paper 2-biophyschology Flashcards
flight or fight response
person experiences stressful situation
body reacts in specific ways
heart beat faster, breathing rate faster
reactions collectively known as flight or fight response
bodily chnages allow individual to fight off threat or flee for safety
example of flight response
running races
being chased
example of fight response
being attacked/protecting yourself
flight or fight response to stress
amygdala and hypothalamus
someone faced with stress, area of brain amygdala is mobalised
asssoiates sensory signals with emotions such as fear, anger
first stage of response to acute (sudden) stressors
SAM
sympathetic nervous system-SNS triggered, begins to prepare body for either fight or flight
SNS sends signal to adrenal medulla which releases hormone, adrenaline
second stage of SAM
adrenaline
as adrenaline goes round the body, causes number of psychological changes
e.g heart beats faster, pushing blood to muscles and blood pressure increases
also triggers release of blood sugar (glucose) and fats
supplying energy to parts of body associated with fight or flight
third stage oof SAM
parasympathetic nervous system
dampens down stress response
slows heart rate down and reduces blood pressure
after SNS inhibited, digestio starts again
response to chronic stressors
HPA
if brain continues to percieve something as threating, second system kicks in
hypothalumus activates stress response system called HPA axis
consists of Hypothalumus Pitutory and adrenal glands
first stage of HPA
hypothalumus
releases chemical messenger, releasing hormone CRH which released in bloodstream
second stage of HPA
pituitary gland
CRH causes pituitary to produce and release ACTH
from pituatory, ACTH is transported in bloodstream to rarget sites in adrenal glands
thirs stage of HPA
adrenal gland
stimulates adrenal cortex to release barious hormones
e.g cortisol
cortisol reposnible for several affects in the body important in flight or fight response
some postibe somee negative
what do chronic stressors mean
ongoing
what do acute stressors mean
sudden
what is localisation
our physical and psychological abilities all come from specific brain areas
before discovery, holistic approached was believed which assumed whole brain is responsible for all brain processes
what seperates the brain into two halves
hemispheres
each hemisphere is dominant for different abilities=lacterilisation
left=dominant in language processing
right=dominant in spatial processing
they are also contralacteral=right controls left and left controls right
what is the outer layers of the hemispheres called
cerebral cortex
grey matter which splits animals and humans intellectually
what are the names of the 4 lobes
frontal
temporal
pariental
occupital
face time po
language areas of the brain-Brocas area
language restricted to left side of brain
paul broca-identified small area in left frontal lobe responsible for speech production
therfore called brocas area
damage to area=broncas aphasia-characterised by lack in fluency
language areas of brain-wernickes area
identified different area of brain in eft temporal love
he belived was repsonsible for language comprehension
when damaged=wernickes aphasia
produces nonsense words
what is plasticity
how flexible something is
e.g msucles in biceps are very flexible
brain plasticity
brain constantly chnages throughout life due to experiences
very adaptiable to new situations
what is pruning
where connections are lost due to lack of use
what is bridging
where new connections made due to use
pb-personal best
limit to plasticity
such changes were restrictedd to choldhood (critical period|)
thought that aduult brain was fixed in terms of structure and function
now, sugegsts neural connectiosn change all the time
you can gain new neural connectiosn through eexperiences-plasticity
maguire et al-study of plsaticity
used london cab drivers
all passed knowledge test of recalling streets and possible routes
due to this learning, structure of their brain was altered
more volume of grey matter in posterior hippocampuss
part of brain associated with spatial and navigational skills
hemispheric lateralisation
assumption that two halves or hemispheres are functionally different
ways of investigating the brain
spatial resoltuion-level of accuracy in identifying exact location of brain activity in space
temproal resoultion-level of accuracy in identifying exact location of brain structure in time
what are the 4 methods of investigating the brain
FMRI
EEG
ERP
post-mortems
FEEP
FMRI
works by detecting changes in blood oxygenation and flow
when brain more active, requires more oxygen due to damnd in oxygenated blood where most active
produces 3D maps
