Physiological Psych Flashcards
Acetylcholine
- Causes muscles to retract (released into neuromuscular junction), involved in REM sleep, regulation of sleep-wake cycle, memory, and learning
- Myasthenia gravis = autoimmune d/o that attack ACh receptors at neuromuscular junctions = profound weakness of skeletal muscles
- Memory deficits of Alzheimers = degeneration of ACh cells in entorhinal cortex and other areas that communicate with hippocampus
- Drugs to slow memory decline = cholinesterase inhibitors = tacrine (Cognex), donepezil (Aricept), galantamine (Reminyl), rivastigmine (Exelon)
Dopamine
- Personality, mood, memory, and sleep
- Contributor to schizophrenia (dopamine hypothesis) = elevated dopamine levels or oversensitivity to dopamine receptors
- Involved in regulation of movement Tourette’s d/o = oversensitivity to or excessive dopamine in caudate nucleus
- Parkinson’s = degeneration of dopamine receptors in the substantia nigra and nearby areas = tremors, muscle rigidity, and other motor sxs
- Reinforcement of stimulant drugs, opiates, alcohol, and nicotine = elevated levels of dopamine mesolimbic area
Norepinephrine
- Mood, attention, dreaming, learning, and certain autonomic fxs
- Catecholamine hypothesis = some forms of dep. are due to lower levels of norepinephrine
Serotonin
Mood, hunger, temperature regulation, sexual activity, sleep, arousal, aggression, and migraine headache
Exerts inhibitory effect
Elevated levels = Schizophrenia, Autistic d/o, food restriction of Anorexia
Lowered levels = aggression, depression, suicide, Bulimia, PTSD, OCD
Abnormalities in both serotonin and dopamine = social phobia
GABA
Inhibitory neurotransmitter
Eating, seizure, anxiety d/os, motor control, vision, and sleep lowered levels = anxiety disorders
Benzos and other CNS depressants reduce anx by enhancing effects of GABA
Huntingtons = degeneration of cells that secrete GABA in the basal ganglia contribute to motor sxs
Glutamate
Excitatory neurotransmitter
Learning, memory, and LPT (long term potentiation; formation of long-term memory)
Excessive levels = excitotoxicity = seizures, stroke-related brain damage, Huntington’s, Alzheimers, and other neurodegenerative diseases
Endorphines
Inhibitory neurotransmitter; endogenous morphines
lower sensitivity of postsynaptic neurons to neurotransmitters
Analgesic properties = pain relief produced by acupuncture
Runner’s high, emotions, memory, learning, and sexual bx
Main 3 brain subdivisions
Hindbrain
Midbrain
Forebrain (cortical and subcortical)
Hindbrain
Medulla, pons, and cerebellum
Medulla
Hindbrain
- Influences flow of info b/w spinal cord and brain
- Swallowing, coughing, sneezing
- Regulates breathing, heartbeat, and blood pressure
- Damage to medulla is often fatal
Pons
Hindbrain
- Connects two halves of cerebellum
- Plays a role in integration of movements in the right and left sides of the body
Cerebellum
Hindbrain
- Balance and posture
- Coordinated and refined motor movements (along w/ basal ganglia and motor cortex)
- Sensorimotor learning, shifting from one stimulus to another
- Abnormalities = autism, schizophrenia, and ADHD
Ataxia
- Damage to cerebellum
- Slurred speech, severe tremors, and loss of balance
Midbrain
Superior and inferior colliculi, substantia nigra, and reticular formation
Superior colliculi
Midbrain
Route visual information
Inferior colliculi
Midbrain
Route for auditory information
Substantia nigra
Midbrain
- Involved in motor activity
- Plays a role in brain’s reward system
Reticular formation
Midbrain
- Extends from spinal cord through hindbrain and midbrain into the hypothalamus
- Respiration, coughing, vomiting, posture, locomotion, and REM sleep
- Damage = disrupts sleep-wake cycle; produce permanent coma-like state of sleep
Reticular Activating System
Midbrain
- Part of reticular formation
- Vital to consciousness, arousal, and wakefulness
- Screens sensory input, esp. during sleep
- Arouses higher centers in the brain when important info must be processed
Subcortical structures of Forebrain
Thalamus
Hypothalamus
Basal ganglia
Limbic system
Thalamus
Subcortical structure of Forebrain
- Motor activity, language, and memory
- “Relay station;” transmits incoming sensory info for all senses except olfaction
Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome
Subcortical structure of Forebrain
- Thiamine deficiency that causes atrophy of neurons in thalamus
- Result of chronic alcoholism
- Begins with Wenicke encephalopathy: mental confusion, abnormal eye movement, ataxia
- Then Korsakoff syndrome: severe anterograde and retrograde amnesia and confabulation
Hypothalamus
Subcortical structure of Forebrain
- Hunger, thirst, sex, sleep, body temp, movement, and emotional reactions
- Monitors internal states and sends signals to mx homeostasis
- Damage = uncontrollable laughter or intense rage and aggression
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus
Located in hypothalamus
- Mediates sleep-wake cycle and other circadian rhythms; involved in seasonal affective disorder
Mammillary bodies
Located in hypothalamus
Involved in learning and memory
Basal ganglia
Subcortical structure of Forebrain
- Consists of the substantia nigra and 3 forebrain structures: caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus
- Planning, organizing, and coordinating voluntary movement and regulating amplitude and direction of motor actions
- Sensorimotor learning and motoric expressions of emotions (smiling when happy)
Diseases/disorders associated with basal ganglia pathology
Huntingtons
Parkinsons
Tourettes
ADHD
OCD
Depression, mania, OCD sxs, and psychosis
Limbic System
Subcortical structure of Forebrain
- Memory and other cog fx
- Consists of amygdala, hippocampus, and cingulate cortex
Amygdala
Limbic System
- integrates, coordinates, and directs motivational and emotional activities, attaches emotions to memories, and recall of emotionally-charged experiences
Kluver-Bucy syndrome
Damage to amygdala
Reduces fear/aggression, increase docility, dietary changes, hypersexuality, and psychic blindness (inability to recognize the significance or meaning of events/objects)
Hippocampus
Limbic System
- Associated with learning and memory
- Process spatial, visual, and verbal info
- Formation of visual images
- Consolidate declarative memories (converting short-term declarative memories to long-term memories)
Cingulate Cortex
Limbic System
- Surrounds Corpus Collosum
- Attention, emotions, and perception of subjective experience of pain
- Pain = transmission of pain signals and plays imp. role in emotinal resposne to painful stimuli
Contralateral Representation
Left hemisphere controls functinos of the right side of the body and vice versa
Brain Lateralizationial
Left = written and spoken language, logical/analytical thinking
Right = Understanding of spatial relationships, creativity, and facial recognition
Frontal Lobe
Primary motor cortex (execution of movement)
Supplementary motor cortex (planning and control of movement)
Premotor cortex (control of movement in response to external stimuli)
Broca’s area (major motor speech area)
Prefrontal cortex (executive functioning)
Broca’s aphasia
Difficulties producing spoken and written language
Abnormalities in prefrontal cortex
- Reduced metabolism in prefrontal cortex (hypofrontality) = linked to schizophrenia, ADHD, and dementia
- Dorsal convexity dysexecutive syndrome: damage to dorsolateral area = impaired judgment, insight, planning, and organization. Concrete and perseverative, trouble learning from experience, neglect hygience, have reduced sexual interest, and may be apathetic
- Orbitofrontal Disinhibition Syndrome: damage to orbitofrontal area = pseudopsychopathy. Emotional lability, distractibility, poor impulse control, and impaired social insight
Mesial Frontal Apathetic Syndrome: damage to mediofrontal area = pseudodepression. Impaired spontaneity, reduced emotional reactions, diminished motor bx and verbal output, and lower-extremity weakness. Do not have vegetative sxs, neg. cognitions, and dysphoria.
Parietal lobe damage (dominate side)
Disturbance in spatial orientation
Apraxia: Inability to perform skilled motor movements in the absence of impaired motor functioning
Somatosensory agnosias:
- Tactile agnosia: inability to recognize familiar objects by touch
- Asomatognosia: failure to recognize parts of one’s own body
- Anosognosia: inability to recognize one’s own neurological sxs or other disorder
Lesions in right (non-dominate side) parietal lobe
Contralateral neglect: loss of knowledge about or interest in the left side of the body
Lesions in left (dominate) parietal lobe
Ideational apraxia: inability to carry out a sequence of actions
Ideomotor apraxia: inability to care out a simple action in response to a command
Gerstmann’s syndrome: finger agnosia, right-left confusion, agraphia (inability to write), and acalculia
Temporal lobe
Auditory cortex and Wernicke’s area
- Mediates encoding, retrieval, and storage of long-term declarative memories
Damage to temporal lobe
Lesions
Occipital Lobe
visual cortex = visual perception, recognition, and memory
posterior portion = high resolution macular vision
anterior portion = peripheral vision
Damage to occipital lobe
Apperceptive visual agnosia: unable to perceive objects despite intact visual acuity
Associative visual agnosia: unable to recognize an object that they are focusnig on as the result of impaired memory or inability to access relevant semantic knowledge
Visual hallucinations
Cortical blindness
Left occipital lobe damage = simultanagnosia (cant see more than one thing or aspect of an object at a time)
Prosopagnosia
Inability to recognize familiar faces
damage at the junction of occipital, temporal, and parietal lobes
