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PSY101 > Neuroscience > Flashcards

Neuroscience Flashcards

1
Q

What is psychobiology?

A

The study of the role of physiology and anatomy in the regulation and execution of behaviour

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2
Q

What do neuroscientists study?

A

The brain and spinal cord - the CNS (of any organism)

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3
Q

What do psychophysiologists study?

A

Physiological processes such as heart rate, hormone secretion, brain electrical activity and skin conductance and the conditions in which these change

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4
Q

How much does the average brain weigh?

A

1400g

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5
Q

How many nerve cells does the brain contain?

A

10 - 100 billion

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6
Q

What is modularity?

A

The idea that clusters of nerve cells (modules) have specific features

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7
Q

What are the 3 main parts of the brain?

A

The brain stem, cerebellum and the cerebral hemispheres

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8
Q

What is the function of the brain stem?

A

Primarily the control of physiological functions and automatic behaviours such as breathing and swallowing

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9
Q

What is the function of the cerebellum?

A

Control and coordination of movements, recent research highlights its importance in language and thinking

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10
Q

What is the cerebral cortex?

A

The structure where perceptions take place, memories are stored and plan are formulated/executed, often referred to as grey matter

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11
Q

What is white matter?

A

A layer of nerve fibres coated in a shiny white insulating layer, which connects the nerve cells of the cerebral cortex to other parts of the brain

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12
Q

What are gyri?

A

Bulges on the cerebral cortex

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13
Q

What is a fissure?

A

Large grooves in the cerebral cortex

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14
Q

Why do we have gyri and fissures?

A

To increase the surface area and so increase the number of nerve cells it contains

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15
Q

What do the spinal nerves serve?

A

The body below the neck, conveying sensory information from the body and carrying messages to muscles and glands

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16
Q

What do the 12 pairs of cranial nerves serve?

A

The muscles and sense receptors of the head and neck

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17
Q

What does the soma/cell body do?

A

Contains mechanisms that control metabolism and maintenance of the cell, also receives messages from other neurons

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18
Q

What do dendrites do?

A

Receive messages from other neurons and transmit this information down their trunks to the soma

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19
Q

What does the axon/nerve fibre do?

A

Carries messages away from the soma towards cells with which the neuron communicates, these action potentials cause brief changes in electrical charge of the axon

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20
Q

What are terminal buttons and what do they do?

A

The ends of the branches off the axon, they secrete a chemical called a transmitter substance (neurotransmitter) when the axon fires which affect the activity of other cells

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21
Q

What are the brain’s two roles?

A
  • Control of physiological functions

- Control of motor functions

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22
Q

The surface of the cerebral hemispheres is covered by the?

A

Cerebral cortex

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23
Q

Many axons are insulated with a substance called?

A

Myelin

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24
Q

Failure on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test is likely to indicate damage to the __________ lobe

A

Frontal

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25
Q

During periods of relaxation, EEG recordings of the brain’s electrical activity generally show __________ activity

A

Alpha

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26
Q

A primary function of the thalamus is to?

A

Relay information from the sensory organs to the cerebral cortex

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27
Q

During a night’s sleep, how many cycles of REM and slow-wave sleep will a person typically experience?

A

4 or 5

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28
Q

Which stages of sleep are referred to as slow-wave sleep?

A

3 and 4

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29
Q

If you woke up during __________ sleep, you would recall any dream that you were having at that time

A

REM

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30
Q

According to Freud, dreams represent…

A

Unfulfilled wishes

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31
Q

If sleep repairs the wear and tear of the day’s activities on the body, then

A

Active people should need more sleep each night than sedentary people

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32
Q

Eating and drinking are examples of __________ behaviours

A

Regulatory

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33
Q

The idea that a drive produces an unpleasant internal state that causes an organism to engage in behaviours that remove this unpleasant condition is called the

A

Drive reduction hypothesis

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34
Q

__________ thirst is caused by dehydration within cells; __________ thirst is caused by dehydration outside the cells

A

Osmometric; Volumetric

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35
Q

A deficit in the body’s level of nutrients will

A

Cause a search for food

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36
Q

Social and cultural factors influence our learning of __________ to eat

A

What, when and how often

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37
Q

Our short-term store of nutrients contains

A

Glycogen

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38
Q

What is functional hemispheric asymmetry?

A

Some functions are located primarily on one side of the brain

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39
Q

The two cerebral hemispheres are connected by _____

A

The corpus callosum

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40
Q

The corpus callosum can be cut to alleviate the symptoms of ____

A

Epilepsy

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41
Q

What are the three structures in the brain stem?

A
  • The medulla
  • The pons
  • The midbrain
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42
Q

What does the medulla control?

A
  • Blood pressure
  • Heart rate
  • Respiration
  • Crawling or swimming motions
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43
Q

What does the pons control?

A
  • Some of the stages of sleep
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44
Q

What does the midbrain control?

A
  • Movements used in fighting and sexual behaviour

- Decreases sensitivity to pain when engaging in these activities

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45
Q

What does the cerebellum do?

A
  • Monitors information regarding posture and balance
  • Stops us from falling down when walking/standing up
  • Produces eye movements to compensate for changes in head movements
46
Q

Underneath the cerebral cortex lies the _______

A

White matter

47
Q

What are the functions of the thalamus?

A
  • Receive and integrate sensory information, and assist the control of movements
  • Receives sensory information and passes the results onto the primary sensory cortex
48
Q

What does the hypothalamus do?

A
  • Homeostasis

- Controls the pituitary gland and therefore the whole endocrine system

49
Q

What is the amygdala associated with?

A

Emotional behaviour

50
Q

What is the hippocampus involved in?

A

Memory

51
Q

What does the basal ganglia do?

A
  • Influences sensory and cognitive behaviour
  • Movement of head and eyes
  • Some aspects of locomotion and posture
52
Q

High-frequency, low amplitude electrical activity is called ____ activity

A

Beta

53
Q

Medium-frequency, medium amplitude activity is called ____ activity

A

Alpha

54
Q

When a person is alert the EEG shows ____ activity

A

Beta

55
Q

When a person is relaxed and drowsy, the EEG shows ____ activity

A

Alpha

56
Q

Stage 1 of sleep is marked by ____ activity

A

Theta

57
Q

What is theta activity

A

3.5 - 7.5 Hz

58
Q

How does the frequency and amplitude of the EEG change when going through stages 2, 3 and 4

A
  • Frequency gets lower

- Amplitude gets higher

59
Q

What activity characterises stage 4?

A

Delta

60
Q

What are stages 3 and 4 called?

A

Slow-wave sleep

61
Q

How long does it take to reach stage 4?

A

Less than 1 hour

62
Q

How long does stage 4 sleep last?

A

Up to half an hour

63
Q

How long is an average sleep cycle?

A

90 minutes

64
Q

How long does the first REM sleep last?

A

20 - 30 minutes

65
Q

How many cycles of sleep are there in a typical night?

A

4 - 5

66
Q

Motor skills appear to be consolidated after ____ sleep

A

Stage two/non-REM

67
Q

Visual discrimination tasks are better remembered after _____ sleep and ____ sleep.

A

Slow-wave; REM

68
Q

Slow-wave sleep appears to be beneficial for remembering _____, ______ and ______

A

Word pairs; spatial locations; recognising words

69
Q

REM sleep appears to be beneficial to ______ and _____

A

Non-declarative memory; emotional memory

70
Q

When do most traffic accidents occur?

A

Between 4 and 6am

71
Q

When is the second peak of road traffic accidents?

A

In the middle of the afternoon

72
Q

Fatigue appears to have the same negative effect on driving as does ____

A

Alcohol

73
Q

According to Freud dreams arise out of….

A

Our inner conflict between our unconscious desires and prohibitions of acting out these desires.

74
Q

REM sleep begins ____ after conception and peaks at around _____

A

30 weeks; 40 weeks

75
Q

Approximately ____ of a new born infant’s sleep is REM

A

70%

76
Q

By 6 months old the amount of REM sleep is around _____

A

30%

77
Q

By 8 years old the amount of REM sleep is around ____

A

22%

78
Q

By late adulthood the amount of REM sleep is less than _____

A

15%

79
Q

What were the results of Mirmiran’s study (1995)?

A
  • Rats showed behavioural abnormalities during adulthood

- Their cerebral cortices and brain stems were smaller than those of controls

80
Q

What did Mirmiran (1995) do?

A

Pharmacologically suppressed REM sleep in rats during the 2nd and 3rd week of life

81
Q

What was the finding of Mirmiran’s study (1995)?

A

REM sleep may have an active involvement in brain development in infants

82
Q

What is the clock that controls the circadian rhythm and where is it found?

A
  • The suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN)

- Found at the bottom of the hypothalamus

83
Q

How often does the SCN oscillate?

A

Once a day

84
Q

What is the basic rest-activity cycle?

A

The 90 minute cycles of rest and activity in activities such as eating, drinking, smoking, attention, urine production etc.

85
Q

What are sleep inertia effects?

A
  • Poor psychomotor performance
  • Poor thinking
  • Poor vigilance
86
Q

What is the general definition of insomnia?

A

The inability to initiate or maintain sleep over at least 3 nights

87
Q

What is REM sleep behaviour disorder?

A
  • The absence of the paralysis usually seen in REM sleep
  • Causes people to act out their dreams
  • Could be due to damage to the pons
88
Q

What is cataplexy?

A
  • Sudden onset of paralysis when fully conscious going about daily activities
  • Usually triggered by strong emotional states such as laughter
89
Q

What stage does sleepwalking occur?

A

Stage 4 of slow-wave sleep

90
Q

What stage does sleeptalking occur?

A

Sometimes during REM but most often as part of other stages of sleep

91
Q

Why do night terrors occur?

A

Due to the sudden awakening from the depths of stage 4 sleep

92
Q

What is enuresis?

A

Bed wetting

93
Q

What is the drive reduction hypothesis?

A

Biological needs, caused by deprivation of the necessities of life, are unpleasant, and so we are motivated to reduce these drives

94
Q

What is the optimum-level hypothesis?

A

When an individual’s level of arousal is too high, less stimulation is reinforcing and when it is too low, more stimulation is reinforcing

95
Q

What is osmometric thirst?

A

Thirst caused by dehydration within cells

96
Q

How is osmometric thirst caused?

A

Sodium outside the cell moves water from the intracellular fluid to the extracellular fluid, causing dehydration inside the cell

97
Q

What is volumetric thirst?

A

Thirst caused by dehydration outside the cells, a reduction in blood plasma

98
Q

What can cause volumetric thirst?

A
  • Bleeding

- Low levels of salt

99
Q

Which organ plays a role in the regulation of volumetric thirst?

A

The kidney (through the RAAS)

100
Q

Which receptors alert the body of volumetric thirst?

A

Baroreceptors

101
Q

What is the long-term store of nutrients?

A

Fat

102
Q

What is the glucostatic hypothesis of hunger?

A

Hunger occurs when the level of glucose in the blood becomes low

103
Q

What is sensory specific satiety (SSS)?

A

The decrease in pleasantness and consumption of a food after eating it to satiety, but not the decrease in eating other foods

104
Q

Which psychological variables may be a cause of obesity?

A
  • Lack of impulse control
  • Poor ability to delay gratification
  • Maladaptive eating styles (eating too fast)
105
Q

What is leptin?

A

A protein which is secreted by fat cells which have absorbed a large amount of triglyceride

106
Q

The ion channels found at excitatory synapses allow….

A

Sodium to enter the neuron

107
Q

When are we most likely to experience sleep inertia effects?

A

Within the first 20-30 minutes of waking up

108
Q

The nerve cells in the cerebral cortex are connected to other parts of the brain by a layer of nerve fibres called…

A

White matter

109
Q

The human cerebral cortex is full of bulges called ____, and grooves called ______

A

Gyri; fissures

110
Q

Eating is controlled primarily by

A

Both external and internal variables

111
Q

REM sleep behaviour disorder involves….

A

The absence of the paralysis that normally occurs during REM sleep

112
Q

_______ thirst is caused by dehydration within cells; ______ thirst is caused by dehydration outside of cells

A

Osmometric; volumetric

PSY101 (8 decks)

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