Physiological Psychology Flashcards
Franz Gall (1758-1828)
earliest theories that behavior, intellect, and even personlaity might be linked to brain anatomy - phrenology
Pierre Flourens
19th century, first to study major sections of the brain, extirpation/ablation
Extirpation/Ablation
various parts of the brain are surgically removed and behavioral consequences are observed. brain had specific parts for specific functions, removal of one part weakes the whole brain
William James (1842-1910)
mind functioned in an adapting environment, formed functionalism
Functionalism
James, how mental processes help individuals adapt tot their environments
John Dewey
1959 - 1952, functionalism, criticized the concept of reflex arc, study the organism as a whole
Paul Broca
1960, studied people with brain damage, Broca’s area
Phineas Gage
1848, “no longer gage”, knowledge of the prefrontal cortex
Johannes Muller
nervous system underlies behavior, law of specific nerve energies
Law of specific Nerve Energies
Johannes Muller, each sensory nerve is excited by only one kind of energy, sensation depends more ont he part of the brain that the nerves stimulate than ont he particular stimulus that activates them
Hermann von Helmholtz
speed of nerve impulse, transition of psychology into natural sciences
Sir Charles Shrrington
inferred existence fo synapses, although he thought it was electrical even thoguh it is chemical
Sensory neurons (afferent neurons)
from receptors in the spinal cord and brain
motor neurons (efferent neurons)
motor information from brain and spinal cord to the muscles
Interneurons
between other neurons, most numerous, located predominantly in the brain and spinal cord linked to reflexive behavior
Reflex Arcs
You understand these
Central Nervous System
brain and spinal cored
Peripheral Nervous System
nerve tissue and fibers outside the brain and spinal cord, subdivided into somatic and autonomic nervous systems
Somatic Nervous System
Part of peripheral nervous system, sensory and motor neurons distributed throughout the skin and muscles, efferent and afferent fibers
autonomic nervous system
part of peripheral nervous system, Walter Cannon, regulates heartbeat, respiration and digestions, and glandular secretion, automatic functions, sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Conserves energy, part of autonomic nervous system, resting and digestingAcetylcholine
Sympathetic Nervous System
part of autonomic nervous system, fight or flight, decrease digestive, adrenaline
Hindbrain
where the brain meets the spinal cord, balance, motor coordination, breathing, digestion, and general arousal such as sleeping and waking, vital survival functions
Midbrain
sensorimotor reflexes that promote survival, receives sensory and motor information, involuntary reflex in response to visual or auditory
Forebrain
complex perceptual cognitive and behavioral processes, emotion and memory, greatest influence on human behavior
Brainstem
most primitive region of the brain, hindbrain and midbrain
Limbic System
neural structures primarily assocated with emotion and memory, aggression, fear, pleasure and pain
Cerebral Cortex
outer covering of the cerebral hemispheres, language processing to problem solving,impulse control to long term planning
Phelogeny
evolutionary development in humans
Medulla Oblongata
vital functioning (breathing, digesting) hindbrain
Pons
sensory and motor tracts between cortex and medulla, hindbrain
Cerebellum
posture and balance, coordinates body, refined motor movements
Reticular Formation
hindbrain to midbrain, arousal and alertness, attention, anasthetics
Colliculi
Superior and Inferior Colliculus
Superior Colliculus
visual sensory input, midbrain “sees”
Inferior colliculus
sensory information from the auditory system, midbrain
Thalamus
forebrain, sensory “way-station”,
Hypothalamus
Hunger and thirst; emotion, hormone functions, drive behaviors, fight or flight - feeding, fighting, fleeing and sexual functioning (4 Fs)
Osomoregulation
maintenance of water balance in teh body (osmo receptors hypothalamus)
Walter Cannon
Peripheral Nervous System, homeostasis
Lateral Hypothalamus
hunger center
Aphagia
Lateral hypothalamus is destroyed and lab rats die of hunger/thirst do not feed themselves
Ventromedial Hypothalamus
satiety center, tells you when you’ve had enough to eat
Hyperphagia
brain lesions in ventromedial hypothalamus lead to obesity, unknown when they are full
Anterior Hypothalamus
electrical stimulation casues aggressive sexual behavior,damage causes permanent inhibition of sexual activity
Basal Ganglia
msucle movement, receives information from teh spinal cord- may play a role in Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia
Extrapyramidal motor system
gathers information about body position from the basal ganglia and carries this information to the brain and spinal cord, makes movements smooth and posture steady
Ventricles
fluid-filled cavaties in the middle of the brain that link up with the spinal canal that runs down the middle of the spinal cord, filled with cerebrospinal fluid, abnormally enlarged ones are seen in social withdrawal, flat affect and catatonic states seen inschizophrenia
Limbic System
interconnected structures looping around the central portion of the brain, emotion and memory, septum, amygdala, hippocampus, some hypothalamus and cortex, lies in oldest part of cerebral hemispheres, second part of the brain to evolve
Septum/Septal area
primary pleasure centers int eh brain, part of limbic system, stimulation causes sexual arousal and pleasure reward sites and inhibits aggression, if damaged aggressive behavior goes unchecked
James Olds and Peter Milner
rats septal regions stimulated, found it so pleasrueable that they preferred it to eating,
Septal Rage
septal area damaged and aggressive beahvior goes unchecked
Amygdala
defensive and aggressive behaviors, when damaged aggression and fear are reduced and hypersexuality
Heinrick Kluver and Paul Bucy/Kluver-Bucy Syndrome
linked amygdala with defensive and aggressive behavior in monkeys , syndrome resulting from bilateral removal of amygdala
Hippocampus
learning and memory processes, HM
Anterograde amnesia
not being able to establish new long-term memories, memory for distant events intact (HM)
Retrograde amnessia
loss of events that transpired before brain injury
Brenda Milner
described HMs memory problems in detail (anterograde amnesia)
Cerebral Cortex/Neocortex
outer surface of the brain, convulsions (numerous bumps and folds)
Frontla Lobe
Prefrontal cortex and motor cortex
Prefrontal cortex
executive function, supervises and directs the operations of other brain regions
Association Area
ex. prefrontal cortex, an area that combines input from diverse brain regions
Projection areas
receive incoming sensory information or send out motor-impulse commands, ex. visual cortex, motor cortex
Prefrontal lobotomies
used to treat schizophrenia in 1950s
Motor Cortex
initiates voluntary motor movements by sending neural impulses down the spinal cord twoard the muscles, projection area
Parietal Lobe
somatosensory cortex, spatial processing and manipulation
Somatosensory cortex
parietal lobe, somatosensory information processing, projection area destination for all incoming sensory singnals for touch, pressure, temparature and pain
Occipital Lobes
visual cortex (striate cortex), learning, motor control
Striate Cortex
Visual Cortex
David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel
work on the physiology of visual perception
Temporal Lobes
auditory cortex and Wernike’s area, memory processing, emotional control, language, hippocampus
Wernicke’s area
language reception and comprehension
Ipsilaterally
matching hemisphere controls matching side of body
Roger Sprerry and Michael Gazzaniga
effects of severing the corpus callosum, split brain
The cell body
Soma, contains nucleus, energy center
Dendrites
branch out from cell body to receive incoming information from other neurons via postsynaptic receptors, external stimulation leads nureon to fire or generate an electrical impulse
Axon
end branches out into numerous terminal buttons
Terminal Buttons
end of axon containing vesicles, sacs, filled with neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters
chemical substances released when neuron fires, flow into tny space separating terminal uttons from dendrites of another neuron (synapse!)
Glial Cells
insulate axons with protective myelin sheath
Resting POtential
slight electrical charge (negative) stored inside the neuron’s cell membrane, wiating to be transformed into a nerve impulse, - 70 mV
Cell Membrane/Membrane Potential
thin layer of fatty molecules that separates hte inside of the neuron from the outside, semipermeable
Ions
small ones can pass through the cell membrane but larger ones are blocked
Polarized
charge outside the neuron is more positive, negative charge inside, resting stage
Sodium-Potassium Pump
Potassium ions located inside the cell Sodium Outside, actively pumps Sodium out to keep resting potential, keeps Potassium in
Depolarization
second stage of action potential, occurs when a stimulus ahas been significant enough to cause the membrane’s potential to increase to the threshold (-50 mV from -70 mV), actual firing of neuron
Action Potential Spike
when membrane produces rapid electrical pulse after reaching threshold/depolarization, membrane suddenly allows in sodium ions
Repolarization
third step of action potential, allows positive potassium to exit the cell
Hyperpolarization
last stage of action potential, cell overshoots negative charge after repolarization
Refractory period
time before the neuron can fire again, absolute refractory and relative refractory
Absolute Refractory Period
achievement of action potential, neuron is completely unresponsive to additional stimulation
Relative Refractory Period
once neuron has reached potential spike, during hyper polarization a stronger stimulation is required to reach threshold potential
All-or-nothing law
when depolarization reaches critical threshold (-50 mV) the neuron is going to fire, each time, every time
Axon Hillock
small elevation on a neuron where the axon meets the cell body wher ethe action potential originates, graded potential in the cell body is converted into the all or nothing potential of the axon
Saltatory Conduction
efficient conduction along a myelinated axon
Nodes of Ranvier
gapes in myelinated sheath along the axon, depolarization occurs at the node, jumping from node to node
Synapse
Synaptic Cleft
Presynaptcic Membrane
membrane of the terminal button that faces the synapse, stores vesicles that store neurotransmitters
Postsynaptic membrane
within dendrite has receptors
Reuptake
when neurotransmitters are drawn back into the vesicles of the terminal buttons
Binding
neurotransmitters fitting to receptors
Excitatory Postsynaptic Potential (EPSP)
postsynaptic potential that makes a neuron more likely to fire
Inhibitory POstsynaptic Potential (IPSP)
makes a neuron less likely to fire
Graded potentials
postsynaptic potentials in the dendrites have voltage that can vary in intensity, not subject to the all or nothing law, depend on neurotransmitters
Eric Kandle
simple neural networks in aplysia, snails with identifiable nerve cells - reflexes, habituation
Acetylocholine
neurotransmitter found in both the central and eripheral nervous systems, used ot ransmit nerve impulses to the muscles, linked to Alzheimers (loss of this neurotransmitter in the hippocampus)
Catecholamines
Epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, also called monoamines or biogenic amines, experience of emotions
Norepinephrine
Catecholamine, also known as noradrenaline, controls alertness and wakefulness, implicated in depression and mania, too much is mania, ltoo little and depression
Dopamine
Catecholamine, movement and posture, high concentrations found inb asal ganglia, imbalance in transmission have been found in schizophrenia, amphetamines produce excessive amounts, phenothiazines reduces sensitivity of these receptors
Phenothiazines
reduce the sensitivity of dopamine receptors
Tardive dyskinesia
disruptions of dopamine transmission lead to jerky movements associated with Parkinson’s, side effects of long-term antipsychotic medication for schizophrenia
L-dopa
treatment for motor distrubances in Parkinson’s , increases dopamine levels, can produce psychotic symptoms
Serotonin
monoamine or biogenicamine transmitter, regulates mood, eating, sleeping and arousal, role in depression and mania
Monoamine Theory of depression
grouping together of serotonin and norepinephrine effects on mania and depression
GABA
produces inhibitory postsynaptic potentials and is thought to play an important role in stabilizing neural activity, causes hyperpolarization in the postsynaptic membrane, anxiety disordered
Peptides
two or more aminoacids joined together, ex. endorphins and enkephalins
Neuromodulators/Neuropeptides
longer effects on postsynaptic cell than neurotransmitters
Endorphins
Peptide/Neuromodulator pain killer
Sedative-hypnotic drugs/depressants
slow down the functioning of the central nervous system, reduce anxiety, produce sedation, or anesthesia, synergistic, includes benzodiazepines and barbiturates, GABA
Synergistic
additive in effect
Barbituates
relatively potent tranquilizers
Benzodiazepines
tranquilizers used for anxiety
Korsakoff’s Syndrome
chronic alcoholics, disturbances in memory, major sympotoms is anterograde amnesia, vitamin deficiency in thiamin, vitamin B1, malnutrition found in alcoholics
Behavioral Stimulants
increase behavioral activity by increasing motor activity or counteracting fatigue, amphetamines
amphetamines
behavioral stimulants that speed up the central nervous system in ways that mimc the action of sympathetic nervous system, stimulate receptors for dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin
Antidepressants
behavioral stimulants, tricyclics and monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors
Trycyclic antidepressants
facilitate transmission of norepinephrine or serotonin in the synapse, block reuptake of monoamines
MAO inhibitors
inhibit the action of MAO enzyme which normally breaks down and deactivates norepinephrine and serotonin in the synapse
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
Prozac, inhibits reuptake of serotonin
Methylphenidate
Ritalin, treat children with ADD, increases alertness and decreases motor activity, amphetamine
Thorazine, Chlorpromazine, Phenothiazine, Haloperidol (Haldol)
antipsychotic drugs for delusional thinking, hallucinations, agitation, commonly associated with schizophrenia, block receptor sites for dopamine, difficult for dopamine to bind
Lithium Carbonate
prescribed ofr bipolar, prevents mood swings
Opium, Heroin, and morphine
narcotics, pain relievers, bind directly to opiate receptors in the brain, mimic endorphines or naturally occuring painkillers
Psychedelics
alter sensory and cognitive processes
Endocrine System
thyroid - body growth, epinephrine (also neurotransmitter) for fight or flight, sexual function
Pituitary Gland
base of the brain
Anterior Pituitary Gland
regulates activities of endocrine glands, controled by hypothalamus, effect primary and secondary sex characteristics
Primary sex characteristics
present at birth
Secondary sex characterics
present after puberty
Androgens
male development hormone during fetal development, testosterone
Androgen-insensitivity syndrome
if the fetus does not produce or cannot use androgens, follows female pattern
Gonadoptropic Hormons/Gonadotropins
puberty pituitary gland produces thse, dramatic increase in the production of hormones by the testes or ovaries
Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH)
pituitary glad secretes, stimulates the gorowth of an ovarian follicale which is a small-protective sphere surrounding the egg or ovum
Luteinizing hormone (LH)
associated with ovulation, release of the egg from one fothe ovaries
Estrogen
associated with maturation and release of the egg from the ovary
Progesterone
prepare the uterus for implantation oft he fertizlized egg
Sterotaxic instrument
device used to locate brain areas when electrodes are implanted to amake leasions or stimulate nerve cell activity
Wilder Penfield
electrically stimulating and recording brain activity, leads individual neurons to fire
David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel
single-cell recording, visual cortex of cats
electroencephalograph
produces EEG
rCBF regional cerebral blood flow
detects patterns fo neural activity based on increased blood flow to different parts of the brain - CAT PET and MRI
A.R. Luria
wrote about many neuropsychological disorders
Agnosia
impairment in visual recognition, cortical area results in visual agnosia
Apraxia
impairment in the organization of motor action, problem i sin the damage to the nearby association area to the projection area in the motor cortex
Dementias
loss in intellectual functioning, alzheimers, huntington’s chorea and parkinsons disease,
Sleep Stage 1
appearance of sleep spindles, short bursts of alpha waves
Stage 2
theta waves , K complexes
Stage 3
few sleep waves her second, delta waves
Stage 4
delta is slowest, sleep spindles are steepest
Rapid Eye Movement
look like beta, desynchronized, eyes constantly moving
James-Langeu Theory
late 19th century, we become aware of our emotion after we notice our physiological reactions
Cannon-Bard Theory
awareness of emotions reflects our physiological arousal and our cognitive experience, occur simultaneously
Schacter-Singer Theory/Two-factor theory of emotion
subjective experience of emotion is based on interaction between changes in pysiological arousal and cognitive interpretation of tha arousal, individual’s appraisal of the situation determines hte interpretation
