Unit 2: The Brain and Psychology

Question 1

Bodily processes are…

Answer 1

The (primarily unconscious) biological activities that keep us alive (i.e. breathing, blood circulation, urination, digestion, biofeedback).

Question 2

Bodily functions are…

Answer 2

The remaining physical proceedings of our body (i.e. muscle movements/motor functions).

Question 3

The three types of neurons are…

Answer 3

(1) Motor Neurons
(2) Sensory Neurons
(3) Interneurons

Question 4

Motor Neurons are…

Answer 4

Those that send instructions from the CNS to the PNS. They connect to your brain to the rest of your muscles.

Question 5

Sensory Neurons are…

Answer 5

Those that send messages and cues from the PNS to the CNS. They process your 5 senses.

Question 6

Interneurons are…

Answer 6

Those that communicate within the CNS (from the spinal cord to the brain and from the brain down through the spinal cord). They are connectors.

Question 7

What do neurons have in common with other cells in the body?

Answer 7

All cells in the body have nuclei.

Question 8

What is the major difference between the CNS and the PNS?

Answer 8

Location! The CNS includes only the brain and the spinal cord (in the center of the body), while the PNS spreads all around the rest of the body.

Question 9

The PNS is broken into…

Answer 9

(1) the autonomic nervous system and
(2) the somatic nervous system

Question 10

The Autonomic Nervous System handles…

Answer 10

The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

Question 11

The Somatic Nervous System handles…

Answer 11

Sensory Input and Motor Output

Question 12

The Sympathetic Nervous System handles…

Answer 12

“Fight or Flight”
Increases your heart rate, slows digestion, releases epinephrine, dilates your pupils, and more to keep you alert

Question 13

The Parasympathetic Nervous System handles…

Answer 13

“Rest and Digest”
Slows your heart rate, re-stimulated digestion, lowers your blood sugar, and more to let your body know it can relax

Question 14

How can one exercise their brain?

Answer 14

Crossword puzzles, Sudoku, and other word and math games

Question 15

How much of your brain can you possibly use in any given situation?

Answer 15

Only about 10% will ever be active in any given situation.

Question 16

PET scans…

Answer 16

Inject participants with temporarily radioactive glucose so that the release of gamma rays can be tracked to create a map of the most active sections of the brain during different tasks.

Question 17

MRI scans…

Answer 17

Place a participant’s head in the middle of a magnetic field so that radio waves can temporarily disrupt the momentum of the brain’s atoms. When the atoms get back to their regular spin, they release a signal that is processed by a computer to create a detailed image of the brain.

Question 18

Functional MRI scans…

Answer 18

Take multiple MRI scans each second as participants complete different tasks in order to watch the brain in action (by tracking and measuring blood flow). Blood flowing to the most active sections of the brain makes those areas appear more clearly on the scans, allowing us to figure out which sections are responsible for which activities.

Question 19

Aphasia is…

Answer 19

A language disorder.

Question 20

Fluent aphasia is…

Answer 20

When damage to the area between the left hemisphere temporal and parietal lobes causes an inability to understand writen and proken language, and sometimes hinders one’s ability to speak clearly/fluently.

Question 21

Non-fluent aphasia is…

Answer 21

When damage to the area of the brain which handles “motor speech” (the LIPS) causes an inability to speak fluently, but leaves a person with the ability to understand others.

Question 22

Paul Broca discovered…

Answer 22

Non-fluent aphasia

Question 23

Carl Wernicke discovered…

Answer 23

Fluent aphasia

Question 24

Why are Wernicke and Broca so important?

Answer 24

They both helped us understand just how many separate functions go into language processing AND further proved that the left hemisphere of the brain is primarily responsible for that task.

Question 25

Biofeedback is…

Answer 25

The body’s ability to repair itself.

Question 26

The Hypothalamus…

Answer 26

Maintains homeostasis (controls your body temperature), primarily by controlling the pituitary gland.

Question 27

The Limbic System…

Answer 27

Includes the hypothalmus, the hippocampus, and the amygdala. It manages our physical/biological urges and needs.

Question 28

Brain Lateralization refers to…

Answer 28

The idea of the “split brain,” where the left and right hemispheres handle different tasks (left = language processing and arithmetic, right = interpretation of senses, self-awareness, reasoning, and fine-tuning of speech).

Question 29

Brain Localization refers to…

Answer 29

The idea that different bodily processes and functions are handled by different and specific regions of the brain (i.e. lobes and cortexes). Frontal lobes manage planning, judgements, speaking, and muscle movements. Occipital lobes process visual information. Parietal lobes keep track of touch and our body’s processing. Temporal lobes receive and process heard information (from our ears). Cerebral, Somatosensory, Motor, and Prefrontal cortices are included within those lobes for very specific tasks.

Question 30

What are the 5 Theories of why we dream and what we dream about?

Answer 30

(1) The Wish-Fulfillment Theory (Freud)
(2) The Information Processing Theory
(3) The Activation Synthesis Theory
(4) The Physiological Functioning Dream Theory
(5) The Cognitive Development Dream Theory

Question 31

Can biofeedback be employed in the treatment of psychological disorders and emotional issues?

Answer 31

In most cases, YES! This is where cognitive behavioral therapy comes in. We learn to cope with our differing brain chemistry, finding and employing strategies to get through hard times.