psychology- AOS1

Question 1

synpatic plasticity

Answer 1

change in the structure and chemistry of the synapse in response to experience
able to alter, eliminate, and form neural connections

Question 2

sprouting

Answer 2

formation of extention of neural connections at axon or dendrite to form new neural connections

Question 3

rerouting

Answer 3

formation of a new neural connection as an alternative pathway
-useful mechanism as recovery for brain injury

Question 4

pruning

Answer 4

decay or elimination of weak, ineffective or unused synapse

Question 5

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 5

long-lasting enhancement of the synaptic transmission due to regular and strong repeated stimulation
Allows pathway to be more responsive and easily activated
less likely to forget

Question 6

Long-term depression

Answer 6

long-lasting decrease strength of synaptic transmission due to lack of stimulation or prolonged low level stimulation

Question 7

cell assemblies

Answer 7

interconnected group of neurons which work as a unit to regulate and form a neural pathway

Question 8

human nervous system

Answer 8

complex network of nerves and cells to facilitate the communication of information throughout the body

Question 9

central nervous system

Answer 9

consists of the brain and spine to recieve internal and external information from the PNS

Question 10

brain

Answer 10

Major organ of the central nervous system able to recieve, information from the spine where it can interpret, process and generate an appropriate response sent through the spine.

Question 11

spine

Answer 11

major organ of the CNS able to communicate infromation bewteen the PNS and CNS connected to nerves outside the CNS as well as regulating spinal reflex

Question 12

Peripheral nervous system

Answer 12

consists of nerves outside of the central nervous system thats able to recieve sensory information externally as well communicate this to and from the CNS

Question 13

somatic nervous system

Answer 13

subdivision of the peripheral nervous system communicate motor movement to and from the CNS and regulate concious and voluntary movement

Question 14

autonomic nervous system

Answer 14

subdivision of the peripheral nervous system which regulates the acitivity of internal organs allowing self-regulation from visceral muscles as well as feedback about its activity to and from the brain.
linked to cerebral cortex

Question 15

sympathetic nervous system

Answer 15

subdivision of the autonomic nervous system thats able to increase the activity of visceral muscles, organs or glands.
-regulates fight/flight mode during times of stress or threat
Ex. dilated pupils, increased heart rate, production of sweat, increased gulb ladder activity= pee, redistribution of blood supply

Question 16

parasympathetic nervous system

Answer 16

subdvision of the autonomic nervous system able to decrease activity of visceral muscles, organs, and glands to return the body to homeostasis, balance of internal function
Ex. decreased heart rate, reduction in sweat production

Question 17

Somatic nervous system

Answer 17

Subdivision of the autonomic nervous system which communicates Motorrad movement to and from the CNS as well as controlling voluntary and conscious movement
-does this by sending motor info to motor neural pathway connected to skeletal muscle

Question 18

Internal stressor

Answer 18

Stressor which originates from within the individual
Ex. Personal problem

Question 19

External stressor

Answer 19

Refers to a cause of stressor that originates from an event or situation in the external environment outside of the individual

Question 20

Stressor

Answer 20

Stimulus to the body which produces stress
-can virtually be anything and is subjective to different individuals

Question 21

Acute stress

Answer 21

Refers to stress that’s relatively short
-body can bounce back relatively well when stress managed by the individual
-severe acute stress can lead to mental health damage

Question 22

Benefits and disadvantage of acute stress

Answer 22

Benefits
-increase problem solving skill
-increased physical performance
^all due to release of adrenaline
=also increase motivation to do something
Disadvantage
-elevated BP
-cause procrastination, retreat

Question 23

Flight-or-flight-or-freeze response

Answer 23

An unconcious/involuntary response regulated by the** sympathetic nervous system** as a response to **threat/danger/stress **involving physiological changes to stimulates readiness to confront/deal with stressful agents to protect and minimise harm. Can respond by freezing, fleeing, or attacking

Question 24

Freeze response

Answer 24

said to be regulated by both the PNS and SNS, predominantely PNS= still movement BUT immediate response due to SNS.
-can feel overpowered/trapped or overwhelmed/too much stress.

Question 24

Freeze response

Answer 24

said to be regulated by both the PNS and SNS, predominantely PNS= still movement BUT immediate response due to SNS.
-can feel overpowered/trapped or overwhelmed/too much stress.

Question 24

Freeze response

Answer 24

said to be regulated by both the PNS and SNS, predominantely PNS= still movement BUT immediate response due to SNS.
-can feel overpowered/trapped or overwhelmed/too much stress.

Question 25

dopamine

Answer 25

type of neurotransmitter, acts as a neuromodulater involved in reward-pathway, memory, and learning. And voluntary movement
-able to have mainly excitatory effects but can also has inhibitatory effects

Question 26

serotonin

Answer 26

type of neuromodulator neurotransmitter with only inhibitatory effects
-able to counteract excessive excitatory activity
Involved in moods sleep and appetite

Question 27

chronic stress

Answer 27

refers to when stress is ongoing and long-lasting due to high demand of pressure, stress, or worries that are constantly present. This can lead to the production of cortisol

Question 28

cortisol

Answer 28

a slow spread by l**ong-lasting **hormone involved in both HPA process of acute stress and chronic stress response. This allows high arousal of the body for a longer period to maintain alertness

Question 29

advatages of cortisol

Answer 29

-can turn off bodily systems not required for stress reponse= directs energy to dealing with stress
Ex. immune system= anti-inflmanatory affect
-energises the body from energy supply like blood sugar= increased metabolism to maintain alertness.

Question 30

disadvantage of cortisol

Answer 30

prolonged cortisol release due to chronic stess
-cause higher vunerability to disease and illness due to anti-inflammatory affect and inhibiting WBC activity.
-increase weight gain and fat tissue due to higher appitite to maintain level of energy for alertness
PHYSICAL
-cold, flu, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, high blood sugar, long-term risk of heart attack and stroke
MENTAL
-impaired memory and learning ability, depression, mental disorders, anxiety, post trumatic stress

Question 31

glutamate

Answer 31

type of excitatory neurotransmitter involved in learning and memory (LTD and LTP)- growth and strengthing of synaptic connections
too low= poor communication of neural information
too high= overexcitation; neural damage and death
right balance= glutamatergic communication

Question 32

gamma-amino butylic acid (GABA)

Answer 32

**inhibitatory neurotransmitter **
too low= seizures and activity (not enough to counteract effects of excitatory neurotransmitters)
regulates anxiety and seizures

Question 33

neurotransmitter

Answer 33

chemical produced by a** neuron** to transmit a neural message to another neuron where message is produced from a pre-synaptic neuron and **communicates with post-synaptic **neuron via the *synaptic gap
Ex. glutamate and GABA

Question 34

neuromodulators

Answer 34

type of neurotransmitter able to influence the effects of neurotransmitters
-by influencing the reactivity of the recptor sites to other neurotransmitters
Ex. dopamine and serotonin= enhance exitatory or inhibitatory response
-can affect multiple neurons simulataneously

Question 35

dopaminergic system

Answer 35

neural pathway of dopamine/dopamine producing areas
Migrostriatal:produced in substantia nigra (midbrain), pathway for movement
too low= parkinsons

Mesolimbic (reward pathway): associated with reward and pleasure, located midbrain between ventral tegmental and nucleus accumbus
too high= schizophrenia and addiction

Question 36

sertotoergic system

Answer 36

pathway of serotionin
-usually produced in brain stem within raphe nucleui
-also mainly produced in gastrointestinal tract (80%)
^significant to gut health
*also involved in sleep cycle, produced in pineal gland= production of melatonin

Question 37

serotonin illness

Answer 37

*too low *: seasonaly affective disorder= seasonall depression and OCD/compulsive behaviours
too high:fever, elevated heart rate, agitation, delirium, seizures

Question 38

neurotransmitters vs neuromodulators

Answer 38

modulator: longlasting, effects wider range of neurons
transmitters: shorter lasting effects, affects fewer neurons- adjacent neurons

Question 39

gut-brain-axis

Answer 39

describes the interrelation bidirectional relationship of the** gut and brain **
-refers to the indierect and direct pathways which allow communication between CNS and ENS

Question 40

Gas Adaptation Syndrome

Answer 40

outlines three-stage non-specific response to stress regardless of the stressor source or its nature. Consist of the alert (shock, counter shock), resistance, and exhaustion

Question 41

alarm (1)

Answer 41

body becomes aware of the stressor, initial defensive stage
shock: body reacts as if injured, resistance to deal with stress falls **below normal **
Ex. drop temp

*counter shock *:sympathetic nervous system is activated= fight/flight response- high arousal and release of hormones
Ex. adrenaline noradrenaline, cortisol
bodys resistance and physiological response increase

Question 42

resistance (2)

Answer 42

bodys ability to deal with stress increases above normal
-parasympathetic nervous system is activated to dimish levels or arousal and high alertness
-physiological activity remains same
^due to remaining cortisol in the bloodstream= unnessesary systems off
still release of cortisol to maintain bodys resistance to stress
=supressed immunity, catch flu or cold
- successful= body returns normal state, homeostasis

Question 43

exhaustion (3)

Answer 43

when stress not properly dealt with in resistance stage
resistance below normal
body becomes weak and vunerabe to physical and mental disorders
^due to depleted hormone production, bodys not able to maintain
alert response may reappear

Question 44

gut microbiota

Answer 44

total population of fungi, bacteria, and microorganisms within a the gut

Question 45

microbiome

Answer 45

refers to microbiome as a collective (all the bacteria, fungi, virus)

Question 46

enterotype

Answer 46

refers to the unique compositionof the guts microbiome
-influenced by diet, infection, disease

Question 47

consious

Answer 47

response that is voluntary and done with the persons awareness
-goal-direrected
-response is initiated by brain
^usually due to sensory input= message via motor pathway response

Question 48

unconsious

Answer 48

response that is done without the persons awareness= involuntary and reflexive, responds almost immediately.
-response is no involvement of brain
Ex. spinal reflex

Question 49

transactional model of stress

Answer 49

model by Lazarus and folkman which highlights the psychological role in dealing/coping with stress
consists of the primary and secondary appraisal

Question 50

primary appraisal

Answer 50

stage where individual determines/apprasies if a situation or stressor is stressful or not stressful
stressful= harm/loss, threat, or challange
not stressful= irrelevent, or benign/positive

Question 51

secondary appraisal

Answer 51

individual determines if they have adequate resources or inadequete to deal with stressor
^also note if internal or external resource needed
adequete: not as stressful= manage better
inadequete: higher stress or distress (emotionally overwhelmed)

Question 52

influences on how we appraise a stressor/situation (6)

Answer 52

attiude, personality, environment, prior experience, control/perception of situation, coping skills

Question 53

stress

Answer 53

stress is the bodys physiological and physical response/generalised effort to adapt itself to a triggering or new condition/cirumstance stimulated by a stressor

Question 54

parasympathetic vs sympathetic physiological response

Answer 54

when sympathetic- lead to an increase in physiological activity & redistribution of blood/blood sugar supply: due to focusing energy to nessaary systems in dealing with stress
‘redirect blood flow’
Ex. increase heart rate, dilated pupils, relaxed bladder= urination
-also an increase secretion of stress hormones

parasympathetic- decrease activity of internal organs to bring it back to normal/balance homeostasis
*does not constrict, stop, or prevent activity of muscles and organs or systems

Ex. decreased heart hate, increase digestion and WBC activity

***note both systems are active simultaneously but one dominates the other

Question 55

coping flexibility

Answer 55

refers to the ability to readily adapt/adjust coping strategy according the demands of different stressful situations

Question 56

context-specific effectiveness

Answer 56

refers to when there is a good fit between a coping strategy and a stressful situation to which the strategy is effective

-takes into account (3), physical environment of where the stressor is occuring, the stressor itself and its demands, and the individual involved [their personality, skill, social support of friends and fam, knowledge].

Question 57

approach coping

Answer 57

efforts to confront a stressor and deal with it and its effects directly and constructively playing an active role.
KEY FEATURES: focuses its energy towards the stressor

Question 58

avoidance coping

Answer 58

efforts in evading and dealing with a stressor and its effects indirectly
KEY FEATURES: focuses energy away from dealing with the stressor

Question 59

dysbiosis

Answer 59

refers to an imbalance in the health of the gut and mircobiota
=digestive problems, chronic fatigue

Question 60

High coping flexibility vs low coping flexibility

Answer 60

High coping flexibility: ability to readily adjust coping strategy if recognised as ineffective and has a range of coping strategies
^said to be effective with more positive health outcomes

Low coping flexibility: consistently uses the same coping strategy despite if ineffective and find it difficult to adjust to different stressful situations

Question 61

coping

Answer 61

“behavioural and cognitive efforts to manage and deal with an internal or external stressor which is appraised as exceeding the resources of a person

Question 62

Advantage vs limitations of GAS model

Answer 62

Advantage
-reveal biological component in stress
-suggests bodys weak resistance to infection= physical disorder development
-outlines **link between stress and disease **

Limitation
-assumes everyone experiences the** same physiological** and automatic response to stress
-study was done of animal not humans
-doesn’t consider the psychological affect which can change response to stressor such as interpretation

Question 63

Advantage and limitations of transactional model of stress and coping

Answer 63

Advantage
- highlights psychological role in coping and managing stress
- views stress as interaction between environment and the individual
- shows different pathway how individuals appraise stress and copes

Limitations
-hard to test due to individuals subjective nature
- stress can be experienced **without thought **and appraisal
- linear approach limits individual variation

Question 64

stress

Answer 64

state/condition/response to a stressor with psychological and biological (physiological) response. triggered by either an internal or external stressor.