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Unit 3 Psychology > Orientation > Flashcards

Orientation Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the two systems in the nervous system?

A

The central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system

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2
Q

What does the central nervous sytstem involve?

A

The brain and spinal cord

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3
Q

What are the systems involved with the peripheral nervous system?

A

Automatic and somatic nervous system

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4
Q

What does the automatic nervous system do?

A

It communicates and connects with internal organs and glands and connects the CNS to the body, providing feedback to the brain about their activities; non-voluntary

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5
Q

What does the somatic nervous system do?

A

Carries sensory information
to the CNS and motor information from the CNS.

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6
Q

What are the divisions in the automatic nervous system?

A

Sympathetic and parasympathetic division

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7
Q

What does the sympathetic division do?

A

Activates internal muscles, organs and glands to prepare the body for vigorous activity or to deal with a stressful or threatening situation.

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8
Q

What does the parasympathetic division do?

A

Maintains the internal body environment in a steady, balanced state of normal functioning.

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9
Q

What is the enteric nervous system?

A

It is embedded within the walls of the gastrointestinal tract containing thousands of small clusters of neurons (called ganglia) that detects the physiological condition of the gastrointestinal tract, integrate information about
its state, provide outputs to control gut movement (e.g. muscle contractions that move food and waste along the gut), and perform many other functions such as nutrient management,

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10
Q

What is a conscious response?

A

A reaction to a sensory stimulus that involves awareness.The response will usually be a voluntary, ‘intentional’ reaction. The reaction, even if momentary, is also likely to be goal directed (‘purposeful’) and you will be able to exercise some degree of control over it.

Example: picking up a water bottle, speaking to your friend, Doing a
handstand

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11
Q

What is an unconscious response?

A

A reaction that does not involve
awareness. It is involuntary, unintentional, automatic and we
cannot ordinarily control its occurrence.

Example: Bodily responses regulated by the ANS such as pumping blood, digesting food, blinking or breathing. Also, the spinal reflex!

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12
Q

State the steps in the spinal reflex

A
  1. Receptor cells in the
    skin of fingers detect heat
    from the frying pan and
    then send a neural message
    to a sensory neuron.
  2. Sensory neurons carry the message along a sensory pathway to the spinal cord
  3. Interneuron in the spinal cord relays the message to a motor neuron
  4. Motor neuron carries the message along a motor pathway to hand muscles, causing a withdrawal reflex. The frying pan is
    released before the brain perceives pain.
  5. While the spinal reflex occurs, the message is also carried up the spinal cord to the brain.
  6. The message is received in the brain area that processes this type of sensory information and the brain consciously interprets it as pain in the hand.
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13
Q

What is the synapse (or neural synapse)?

A

The site where communication occurs between adjacent neurons.

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14
Q

What is the synaptic gap?

A

A gap between the pre and post synaptic neuron

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15
Q

What are the 2 components of the synapse?

A

The terminal buttons of the presynaptic (‘sending’) neuron and the dendrites of the postsynaptic
(‘receiving’) neuron.

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16
Q

What are neurotransmitters?

A

A chemical substance produced by a neuron that carries a message to other neurons or cells in muscles, organs or other tissue.

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17
Q

How do neurotransmitters work?

A

To carry a message to another neuron, it attaches itself (binding) to receptor sites of postsynaptic
neurons that are specialised to receive that specific neurotransmitter.

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18
Q

What happens if the neurotransmitter does not have the correct shape?

A

It will not fit into the receptor which cannot stimulate the dnedrite and the neurotransmitter’s message is blocked

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19
Q

What 2 effects can the neurotransmitter have on the post-synaptic neuron?

A

Excitatory effect and Inhibitory effect

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20
Q

What is the excitatory effect?

A

Neurotransmitters stimulates the
post-synaptic neuron and make it
MORE LIKELY TO FIRE
e.g Glutamate

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21
Q

What is the inhibitory effect

A

NT depresses the activity of the post-synaptic neuron and make it LESS LIKELY TO FIRE
e.g GABA

22
Q

What is glutamate?

A
  • The main excitatory
    neurotransmitter in the CNS

-Glutamate enhances info
transmission by making postsynaptic neurons more likely to fire.

-Second most abundant neurotransmitter in the brain and involved in most aspects of normal brain function, especially
learning and memory.

23
Q

What is GABA?

A

-Primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the
CNS.

-Makes postsynaptic (receiving) neurons less likely to fire

-Fine-tune neurotransmission to
optimal, or ‘best possible’, level.

24
Q

Why is Glutamate and GABA important?

A

They have important roles in regulating the central nervous system arousal and that it’s optimal to have a balance of both.

25
Q

What can too much Glutamate lead to?

A

Anxiety, perservating, restlessness, migranes, tics and motor stereotypies

26
Q

What are neuromodulators?

A

Modulates, or influence, the effects of other neurotransmitters

Example: if a neurotransmitter has modulatory effects, it can change the reactivity of receptors to another type of neurotransmitter to enhance their excitatory
or inhibitory responses.

Extra: They can also team up and worktogether with another neurotransmitter in a synapse
to make the other more or less potent, greater influence or control.

27
Q

More info about neuromodulators

A

-Their activity is not restricted to the synaptic gap

-They do NOT release their chemical messengers into a single synapse. They are released into far
broader areas, where they can affect a large number of neurons at once, as many as 100 000+

-Their effects take longer to become established and last longer than NTs.

-Convey global control of brain states that underlie different behaviours, such as sleep and
wakefulness.

28
Q

What is dopamine?

A

A modulatory neurotransmitter known to have multiple functions depending on where in the
brain it acts.

Primarily an excitatory NT, dopamine can have either an excitatory effect at one location or an inhibitory effect at another, depending on the type of
receptors that are present.

29
Q

What are the important roles of dopamine?

A

-Voluntary movements
-Experience of pleasure
-Motivation
-Appetite
-Reward-based learning
-Memory

30
Q

What are the dopamine pathways?

A

-Nigrostriatal
-Mesolimbic /Mesocortical (overlap)

31
Q

What does the nigrostriatal pathway origin in?

A

Substantia nigra

32
Q

What messages does the nigrostriatal pathway have?

A

Messages that allow smooth,
coordinated function of the
body’s muscles and movements.

33
Q

What happens if there is insufficent dopamine in the nigrostriatal pathway?

A

Results in trouble with
planning, coordinating and
initiating voluntary movements
receive slower, fewer and/or
irregular dopamine messages
about motor activity. As seen in
Parkinson’s Disease.

34
Q

What is the Mesolimbic /Mesocortical (overlap) associated with?

A

Associated with rewarding behaviour through the experience of pleasure-dopamine reward system.

35
Q

What type of behaviours does the mesolimbic/mesocortical (overlap) involve?

A

-Healthy behaviours (such as eating
when hungry and drinking when thirsty)
-Harmful behaviours that involve a loss of impulse control and have become addictive (such as gambling and video gaming).

36
Q

What is serotonin?

A

A modulating neurotransmitter that has a wide range of functions, depending on where in the
brain it acts.

37
Q

What is serotonin’s important roles?

A

-Mood
-Emotional processing
-Sleep onset
-Appetite
-Pain perception

38
Q

What are the serotonin pathways?

What effects does serotonin only have?

A

Distinct serotonin producing areas and neural pathways.

ONLY has inhibitory effects.

39
Q

What mental conditions is seratonin implicated in?

A

Depression: drugs commonly used to treat depression target serotonin and increase its availability at the synapse.

Anxiety Disorders: reduced levels of serotonin in the brain associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Sleep Disorders: Serotonin and melatonin (hormone) involved in sleep and wakefulness

40
Q

What happens if there is too much seratonin?

A

-Fever
-Elevated heart rate
-Restlessness
-Agitation
-Confusion
-Hallucinations
-Delirium
-Seizures
-It most often results from too high a dosage of medications used to increase low serotonin levels. The amount of available serotonin is at a toxic level and can result in
unconsciousness. Serious cases of serotonin syndrome can be fatal if not treated. Illegal drugs such as ecstacy, cocaine and amphetamines (‘speed’/‘meth’/‘ice’) that act as stimulants in the CNS can also increase serotonin to a toxic level.

41
Q

What happens if tehre is too little of seratonin?

A

Can affect the pattern and quality of our sleep leading to insomnia

42
Q

What does synaptic plasticity result from?

A

Resulting from long-term potentiation and long-term
depression, which together act to modify connections between neurons (sprouting, rerouting and pruning) – as the fundamental mechanism of memory formation that leads to learning

43
Q

What does learning involve and how does it occur?

A

The acquisition of new information, behaviour or abilities through
experience.

For learning to have occurred, the new knowledge or skill must be retained in memory.

44
Q

What is synaptic plasticity?

A

The ability of the synapse to change
in response to experience.

45
Q

What does synaptic plasticity enable?

A

-Enables change involving the
strengthening or weakening of
connections between the neurons at a synapse.

-Enables a flexible, efficient and effectively functioning nervous system. It is also the biological basis of learning and memory formation.

46
Q

What is long-term potentiation (LTP)?

A

Long-lasting strengthening
of synaptic connections,
resulting in enhanced or more
effective synaptic transmission

47
Q

How does LTP strenthen synaptic connections?

A

The postsynaptic neurons
become more and more
responsive to the presynaptic
neurons as a consequence of
repeated stimulation by
neurotransmitters; i.e. ‘neurons that fire together, wire together’

48
Q

What is rerouting?

A

New connections are made between active neurons to create alternate neural pathways

49
Q

What is sprouting?

A

New axon and dendrite extentions allow existing neurons to form new connections

50
Q

What is long-term depression (LTD)?

A

Long-lasting weakening of
synaptic transmission and
connections, resulting in less
effective synaptic transmission
or no communication at the
synapse

51
Q

What does LTD eliminate?

A

Elimination of unused
synapses through LTD may
prune unimportant or unwanted connections, leaving only the important connections that have been strengthened through repeated use by LTP.

52
Q

What is pruning?

A

The elimination of weak, ineffective or unused synapses (and therefore connections to other neurons)

Unit 3 Psychology (2 decks)

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