P2 Section B (Biopsychology) Flashcards
What is the role of the Spinal Cord
the role of the spinal cord is to transfer messages to and from the brain via the peripheral nervous system and is responsible for simple reflex actions that don’t involve the brain, like jumping out from a chair when sat on a pin
Where is the Frontal Lobe and what does the frontal lobe do
the frontal lobe is in the motor area and controls movement in the opposite side of the body, dependant on what hemisphere
Where is the parietal lobe and what does it do
parietal lobe is in the somatosensory area and integrates information from the different senses (touch, heat and pressure) so plays a role in spatial navigation.
Where is the occipital lobe and what does it do
the occipital lobe is in the visual cortex and relays information from the eye’s visual field to the visual cortex
Where is the temporal lobe and what does the temporal lobe do
the temporal lobe is in the auditory area of the brain and analyses speech-based information
what happens if damage occurs to frontal lobe
if damage occurs to frontal lobe it can result in the loss of fine motor movements
what happens if damage occurs to temporal lobe
If damage occurs to temporal lobe it causes partial hearing loss and may also affect the ability to comprehend language.
Where is the Broca’s area and what is the Broca’s area responsible for.
The broca’s area is in small arch in the left frontal lobe responsible for speech production.
what is Broca’s Aphasia
Brocas aphasia is when there is damage to the Broca’s area, causing slow, laborious speech that lacks fluency .
where is the Wernicke’s Area and what is it responsible for
Wernickes area is in the left temporal lobe and is responsible for language comprehension.
What is Wernicke’s Aphasia caused by and what is it’s results
Wernicke’s Aphasia is caused by damaged to the Wernicke’s area and results in patients speaking “nonsense” words as part of their content of speech
what is the job of peripheral nervous system
the job of the peripheral nervous system is to relay nerve impulses from a sensory input to the central nervous system and back to provide a muscle response
what is the somatic nervous system
the somatic nervous system is part of the peripheral nervous system that carries sensory information from the outside world to the brain
how does the somatic nervous system carry information
the somatic nervous system carries information from sensory receptors via sensory neurons to the spinal cord and brain, and motor pathways allow the brain to control the movements via motor neurons
what is the autonomic nervous system
the autonomic nervous system is part of the peripheral nervous system involved in homeostasis of internal processes like body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure
what is the sympathetic nervous system
the sympathetic nervous system is part of the autonomic nervous system that causes flight or fight reactions by sending nerve impulses to the rest of the body to prepare for increased breathing rate, heart rate and blood pressure and suppression of digestion and salivation
what is the parasympathetic nervous system
the parasympathetic nervous system is the part of the autonomic nervous system that relaxes the body after fight or flight reactions by slowing down heart and breathing rate and restarting digestion.
what does the endocrine system do
the endocrine system sends information to glands to secrete hormone production into bloodstream.
what is the fight or flight process
the fight or flight process is when a stressor is presented and the hypothalamus of the central nervous system commands adrenaline secretion from adrenal gland into the bloodstream to increases heart rate and blood pressure - causing the fight or flight response
what is the central nervous system made up of and what does it do
the central nervous system, made up of the brain and spinal cord and provides conscious awareness.
what is a neuron
a neuron is a nerve cell that processes and transmits messages via electrical and chemical signals.
3 types of neuron
3 types of neuron are relay, sensory and motor
how is a neural impulse fired
a neural impulse is fired when a neuron is activated by a stimulus and becomes positively charged which fires the neural impulse.
what is synaptic transmission
synaptic transmission is when vesicles release neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft which then bind to cell receptor which activates them. Any excess neurotransmitters are taken back up by the presynaptic neuron and enzymes are then released to break down any leftover. Vesicles then replenish with new and reused neurotransmitters.
what is summation in neurons
summation in neurons is when the charge of inhibitory or excitatory is summed and whatever net charge is greater, that effect will occur. so if inhibitory is more then excitatory charge, it will not fire
what is the excitation effect of neurotransmitters on neighbouring neurons
the excitation effect of neurotransmitters causes a positive charge and makes the neighbouring neuron more likely to fire.
what is the inhibition effect of neurotransmitters on neighbouring neurons
the inhibition effect of neurotransmitters causes a negative charge making neighbouring neurons less likely to fire
what is localisation theory?
localisation is the theory that different areas of your brain are responsible for different behaviours, processes and activities.
the curious case of Phineas Gage
1843, 25 year old Phineas Gage was involved in an explosion where a metre length pole pierced Gages left cheek and and went through his frontal lobe and out the top of his head. He survived but it caused notable differences in his personality.
How does Doidge support brain plasticity
Doidge supports brain plasticity as he says the brain is able to make new synaptic connections during recovery and neuronal unmasking occurs whereby dormant neurons are made active to perform a task
what processes allow the brain to restructure itself?
processes allowing the brain to restructure itself are axonal sprouting, reformation and recruitment of homologous.
what is axonal sprouting (recovery of the brain)
axonal sprouting is the growth of new nerve endings which connects the undamaged nerve cells to form new neural pathways to help recover the brain
what is reformation (recovery of the brain)
reformation is the reformation of blood vessels to help recover the brain
what is recruitment of homologous (recovery of the brain)
recruitment of the homologous is using the opposite/undamaged hemisphere to carry out the task that would usually be performed by the damaged hemisphere.
what is brain plasticity
brain plasticity is the reference of the brain as plastic to represent the way it can change throughout life
how does Gopnik et al support brain plasticity
Gopnik et al supports brain plasticity as he found that during infancy, brains experience a rapid growth in synaptic connections, which peaks around the age of 2-3 years and as we get older SYNAPTIC PRUNING happens whereby unused connections are deleted and used connections are strengthened.
what did Maguire et al find on brain plasticity (brains of London taxi drivers)
Maguire found that taxi drivers had more grey matter in the posterior hippocampus in comparison to a control group and there was a positive correlation between time spent as taxi driver and more pronounced structure of brain
what is the hippocampus?
the hippocampus is the area of the brain responsible for spatial and navigational awareness
draganski et al on brain plasticity (medical student exams)
Draganski took images of 3 medical students brains 3 months before and 3 months after their final exams finding changes occurred in their posterior hippocampus and parietal cortex - which could be a result of the induced learning from the exams
what is a pro of research into brain plasticity
a pro of brain plasticity is that neurorehabilitation developed which is a movement therapy and electrical stimulation of the brain showing that although the brain can fix itself, there may still be a need for intervention to make it completely successful.
what is a con of brain plasticity
a con of brain plasticity is negative plasticity which Medina et al found that drugs users have poorer cognitive functioning and increased risk of dementia and Hirstein found that 60-80% of amputees experience phantom limb syndrome which is though to be a result of the somatosensory cortex reorganising itself.
how does Tulving et al support localisation of brain
Tulving et al supports localisation of brain as he found that semantic and episodic memories reside in different parts of the prefrontal cortex.
hwo does Peterson et al support localisation of brain
Peterson et al supports localisation of brain as he used brain scans and found that the broca’s area was active during reading tasks, and the wernicke’s area was active during listening tasks - showing different areas have different functions.
how did Hubel and Wiesel show functional recovery in animals
Hubel and Wiesel showed functional recovery in animals by sewing one eye of cat shut and found that the visual cortex of shut eye was now processing information from the open eye
How did the case of Gabby Giffords show functional recovery
The case of Gabby Giffords showed functional recovery as she survived a gunshot to the head, was placed in a coma and within months of physical rehabilitation she was able to walk under supervision, move her left limbs, read and speak short phrases
hemispheric lateralisation
hemispheric lateralisation is the idea that two halves of the brain are functionally different and each half controls certain mental processes and behaviours.
aims and procedure of Sperry’s “Split Brain” research
aims of Sperry “Split Brain” research was to find what hemisphere specialised in what function and if they worked independently and procedure was projecting an image to each hemisphere’s visual field of 11 patients who underwent surgical “commissurotomy” where the main line of communication between each hemisphere was removed
what did Sperry find
Sperry found that patients could describe what was projected in their right visual field, but not in their left, showing language is processed in the left hemisphere (as they can describe the image), the patients inability to describe the left visual field shows lack of language centres in the right hemisphere and patients couldn’t describe the image but were able to recognise associated things by touch from a random bag of objects. For example, when the patients were shown a cigarette, the patient would select the ashtray in the bag.
what is functional magnetic resonance imaging? (fMRI)
functional magnetic resonance imaging is a detection system of changes in blood oxygenation - when area of the brain is active, more oxygen is needed so more bloods flows.
pro of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
a pro of fMRI is that it doesn’t rely on the use of radiation, so is risk free and it produces high spatial resolution images
con of functional magnetic resonance imaging
a con of fMRI is that it is very expensive and it has poor temporal resolution
what is EEG used for
EEG is used to measure electrical activity in the brain by fixing electrodes to a patients scalp to show brainwave patterns and it often finds unusual brain activity and can detect epilepsy and tumours.
pro of EEG
a pro of EEG is it has high temporal resolution so can detect brain activity in a millisecond
con of EEG
a con of EEG is that it cannot pinpoint exact location of source of neural activity due to poor spatial resolution
what is ERP
ERP is using data from EEGs and removing all extraneous brain activity from the scan using a statistical averaging technique to show where brain activity is occurring.
What is a biological rhythm
A biological rhythm is a pattern in body activity that conforms to cyclical time periods determined by internal body clocks and changes in the environment
What are endogenous pacemakers
Endogenous pacemakers are internal body clocks influencing a biological rhythm.
What are exogenous zeitgebers
Exogenous zeitgebers are external changes influencing a biological rhythm
What is a circadian rhythm
A circadian rhythm is a 24-hour internal body clock, cycling between sleepiness and alertness depending on exogenous zeitgeber of night-time or daytime
What is an exogenous zeitgeber influencing circadian rhythm
An exogenous zeitgeber influencing circadian rhythm is daylight as in the day we feel alert but in night we feel sleepy
How did Siffre (1975) test circadian rhythm
Siffre (1975) tested circadian rhythm by spending 2 months underground in a cave, depriving himself of the exogenous zeitgeber of natural light.
What did Michel Siffre (1975) find when he resurfaced.
When Michel Siffre (1975) resurfaced he found that absence of exogenous zeitgebers altered his circadian rhythm by increasing the day to 25 hours, so his sleep/wake cycle changed
What did Michel Siffre’s (1975) study help understand
Michel Siffre’s (1975) study helped to understand the effects of desynchronisation.
What is desynchronisation
Desynchronisation is the disruption of regular patterns like circadian rhythm.
What did Boivin et al. (1996) find about desynchronisation
Boivin et al. (1996) found that people involved in shift work would experience reduced concentration around 6am which Boivin called a circadian trough
What did Knuttson (2003) find about desynchronisation
Knuttson (2003) found that shift workers are 3 times more likely to develop heart disease due to stress of adjusting to desynchronised circadian rhythm.
What is a real-life application of Siffre’s study
A real-life application of Siffre’s study is that Bavaldo (2008) found that there was peak times where the pharmokinetics of the body would be working at optimum which lead to the development of time guidelines of when to take drugs
How is Siffre’s (1975) study not universal (Evaluation of Siffre’s study)
Siffre’s (1975) study is not universal as he was a French, white male, so findings can’t be extrapolated (applied to everyone)
How did Siffre prove his study was not replicable? (Evaluation of Siffre’s study)
Siffre proved his study wasn’t replicable as he repeated the study at the age of 60 (in 1999) and found his internal body clock ‘ticked’ far slower than when he was a young man, so there is no general conclusion.
What is an Infradian Rhythm
An infradian rhythm is a biological rhythm that exceeds the daily 24 hour cycle, such as menstruation and animal mating seasons
What is an ultradian rhythm
An ultradian rhythm is a biological cycle that lasts fewer than 24 hours - such as the 5 stages of sleep
What is the menstrual cycle
The menstrual cycle is the monthly change in hormone level which regulate ovulation, typically taking place every 28 days.
What occurs during the menstrual cycle
During the menstrual cycle, rising levels of oestrogen cause the ovary to develop an egg and release it (ovulation). Progesterone levels then rise to help womb lining thicken and ready body for pregnancy. If pregnancy doesn’t occur, womb lining leaves the body.
How did Stern and McClintock (1998) show menstrual cycles work in synchrony with other women.
Stern and McClintock (1998) showed menstrual cycles work in synchrony with other women by studying 29 women with a history of irregular menstrual periods. Pheromones were gathered from 9 women at different stages of cycle and treated and rubbed on upper lip of other participants.
What were Stern and McClintock (1998) find about synchronised menstrual cycles
Stern and McClintock (1998) found that 68% of women experienced changes to their cycle which brought them closer the the cycle of the donor.
How did Trevathan et al. (1993) disprove Stern and McClintock’s (1998) synchronisation study?
Trevathan et al. (1993) disproved Stern and McClintock’s theory by doing it themselves and finding no evidence of female synchrony.
How is the menstrual cycle thought to have evolutionary basis (Evaluation of Stern and McClintock - 1998)
The menstrual cycle is thought to have an evolutionary basis whereby ancestors thought it to be beneficial to be pregnant at the same time so new borns would be cared collectively therefore increasing chances of survival.
how do sea urchins support Stern and McClintock zeitgebers of biological rhythms
sea urchins support Stern and McClintock zeitgebers of biological rhythms as they release pheromones into water so other urchins can release their own at the same time, but human studies are inconclusive and speculative.
What is SAD
SAD stands for seasonal affective disorder and it is a type of infradian rhythm called circannual rhythm because it occurs once a year and is a period of low mood often caused by winter months.
What is SAD said to be causes by
SAD is said to be caused by lack of serotonin in winter months due to low amounts of light.
What is the stages of sleep
The stages of sleep is a form of ultradian rhythm whereby there are 5 distinct stages of sleep spanning 90 minutes each, all categorised by varied levels of brainwave activity.
What are stages 1 and 2 of sleep
Stages 1 and 2 is the sleep escalator, where a person is in a light sleep and is woken easily with slow brain waves called alpha waves running through brain.
What are stages 3 and 4 of sleep
Stages 3 and 4 of sleep involves delta waves which are slower and have high amplitude and this is is a deep sleep when person is difficult to rouse
What is stage 5 of sleep
Stage 5 of sleep is called REM sleep when the body is paralysed but brain activity is as much as it is when brain is awake and eyes blink and body jerks and this stage is correlated with dreaming.
How did Dement and Kleitman (1957) study sleep
Dement and Kleitmen (1957) studied sleep by monitoring effects of caffeine and alcohol on brainwave activity using EEG of a person sleeping in a lab
What did Dement and Kleitmen (1957) find about stages of sleep
Dement and Kleitmen (1957) found that REM was correlated with dreams and brain activity varied according to how vivid dreams were.
What is the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)
The Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) is a bundle of nerves in each hypothalamus of each hemisphere and helps maintain circadian rhythm by receiving information about light from optic chiasm and passing it to pineal gland which regulates melatonin production. So ore light means less melatonin secretion, so less sleepy.
How did DeCoursey et al. (2000) test influence of SCN on animals
DeCoursey et al. (2000) tested influence of SCN on animals by destroying SCN in 30 chipmunks and returned them to their natural habitat for 80 days.
What did DeCoursey et al. (2000) find about influence of SCN on the chipmunks
DeCoursey et al. (2000) found that chipmunks lost their sleep/wake cycle and a large amount of them were killed by predators.
How has influence of SCN been tested on animals by Ralph et al. (1990)
The influence of SCN has been tested on animals by Ralph et al. (1990) by breeding hamsters with SCN cells from foetal tissue and they then defaulted to a 20 hour sleep/wake cycle.
pro of ERP
a pro of ERP is that it is useful for studying effects of specific stimuli
con of ERP
a con of ERP is that it needs a lot of trials to get data
what is post-mortem examination
post-mortem examination is looking at a deceased brain to find underlying pre-death issues
pro of post-mortem examination
a pro of post-mortem examination is that it helped understand the origin of anatomical issues
con of post-mortem examination
a con of post-mortem examination is that there are confounding variables which may cause a death - so it can’t find sole reason behind death
how does Siffre’s (1975) case study lack validity
Siffre’s (1975) case study lacks validity as there may have been extraneous variables affecting the circadian rhythms such as the cold temperatures of the cave
how did Yamazaki criticise involvement of SCN as endogenous pacemaker
Yamazaki criticised the involvement of SCN as endogenous pacemaker as he found circadian rhythms persisted in tissue cells grown in culture dishes without the need for SCN, suggesting there are individual pacemakers at cellular level
how did Campbell criticise involvement of SCN as endogenous pacemaker
Campbell criticised involvement of SCN as endogenous pacemaker as he shone light to the back of ppts knees and found circadian rhythm changed without the need for SCN suggesting it could be blood that is a messenger of light and not the optic chiasm of the visual cortex
how does Taylor criticise fight or flight research
Taylor criticises fight or flight research by finding women deal with stress by “tend and befriend” rather than fight or flight, so there is clear beta bias
how does Von Dawans et al (2012) criticise fight or flight research
Von Dawans et al (2012) criticises fight or flight research by finding that a stressor may lead to neither fight nor flight, but increases sociality and cooperation as this occurred in groups during 9/11 terrorist attack
