Topic 1 - Brain and Nervous System Flashcards
What is psychology?
study of the human mind and its functions
What is behaviour?
Observable action made by a living person or action
What is mental processes?
A experience that occurs within an individual, that cannot be directly observed
What is an example of the relationship between behaviour and mental processes?
They influence each other. eg. you feel cold (mental process) so then you put on a jumper (behaviour)
What are 5 specialst areas in psychology?
- sport
- forensic
- clinical
- community
- health
What is the difference between a psychologist and psychiatrist?
A psychiatrist have to study medicine and they can also prescribe medication where as psychologists cannot actually prescribe the medicine, they must get it from a psychiatrist.
What are the 2 parts the brain is made up of?
Central nervous system (CNS)
Peripheral nervous system (PNS)
What is the function of the CNS? (3)
- composed of the brain and spinal chord
- brain is control centre of body
- spinal chord allows brain to communicate
What is the function of the PNS? (3)
- any nerve outside the brain and spinal chord
- communicate information from the bodies organs, muscles and glands TO brain
- communicate information FROM brain to bodies organs, muscles and glands
What is the somatic nervous system? (3)
- sensory and motor
- responsible for carrying messages from the brain to skeletal muscles (sensory)
- carrying messages from the senses to the brain for processing (motor)
What is the autonomic nervous system? (3)
- sympathetic and parasympathetic
- controls the body’s non skeletal muscles and internal organs and glands
- to carry out bodily functions for survival (digestion)
What is sympathetic nervous system?
fight or flight
What is parasympathetic nervous system?
rest and digest
What is the function of the cerebellum? (2)
- base of the brain
- responsible for muscle coordination and balance
What is the function of the pons? (2)
- connection between cerebellum and cerebrum
- regulating breathing and sleep cycles
What is the function of the cerebrum? (2)
- located above cerebellum
- 4 lobes
What is the function of the frontal lobe? (3)
- largest of 4 lobes
- contains primary MOTOR cortext which initiates voluntary movement
- 3 P’s (problem solving, planning, personality)
- decision making, expression of emotion
What is the function of the parietal lobe? (3)
- found in upper back half of the brain
- contains primary SOMATOSENSORY cortex
- spatial awareness
- processing sensory information
What is the function of the occipital lobe? (4)
- dedicated to vision
- contains primary VISUAL cortex
LEFT lobe - receives information from right visual field
RIGHT lobe - receives information from left visual field
What is the function of the temporal lobe? (4)
- next to ears
- responsible for hearing and language comprehension
- contains primary AUDITORY cortex
- recognising faces, places, songs, paintings
What is the function of the left hemisphere? (5)
LLRN
- logic
- language
- reasoning
- number skills
- right-hand control
What is the function of the right hemisphere? (5)
ACII
- art awareness
- creativity
- intuition
- imagination
- left-hand control
What is the function of the thalamus?
- sensory data arrives here and is relayed to specific areas of the somatosensory cortex
What is the function of the amygdala? (2)
- emotions of fear and anger
- key role in our emotional responses
What is Broca’s area? (2)
- found in left frontal lobe
- responsible for coordinating the movements of the muscles
- required for production of speech
What is Werincke’s area? (3)
- found in left temporal lobe
- responsible for the comprehension of speech
- interprets the sound of speech
What is a neuron? (1)
- individual nerve cell
What is a nerve?
A bundle of fibers that receives and sends messages between the body and the brain.
What do sensory neurons do?
pick up information from your senses to your brain
What do interneurons do?
Only found in CNS, carry sensory information and regulate motor activity
What do motor neurons do?
move your organs/muscles/glands
What do dendrites do?
Recieve information from other neurons and transmits it to the soma
What does the soma do?
Contains the nucleus and maintain the neurons and keeps it function (also known as the cell body)
What does the axon do?
Transmitts information from the soma to the axon terminal.
What does the axon terminal do?
Stores and secrets neurotransmitters (found at end of axons, small structure)
What does the myelin do?
Coats the axon, insulates the axon, and allows the message to past faster along the axon. (white fatty substance)
What does the synaptic gap do?
Space between 2 neurons where neurotransmitters travel between that space
What is a neurotransmitter?
chemicals that neurons used to communicate with each other
How can a brain recover after injury?
Plasticity
What is plasticity?
The ability of the brain to change in response to experience by changing the connections between neurons.
What are the types of plasticity?
Developmental and adaptive
What is developmental plasticity?
- the natural changes that take place in everyones brains as we mature and have new experiences
What is adaptive plasticity?
- ability of the brain to compensate for lost function in the event of brain injury
- can learn new information or skills
What are the 3 processes of plasticity?
- synaptogenesis
- rerouting
- sprouting
What is synaptogenesis?
formation of synapses between neurons in the NS
What is rerouting?
when an undamanged neuron that has lost connection with an active neurons finds a new active neuron to connect with
What is sprouting?
growth of axon and dendrite branches to enable the neuron to make new connections
What is the difference between a excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter?
An excitatory transmitter promotes the generation of an electrical signal meaning the message continues to be passed onto the next cell, while an inhibitory transmitter prevents it.
Why are neurons refered to as electrochemical?
This is because inside the neuron the message is electrical and outside the neuron the message is in a chemical form.
What are some causes of brain damage?
- car accident
- stroke
- alcohol/drugs
- infection
What is aphasia?
Impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and ability to read or write. Due to brain injury. (commonly a stroke)
What is Broca’s aphasia?
When you struggle to speak, more specifically struggle to form words
What is Wernicke’s aphasia?
impaired language comprehension
- can speak sentences just jumbled
What happened to HM? (Henry Molaison)
- HM got severe amnesia
- also had surgeries to help reduce seizures at 27
- then he was not able to form long term memories
- surgery removed most of the hippocampus on both sides of the brain
What happened to Phineas Gage?
- a 4 foot long tamping iron into his left cheek through his frontal lobe and out through the skull
- lost 11% of the white matter in his frontal lobe
- lost 4% in the cerebral cortex
What is biology?
study of all living things
What are some types of biolgoy?
marine biology
zoology
What is the function of the hippocampus?
- holds memories
- helps with direction
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