuropsicología Flashcards
¿Dónde se producen la emociones?
Las emociones se producen principalmente en el cerebro llamado límbico. La amígdala es como un director de orquesta, capaz de controlar los reflejos. (Cuadernos para viviar la ira en positivo, Yves-Alexandre Thalmann)
¿Cómo podemos reducir la actividad del cerebro límbico y de la amígdala?
Estimulando las neuronas del pensamiento en el cortex prefrontal. Esto nos permite retomar el control sobre los gestos realizados. (Cuadernos para viviar la ira en positivo, Yves-Alexandre Thalmann)
¿Qué papel juega el cerebro frontal (córtex prefrontal)?
En el cortex prefrontal está no sólo la sede de nuestra razón sino que se puede decir que el cortex prefrontal es el director de nuestra experiencia total, el que lo orquesta todo. Por su labor podemos convinar vivencias, experiencias nuevas, pensamientos, sentimientos y acciones en una actuación con sentido. Coaching wingwave página 90
¿Qué nombre recibe la irritación o confusión provocada por una pequeña alteración del córtex prefrontal que hace que se produzca un cambio de tensión en el cerebro?
P 300
¿Qué son las neuronas espejo?
Aquellas que se utilizan para elaborar nuestra intuición y percepciones sobre cómo se sienten los demás? Al percibir los sentimientos de nuestros interlocutores mostramos actividades cerebrales que hacen que los vivamos realmente.
Ejemplo de utilización de las neuronas espejo
Los deportistas exageran el dolor de la lesión temporal en el juego para debilitar al contrincante (wingwave p147)
¿Cuál es la parte de nuestros sistema cerebral común a todas las especies con un mínimo sistema nervioso?
El bulbo raquideo (brainstem) que rodea la parte superior final de la espina dorsal
¿Que funciones controla el bulbo raquídeo?
Este cerebro básico o raíz regula el metabolismo del cuerpo así como las funciones esteriotipadas y movimientos reflejos. Esta parte del cerebro no piensa ni aprende, es más bien un conjunto de reguladores que mantienen el cerebro en funcionamiento.
¿Qué otro nombre recibe el bulbo raquídeo?
Cerebro reptiliano
¿Cuál es la evolución a grandes rasgos del bulbo raquídeo o cerebro reptiliano?
Después proliferaron los centros emocionales (incluyento la memoria y el aprendizaje) y de éstos el cortex (asociado con planificar, comprensión de lo que se siente sensorialmente y coordina el movimiento) y, con posterioridad, dos capas adicionales, el neocortex que configura las capas más exteriores del cerebro, asocidadas con el pensamiento y el lenguaje. El hecho de que el cerebro pensante saliese de las capas emocionales es interestante y nos demuestra que las capas emocionales estaban antes.
En los centros emocionales, ¿Cuáles fueron las primeras áreas que se desarrollaron?
Los centros olfativos, asociados a todo tipo de situaciones, presa, sexual, etc. De hecho, el sistema límbico tiene una parte llamada rinencéfalo que es literalmente el cerebro nariz. Esta parte hizo posible recordar olores y asociarlos a emociones haciendo que recordemos lo que se puede comer y lo que no, etc.
Qué forma tiene el sistema límbico y por qué se llama de esta manera.
Tiene forma del “Bagel” (rosca de pan compacto judío) con un bocado hecho. Limbus en latín quiere decir anillo. Rodea el bulbo raquídeo.
¿Dónde se encuentra la amígdala?
En el sistema límbico
¿Cuántas amigdalas tenemos?
Dos. Una a cada lado. Son más grandes que las de otras especies
¿A qué dieron lugar la amígdala y el hipocampo?
Al cortex y luego al neocortex. Estas dos estructuras son la que están asociados en nuestro cerebro al aprendizaje y el recuerdo. Lav amigdala es la que procesa las emociones. Si extirpamos la amígdala se produce la ceguera emocional o incapacidad para poder sentir emociones. Normalmente no hay interes social y hay aislamiento.
Cita dos partes del cinencéfalo o cerebro alfativo
El hipocampo y la amigdala.
Cuál es el centro de almacenamiento de emociones (o la memoria emocional)
La amígdala
¿Qué parte de la amigdala provoca las lágrimas?
El núcleo cingulado. Sin amígdala no hay lágrimas.
What is the ‘off’ switch for the distressing emotions in the brain
The left prefrontal lobe. Is the neural thermostat regulating unpleasant emotions.
What is the seat of fear and agressions
Right prefrontal lobes.
If the amydala is the emergency trigger who is the counter part neutralizing this effect
Left prefrontal lobe. The amigdala proposes and the prefrontal lobe disposes.
In right handed people, what is a key center of processing negative emotion?
Is the right half of the brain, while the center for speaking in the left. Once the right hemisphere recognizes that a word is upsetting, it transmits the information across the corpus callosum, the great divide between the brain’s halves, to the speech center, and a word is spoken in response (emotional intelligence p76)
How unflappable (imperturbable) people deal with negative emotion?
They seem to be good in denying that stress in upsetting them and show a pattern of left frontal activations (center of good mood) and rest that is associated with positive feelings. This brain activity seems to be the key to their positive claims, despite the underlying physiological arousal that looks they distress.
In which part of the brain resides empathy?
Right area of frontal lobes. Injuries in other parts of right hemisphere report difficulties to express their own emotions through their tone of voice or gesture. You can experience the emotion but you do not know how to convey it. Amygdala and its connections with the visual cortex (amygdala cortical way) seem to play a role too. From visual cortex to amygdala is the normal course for information but it seems that we have neurons in the virtual cortex that only react to certain facial expressions or gestures. These neurons are different from others that distinct familiar faces. So empathy seems to be a criteria for the development of our brain.
¿Cúal puede ser la anomalía cerebral de los psicópatas?
Hay palabras como matar que tienen un sentido emocional mientras que otras como silla tienen un sentido neurológico (las piensas y ya está). Parece ser que los psicópatas podrían tener alteraciones en su córtex verbal que les impide asociar sentimientos con estas palabras. Incluso puede ser que los psicópatas no tengan un entendimiento correcto de las palabras con carga emocional. No responden al miedo de recibir una descarga por temas límbicos. Como no tienen miedo no suelen sentirlo por el castigo futuro. El hecho de que esto pase no significa que la criminalidad sea una enfermedad. Es un elemento más entre unos cuantos.
Does the brain (and the central nervios system) and the immune system are related?
Yes they are, Ader discovered this by serendipity.
How are called the cells of hte immune system?
Macrophages
What is the touch point beetween the nervious system and immune system?
Electron-microscope studies, found synapselike contacts where the nerve terminals of the autonomic system have endings that directly are in contact with immune cells. Nerve cells throught neurotramitters regulate immune cells. This discovery was revolutionary as nobody expected to that nerves were ableto modulate the immune system.
Where are the cells of the immune system created
At the spleen (bazo)
What is the name of the hormones created under stress?
Catecholamines (epinephrine and norepinephrine, also know as adrenaline and noradrenaline), cortisol, prolactil, and finally, both natural opiaceous, betaendorphine and enkephalin.
What are the diseases that some people can experiment if they have chronic anxiety, long periods of sadness, pessimism, unremitting tension or incessant hostility, recelntless cynicism or suspiciousness
Asthma, arthritis, headaches, peptit ulcers and heart disease
Are distressing emotions and toxic compsuntion (as smoking) a risk factor for the heart?
Yes
What are the main three emotions?
. anger: the emotion that seems to be more nocive to the heart. It can be reduce with anger-control training.
. anxiety:
. depression:
What can be the way of beat hostility?
To develop a more trusting heart
What it ATP?
Adenosine triphosphate, which can trigger blood-vessel changes that may lead to heart attacks and strokes
Is real that optimism and hope have a real heling power?
Yes. People who have a great deal of hopefulness are better able to bear up under trying circumstances, including medical difficulties.
What are the theories about the effects of pessimism?
Pessimism leads to depression, which in turn interferes with the resistance of the immune system to tumors and infection (an unproven speculation at present. Or may be that pessimists neglect themselves (some studies have shown that they smoke and drink more, and exercise less, than optimists, and are generally much more carless about their health habits.
It true that some very serious studies have shown that that social isolation (the sense that you have nobody with whom you can share your private feelings or have close contact) doubles the chances of sickness or death. Side note, close ties would be translated as ‘relaciones cercanas o personales de calidad’.
Yes, the study appeared in 1987 in Science. Isolation is harder on men than on women.
Why is social isolation impact higher in women than in men?
Because they have relationships that are emotionally closer then men’s.
Is isolation and solitude the same?
No, solitude is a voluntary situation whilst isolation isn’t.
Concerning social support? it is true that an experiments shown double survival lasting in women with breast cancer when they were not alone and participating in a group of other women also dying in comparison with those that confronted the illness alone?
Yes, this is true.
What causes PTSD?
An overaroused amygdala. This makes that the person has a hair-trigger (alta sensibilidad) that is a hallmark (caracteristico) of PTSD. The horror in memory, and the resulting hipervigilance, can last a live time. PSTD represents a perilous lowering of the neural set point for alarm, leaving the person to react to life’s ordinary moments as though they were emergencies. Seems that this overaroused amygdala generates a change in brain chemistry that generated this.
Appart of an overaroused amygdala what other effects has PTSD in the brain?
In the locus ceruleus, catecholamines are produced to stamp memories with special intensity.
NEU NEU What is the paper of Locus ceruleus?
Is an structure that regulates the brain’s secretion of two substances called catecholamines.
NEU NEU What are the catecholamines?
They are adrenaline and noradrenaline. They mobilize the body for an emergency and also stamp memories with an special strength.
NEU NEU Which systems are altered in the brain due to PTSD?
Locus ceruleus and the amygadala are closely linked, together with other limbic structures such as the hypocampus and the hypothalamus. The circuit of the catecholamies extends to the cortex. Changes in these systems are the ones that generate PTSD.
Seems that people with PTSD have a brain with less catecholamines stop substances. Other changes occur in the circuit linking the limbic brain with the pituitary gland, with regulates the release of CRF, the main stress hormone the body secretes to mobilize the emergency of fight/or/flight response. So what happens in PTSD is that CRF is oversecreted in locus ceruleus, amygdala and hippocampus, alerting the body for an emergency that is not really an emergency.
Third alteration takes place in the brain’s opioid system that oversecretes endorphins to blunt the feeling of pain. This gives the person a higher tolerance to pain.
What are the symthops of PTSD?
Fear, hypervigilance, being easily upset and aroused, readiness for fight or flight, etc.
What are certain psychological symptoms long noted in PSTD?
Anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure). Also dissociation can be found, the inability to remember crucial events during the days of the traumatic event.
How can we classify PTSD?
As a way of acquired fear. Is a way of fear conditioning, and neocortex plays a key role to overcome it.
NEU NEU What are the key elements involved in the remembering of fear?
The thalamus, amygdala and the prefrontal globe. This is the path of neural hijaking (término que usa Goleman para hablar de cuando estás super cabreado o asustado, el habla de un “secuestro”).
In the PTSD fear relearning (that is say, the process that ends with fear in future events as they are not stressful, exaple you are afraid of german sheperd and then with one that is friendly you lose the fear to all of them) happens expontaneously?
No, it doesn’t happen.
What is the way of healing from traumas provoked by PTSD?
Relearning. For instance when children play after a murder as it happened in the school where the guy with the machine gun (Purdy) killed 5 kids. The games with him included in one or the other way are good. So memory repetitions in a context of low stress are healing. On the other hand, this kind of plays make that children in their fantasy can give another end to the history. So children process trauma in another way, not blocking out the trauma in their thoughts, but playing, recalling and rethinking their ordeals (calvarios).
What is the ‘primay process’
The name Freud gave to the vehicles that allow people to express feelings that they would not dare to express in another way. This can take the form of painting, etc. Such hidden references to the traumatic scene almost always appear in the artwork of traumatized children.
What are the three stages to recover from PTSD?
. Attaining a sense of safety: finding ways to calm the too-fearful emotinal circuits enought to allow relearning.
. Remembering the details of the trauma. This makes that some of the dissociated (forgotten) emotions are now labeled with words. This facts makes that this memories are more in control of the neocortex, where the reactions they trigger can be more understandable and more manageable.
. Mourning the loss it has brought
. Reestablishing a normal life.
What is another example of the difficulty of imagining pictures that you have not seen?
Affective forecasting (people tend to imagine the future considering how they feel today instead of assessing how they will feel in the future
Working memory, the one we use to hold complex concepts, usually involves…
visuospatial or auditory as we relate lots of concepts. Circuits compete with one another to form the best internal representation of the external object.
How many representations of visual objects an get the brain at a time?
One. Is like seeing the picture of the old and young women at the same time, you only can focus in one of them you cannot see both at the same time
What is to rough out (aspero-fuera) in terms of neuroscience?
We will explain this with an analogy. Use the photos in low resolution to make the initial works and once decided how the full history will be to use the definitive photos. Long history short not to use a lot of ideas at the same time. Using a less defined representation of an idea frees up resources needed for important functions such as taking different perspectives, etc.
What is a practical applications of rough out?
Ability to simplify complicated ideas into core elements by business people.
What is more efficient to remember element by element or chunks of information?
Chunks. Becoming and expert in any filed seems to involve creating large numbers of chunks, which enable you to make faster and better decisions than amateurs. It takes about 10 years of practice to develop sufficient chunks in any new filed to achieve ‘mastery’.
What are the three ways of maximize the one-at-a-time attention
. To more things automating
. Get things to do in the best possible order (taking the time to work out the right order to make decisions can save a lot of effort and energy overall)
. Mix up your attention (scheduling work according to the type of mental tasks needed)
What basal ganglia (there’s several of them) do?
Are central to how the brain stores routine functions. Routine functions are routines that have a pre-established steps that fill together in a certain order. Your basal ganglia recognize, store, and repeat patters in your environment. They are similar to the IF-THEN structure in software coding. They have a very big appetite for patterns
What are white-matter connections?
Long range structures that join different brain regions
All brain regions are equality connected?
No, prefrontal cortex is well connected with some other brain regions, while some regions, such as the amygdale have a more limited set of connections.
What is long term potentiation?
Is the effect that occurs when something is repeated 3 times and when basal ganglia starts to automate, and by the way, they do it unconsciously (you can have patterns created in the basal ganglia that you cannot describe). Is also called hardwiring.
What is a mental bottleneck?
A series of unfinished connections that take up mental energy, forming a queue. Other decisions wait in the queue waiting for another decision.
What is ambient neural activity?
The think (or random thoughts) wandering that we have fruit of the connections, reconfigurations and reconnecting in your brain. In some other schools is called ego
What is a one of the theories about schizophrenia?
That this patients are not able to control neural activity, that is say, to eliminate/ignore the thoughts that come to their minds
What is the part of the brain that we activate when we have attention lapses?
Medial prefrontal cortex. It activates the default network, that is to say, the part of your brain that you activate when you are focusing on yourself. The default network is also called the narrative circuity
True or false. When we get distracted it’s often a result of thinking about ourselves, which activates the default network in the brain
True
True or false. Prefrontal cortex is only 4% of the brain, so the rest of the brain is bigger and stronger.
True. This points to the importance of increasing the strength of the networks linking the prefrontal cortex with the rest of the brain.
What is the part of the brain that detects novelty (novedad)
Anterior cingulated cortex, is thought of as our error-detection circuit because it lights up when you notice something contraty to what is expected, such as comiting a mistake or feeling pain (dibujo en loc 930 libro rock)
What is more effective, to try to focus a lot or to being strong avoiding the things that preven you from focus
Inhibiting distractions
What is the part of the brain central for all types of inhibitiions
Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) when you inhibit a motor, cognitive o emotinoal response this region becomes active. It is brain braking system. The ability to use this braking system it seems to correlate on how well you can focus. Picture on location 962 rock book
What is the brain veto power?
Ability to choose whether to act on an impulse
What is a good habit to avoid distractions?
Exert brain veto power (Ability to choose whether to act on an impulse) early, quickly, often and wel before the impulses take over
True or false. You are more likely to be able to vet an action if you have explicit language for the mental process involved, therefore, language can help inhibittion
True. This question can help make your brain’s processes more explicit and, as a result, give you more veto power over dealing with too much information or distractions. You are more likely to be able to veta an action if you have explicit language for the mental processes involved.
True or false. Having explicit language for mental patterns gives you a greater ability to stop patterns emerging early on, before they take over
True
What is arousal?
Brain level of activity
Is arousal required for the optimization of prefrontal cortex performance?
Yes, that level is quite high, but not too high
How can we measure arousal?
.Electroencephalogram, which measures types and levels of electrical activity in the brain with the placement of sensor pads on the skull
.Increased blood flow, with a functional magnetic resonance imagery
True or false. Prefrontal cortex needs the maximum arousal possible
False. Prefrontal cortex needs just the right level of arousal to make decisions to solve problems well. And the level is personal, no general rules
Is there a ‘sweet spot’ for arousal level concerning brain optimal performance
Yes it is, is respons to an inverted U shape function. Performance is poor al low levels of stress, hits a sweet spot at reasonable levels of stress and tapers off under high stress. Add ilustration loc 1104 rock
It is true that stress would be better to disappear from our lives?
No, stress is good for our performance
what is Eustress?
what is Eustress?
What happens when you do not activate your prefrontal cortex?
Basal ganglia take over
What is a synapse?
An small gap between two neurons. There are receptors at both sides of the synapse that convert electrical impulse in a chemical one. The can transmit excitatory (do) or inhibitory signals (do not do). The electrical to chemical to electrical communication system is called synaptic firing.
What do we need to have good synapses in the prefrontal cortex?
Dopamine and norepnephrine (also known as noradrenalina), without enough of these two chemicals, you experience boredom, under-arousal. Too much, stress and over-arousal
Is norepinephrine (noradrenaline) linked with fear?
Yes, that is the reason why if you are very relax a good technique could be imagine something bad happens, then you start segregating this substance. But remember, you want to arouse the brain just enough to get motivated, but no so much that you end up obsessing about your fear and increasing your allostatic load.
Is dopamine linked with interest and novelty?
Yes, dopamine is released in a number of situations, but specially when the orbital frontal cortex detect novelty
What to say something new is easier than to repeat it?
Becuase you are noticing the pleasant buzz of new circuits being activated for the first time. Each time you repeat, you do not have the dopamine buzz of novelty
True or false. Expecting a positive event, anything the brain perceives as a reward, generates dopamine.
True
True or false. Using positive expectations or humor to generate arousal, rather than fear is less advantageous.
False, it is better to use positive expectations than fear. Humor and positive expectations activate both dopamine and adrenaline. Fear yields adrenaline but the expectations of negative events reduces dopamine
What can you do when you cannot think? (too much arousal in your brain)
- Get ideas out of your head, write them down
- Activating other regions of the brain, which tends to deactivate the prefrontal cortex. For instance focusing on the sounds arround you, which activates brain regions involved in perceiving information coming into senses
- Activate your motor cortex, by doing anything physical, which makes glucose and oxigen to flow to other parts of the brain that need them
True of false. Effect of dopamine (novelty). Studies have found that new lovers brains have a lot in common with people consuming due to the presence of dopamine
True
What is flow state?
The experience at the top of the U as being in the optimal state between too much stress (over-arousal) and boredom (under-arousal). It’s when you are immersed in an experince and time seems to stand still
It is true that flow is one of the three drivers of human happiness?
Yes, that is what Martin Seligman, founder of positive psychology thought. Flow is more important to happiness than hedonistic happiness (you we get from a good meal or fine wine)
How is flow related with positive psychology?
Seems that in the state of flow we focus in our strengths, a set of behaviours we have become so good at that they are somehow embedded
What is the neuroscience explanation for flow state?
what happens is a large number of new connections are made, but from a base of safety, because you already have many connections to build on. The result is a strong flow of dopamine and norepinephrine without a lot of effort. This flow of neurochemicals occurs becuase many new connections are forming. The chemistry helps to focus, and this focus then helps creating more connections. A positie spiral is created where you feel focused and energyzed
What is priming?
Without knowing why, we remember words or concepts you have seen recently and that these automatically influence your actions subconsciously
What do we have to do with our prefrontal cortex to be creative?
Switch off its concious, linear processes, so it can be more creative on demand
How do we call when we cannot recall something or we cannot be creative in neuroscience?
An impasse (impasse phenomenon), is a roadblock to a desired mental path
What is an insight (different from an impasse)
It is a solution to a given problem that requires recombined knowledge (the maps in your brain), that is to say to combine the knowledge in a fully new way
What is the frequency of use of the insight approach in comparison with the logical approach (trying one idea after another until something clicks)
logic 60% insight 40%
What caracterizes insight
Lack of logical progression to the solution, but instead a sudden ‘knowing’ regarding the answer. The solution comes to you and it is surprissing, and when it comes you have a great deal of confidence in it, the answer seems to be obvious when you see it. This happens becuase you discover and answer that your subconscious has already discover, a priming moment takes place. Insights come from nowhere and your not putting conscious effort on them
What is the best way to understand insights?
To understand what happens before the insight, the impasse experience. Normally we try to apply strategies that worked in the past and this is counter productive. To have an insight the projection of prior experience needs to be suppressed and inhibited.
Is inhibition a bad thing for creativity?
No, it is a very good thing, as makes your prior approaches to one given problem are not taking the lead and the relevance. Wrong answers are stoping the right ones from emerging. To break out our fixed ways of thinking is very challenging. Knowing a problem too well can be the reason why you can’t find a solution
Why insights come out of the concentration of the moment?
Becuase your active ways of thinking diminish
Why some other can see solutions to your problems better than you?
Because they are not hung up with your fixed ways of thinking as you are, they are not lock into your way of thinking.
What is the brain part related with insights?
The right anterior temporal lobe, a region underneath the right ear. This area allows you to pull together distantly related information, it is part of the right hemisphere, the emisphere related to holistic connections.
