paper 2-biopschology

Question 1

flight or fight response

Answer 1

when person experiences stressful situation, heart beats faster, breathing increases
recations are collectively known as flight or fight repsonse
body changes are either to fight off threat or flee to safety

Question 2

flight or fight repsonse to stress

Answer 2

amygdala and hypothalamus
someone is faced with threat
amygdala is mobiled in brain
asssoicates sensory signals with emtoions assositefd with fight or flight, e.g fear or anger
sends distress singal to hypothalmus
bodys repsonse to stressos, involves two main systems
acute stressors and chronic stressors

Question 3

response to acute(sudden) stressors

Answer 3

SAM
sympathetic nervous system
adrenaline
parasympathetic nervous system

Question 4

sympathetic nervous system

Answer 4

when SNS triggered
begins process of preparing body for action necessary to flight or fight
sends signal to adrenalla medula
reponds by releasing hormone, adrenline into blood stream

Question 5

adrenline stage of SAM

Answer 5

adrenaline circulates through body
causes number of psychological changes e.g heart beats faster
tiggers release of glucose and fats, supplying energy to parts of body associated with fight or flight

Question 6

parasympathetic nervous system

Answer 6

branch dampens down the stress response
slows heart rate down and blood pressure
digestion begins again after SNS has inhibited

Question 7

response to chronic stressors (ongoing)

Answer 7

HPA
hypothalamus
pituitary gland
adrenal gland
if brain perceives something as threating the second system kicks in
hypothalumus activates stress response system called the HPA axis

Question 8

hypothalamus

Answer 8

response to continued threat, releases a chemical messenger releasing hormone CRH
released in bloodstream in repsonse to stressor

Question 9

pituitary gland

Answer 9

CRH causes pituaotry to release ACTH
ACTH transported in blodstream to target site in adrenal gland

Question 10

adrenal gland

Answer 10

stimulates adrenal cortex
to release hormone cortisol
repsonsible for several a=effects in body that are importanet in flight or fight response
some postive (quick burst of energy)
some negative (lowered immune system)

Question 11

feedback

Answer 11

efficient in regulating itself

Question 12

A03 points for flight or fight response

Answer 12

does not tell the whole story
tend or befreind reponse
DT

Question 13

weakness-does not tell the whole story

Answer 13

gray argues first response to a threat, is not by either flight or flee
the first stage is to avoid confrontation
most animals display the freeze response
essentially stop look and listen
animal alert to slightest danger
focuses attention and makes them look for new info for better response to a threat

Question 14

weakness-tend or befreind response

Answer 14

fight or flight has been critisized because females disply different patterns to males
involves protecting themselvea and their young through nurturing behaviours(tending)
forming postive alliances with women(befriending)
fleeing too readily would put their offspring at risk

Question 15

localistion

Answer 15

our physcial and psychological abilities all come from specific brain areas
before discivery holistic approach belives which assumes whole brain is involved in all the brain processes

Question 16

hemispheres of the brain

Answer 16

brain split into two halves (hemispheres)
each hemisphere is dominat for diffreent abilities =lateralisation
left is dominant for language processing
right is dominant for spatial processing
also contralacterial-rigth hemisphere controls left side of body
left hemisphere contols rigth side of body
outerlayers of hemispheres=cerebrullum cortex
consists of grey matternthat seperates us intellectually with other animals

Question 17

lobes of the brain

Answer 17

Frontal-brain processes body movement
pareitnal-brain pocesses touch
occupital-brain porcesses sight
temporal-brain processes what you hear

Question 18

what is plasticity

Answer 18

how flexible something is

Question 19

brain plasticity

Answer 19

brain constantly changes throughout life
due to experiences
very adaptable to new situations
pruning-connections lost due to lack of use
bridging-new connections made due to use

Question 20

limit to plasticity

Answer 20

while, thought that changes were restricted to childhood (critical period)
adult brain was fixed in terms of structure and function
new, research shows neural connections change at any time in life
continue to gain new neural connectiosn due to experinece
this is plasticity

Question 21

research into plasticity

Answer 21

maguire
studied brains of london cab drivers
all passed knowlegded test of recalling city streets and city routes
brain were alterned
had more grey matter in the posterior hippocampus then a control gorup
part of the brain associated with navigational skills

Question 22

hemispheric lateralisation and split brain research

Answer 22

corpus callosum-bundle of nerve fibres which joins two halves of the brains
commissurotomy-division of two hemsipheres by surgery

Question 23

left hemisphere

Answer 23

language centre of brain
controls right hand
receives info from right visual field

Question 24

right hemisphere

Answer 24

visual spatial task
controls the left hand
receives info from the left-visual field

Question 25

hempersheric lacterilistion

Answer 25

assumtpion that both hemisheres or halves are functionally different

Question 26

sperrys split brain research

Answer 26

quasi experiment
11 participants
participants were epileptics who could not be treated by drugs
already had their corpus collosum split

Question 27

split brain procedure

Answer 27

participant focuses on a fixed ppint on an upright translucent screen
slides projected either side of fixtation point
rate of one picture per 1/10 second
if it was tactile task (using objects) participants had hands undernearth s could not see what they were doing, just had to feel

Question 28

ways of investigating the brain

Answer 28

spatial resolution-level of accuracy in identifying the exact location of the brain structure in space (where the activity happened)
temporal resolution-level of accuracy in identifying the exact location of the brain structure in time (when the activity happened)

Question 29

FMRI scans

Answer 29

works by detecting changes in blood oxygenation and flow
brain is more active, requires more oxygen
due to this demand more oxygenated blood directed to area which is most active
HAEMODYNAMIC RESPONSE
produces 3D activity maps shows where oxygenated blood is flowing and how concentrated

Question 30

STRENGTHS OF FMRI SCANS

Answer 30

non invasive
risk free
have good spatial resolution
provides clear pictures of how function is localised

Question 31

WEAKNESSES OF FMRI SCANS

Answer 31

expensive
can only get good picture if person standing completely still

Question 32

EEG

Answer 32

measure electrical activity within brain
electrodes attached to individuals scalp by a skull cap
scan recordings represent brain wave patterns

Question 33

strengths of EEG

Answer 33

have been useful in diagnonsis of psychological coonditions e.g epilepsy
very high temporal resolution

Question 34

weaknesses of EEG

Answer 34

poor spatial resoultion as we can not pinpot exact location of neuron activity

Question 35

ERP

Answer 35

data which involves all neural responses that are sensory, cognitive and motor events, may be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists
made an EEG recording more specific by eliminating all extraneous neural activity and taking a statistical average
brainwaves which are triggered by particular events

Question 36

strengths of ERP

Answer 36

make EEGs more specific
good temproal resoultion-have good undertanding of time activity happened

Question 37

weaknesses of ERP

Answer 37

lack of standardisation between differnt studies making it difficult to confirm findings
backgroup noise and exrtanous variabkes must be elimianted which can sometimes be hard to achieve

Question 38

post morterms

Answer 38

technique where they look at brain after a persons death
indivudals who are subject to post moretns are those that have had rare disorder or unusl deficits in lifetime
areas of damage examined after death for researchers to find a cause to orginal deficit
may also comapre with a control brain
person who experineced no deficits in lifetime

Question 39

strengths of Post mortems

Answer 39

provided foundation of undertanding processes in the brain
e.g paul broca and karl wernicke used this

Question 40

weaknesses of post mortems

Answer 40

ethical issues
person may not consent for their brain to be looked at before their death

Question 41

biological rythm

Answer 41

distinct patterns of changes in body activity that conform to cyclical time periods
can be influenced by internal body clocks (endogenous pacemakers)
can be influenced by external changes in environment
(exogenous pacemakers)

Question 42

circadian rythmn

Answer 42

type of biological rhythm that operates on a 24 hour schedule
regulates a number of bodily processes e.g sleep/wake cycle

Question 43

sleep wake cycle

Answer 43

most improant hormones affected by circadian rythms are melotonin
producede in the pineal gland
chemicaly causes drowsiness and klower body temp
cortisol produced in adrenal gland used o form glucose and blodo sugar