Week 1 - Perspectives on the brain, mind and mental health Flashcards
What is a simplified explanation of what the brain is?
An organ of the human body
What is an organ in the biological sense?
A structure of the body (group of tissues) that serves a particular function
What is a biological system?
A group of interrelated organs and other tissues which work together to serve a particular function
What are neurons?
Cells which relay messages within and between brain areas, and from the brain to the rest of the body
What are the names of some of the main types of neurons?
- Unipolar neuron
- Bipolar neuron
- Multipolar neuron
- Pyramidal cell
- Purkinje cell
- Motor neuron
- Granule cell
What are some similarities between all types of neurons?
- All have a cell body
- All have lots of branching dendrites
What is the function of glial cells?
To clear away waste, such as dead neurons
Are two brains identical? If not, why not?
No, due to neuroplasticity
What is the field called ‘cognitive neuroscience’?
An area of neuroscience concerned with cognitive functions and the processes in the brain which support these
What is the field of neuroanatomy?
An area of neuroscience which is concerned with the structure and organisation of the brain
How do cognitive neuroscientists usually study the brain?
With living participants, using technical equipment such as fMRIs (which provide detailed information about brain activity)
How might a neuroanatomist study the brain?
With post-mortem techniques such as slicing and staining, in order to make certain features of the brain tissue more easily visible
What is the field of neurogenetics?
An area of neuroscience which studies the genetics underpinning the nervous system
What is proteomics?
The study of proteins produced by genes
What is ‘translational research’?
When research conducted in a lab setting can be carried across to have clinical impact
What is neuroplasticity?
The changes which occur in the brain as a result of development, learning and disease process
How does Buddhism view the mind and brain?
As completely separate entities
What are the three components of the brain that Freud proposed?
- Id
- Ego
- Superego
What does the ‘id’ do?
It is the pleasure seeker and drives instinctual behaviour such as hunger
What does the ‘superego’ do?
It’s the seat of our social morality - it tells us right from wrong and includes aspirations of our ideal selves
What is the ‘ego’?
It mediates the id and superego and is our conscious, decision-making component
What is the ‘psychodynamic approach’?
An approach to understanding the mind that infers the mind is created from a dynamic interaction between the id, ego and superego
What is the ‘behaviourist approach’?
An approach in psychology which is concerned with observable behaviours rather than the concept of the mind - i.e. it does not take in to account thoughts and feelings
What is ‘operant conditioning’?
Learning that involves an association being made between an action and an outcome, such that the delivery of a reward is dependent on behaviour
What is ‘cognitive psychology’?
An area in psychology which focuses on the mind and the scientific investigation of mental processes
What is the ‘evolutionary approach’?
A scientific view that humans and other biological life forms are a product of biological evolution
In what way does the evolutionary approach seek to understand the workings of the human mind/brain?
Through the viewpoint of adaptation
What is ‘phenotypic plasticity’?
Changes in response to the environment which occur during the lifespan of an individual organism which might, for example, affect behaviour
What is an advantage of phenotypic traits?
The traits may confer an advantage in a particular environment, and can potentially be passed from one generation to another
What are ‘epigenetic changes’?
The way different genes are expressed without changing the genetic code
Who was Emil Kraepelin (1856 - 1926)?
The credited founder of modern-day psychiatry
What is important about Emil Kraepelin?
He published the “Compendium Psychiatric” which became the basis for modern-day psychiatric classification systems
What is ‘psychopharmacology’?
A field in psychology that focuses on how substances such as drugs affect the brain and mind
Who was Wilhelm Wundt (1832 - 1920)?
The credited father of experimental psychology
From whom does the ‘medicalised approach’ to mental illness originate?
Emil Kraepelin
What does the ‘biopsychosocial model’ propose?
That biological, psychological and social factors are all important in health and that they interact with each other
What is the ‘WEIRD population effect’?
The particular focus of psychological studies on people from the following types of country:
- Western
- Educated
- Industrialised
- Rich
- Democratic
Regarding the WEIRD population effect, what does WEIRD stand for?
- Western
- Educated
- Industrialised
- RIch
- Democratic
What are the two parts of the nervous system?
- Central nervous system
- Peripheral nervous system
Which type of neurons carry information from the PNS to the CNS?
Afferent neurons
Which type of neurons carry information from the CNS to the PNS?
Efferent neurons
What is the function of sensory neurons?
They carry information about both the internal and external environment to the CNS from the PNS
What is the function of motor neurons?
They carry signals from the CNS to muscles
What is the difference between a hormone and a neurotransmitter?
Hormone: chemical, released from a gland into the blood, circulates the body
Neurotransmitter: chemical, released from neurons and acts directly on target cells/organs
What are some traits of a pyramidal neuron?
- Cell body shaped like a pyramid
- Many dendrites connected to both top of pyramid and its base
- The axon emerges from the base of the pyramid
What is an axon?
The projection of the neuron which conducts action potentials away from the nerve cell body
What are granule cells?
- The smallest and most numerous type of neurons in the brain
- Involved in functions ranging from processing visual and motor information to learning and memory
