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(old)SK298 > Week 1 - Perspectives on the brain, mind and mental health > Flashcards

Week 1 - Perspectives on the brain, mind and mental health Flashcards

1
Q

What is a simplified explanation of what the brain is?

A

An organ of the human body

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2
Q

What is an organ in the biological sense?

A

A structure of the body (group of tissues) that serves a particular function

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3
Q

What is a biological system?

A

A group of interrelated organs and other tissues which work together to serve a particular function

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4
Q

What are neurons?

A

Cells which relay messages within and between brain areas, and from the brain to the rest of the body

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5
Q

What are the names of some of the main types of neurons?

A
  • Unipolar neuron
  • Bipolar neuron
  • Multipolar neuron
  • Pyramidal cell
  • Purkinje cell
  • Motor neuron
  • Granule cell
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6
Q

What are some similarities between all types of neurons?

A
  • All have a cell body
  • All have lots of branching dendrites
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7
Q

What is the function of glial cells?

A

To clear away waste, such as dead neurons

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8
Q

Are two brains identical? If not, why not?

A

No, due to neuroplasticity

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9
Q

What is the field called ‘cognitive neuroscience’?

A

An area of neuroscience concerned with cognitive functions and the processes in the brain which support these

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10
Q

What is the field of neuroanatomy?

A

An area of neuroscience which is concerned with the structure and organisation of the brain

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11
Q

How do cognitive neuroscientists usually study the brain?

A

With living participants, using technical equipment such as fMRIs (which provide detailed information about brain activity)

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12
Q

How might a neuroanatomist study the brain?

A

With post-mortem techniques such as slicing and staining, in order to make certain features of the brain tissue more easily visible

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13
Q

What is the field of neurogenetics?

A

An area of neuroscience which studies the genetics underpinning the nervous system

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14
Q

What is proteomics?

A

The study of proteins produced by genes

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15
Q

What is ‘translational research’?

A

When research conducted in a lab setting can be carried across to have clinical impact

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16
Q

What is neuroplasticity?

A

The changes which occur in the brain as a result of development, learning and disease process

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17
Q

How does Buddhism view the mind and brain?

A

As completely separate entities

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18
Q

What are the three components of the brain that Freud proposed?

A
  • Id
  • Ego
  • Superego
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19
Q

What does the ‘id’ do?

A

It is the pleasure seeker and drives instinctual behaviour such as hunger

20
Q

What does the ‘superego’ do?

A

It’s the seat of our social morality - it tells us right from wrong and includes aspirations of our ideal selves

21
Q

What is the ‘ego’?

A

It mediates the id and superego and is our conscious, decision-making component

22
Q

What is the ‘psychodynamic approach’?

A

An approach to understanding the mind that infers the mind is created from a dynamic interaction between the id, ego and superego

23
Q

What is the ‘behaviourist approach’?

A

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

24
Q

What is ‘operant conditioning’?

A

Learning that involves an association being made between an action and an outcome, such that the delivery of a reward is dependent on behaviour

25
Q

What is ‘cognitive psychology’?

A

An area in psychology which focuses on the mind and the scientific investigation of mental processes

26
Q

What is the ‘evolutionary approach’?

A

A scientific view that humans and other biological life forms are a product of biological evolution

27
Q

In what way does the evolutionary approach seek to understand the workings of the human mind/brain?

A

Through the viewpoint of adaptation

28
Q

What is ‘phenotypic plasticity’?

A

Changes in response to the environment which occur during the lifespan of an individual organism which might, for example, affect behaviour

29
Q

What is an advantage of phenotypic traits?

A

The traits may confer an advantage in a particular environment, and can potentially be passed from one generation to another

30
Q

What are ‘epigenetic changes’?

A

The way different genes are expressed without changing the genetic code

31
Q

Who was Emil Kraepelin (1856 - 1926)?

A

The credited founder of modern-day psychiatry

32
Q

What is important about Emil Kraepelin?

A

He published the “Compendium Psychiatric” which became the basis for modern-day psychiatric classification systems

33
Q

What is ‘psychopharmacology’?

A

A field in psychology that focuses on how substances such as drugs affect the brain and mind

34
Q

Who was Wilhelm Wundt (1832 - 1920)?

A

The credited father of experimental psychology

35
Q

From whom does the ‘medicalised approach’ to mental illness originate?

A

Emil Kraepelin

36
Q

What does the ‘biopsychosocial model’ propose?

A

That biological, psychological and social factors are all important in health and that they interact with each other

37
Q

What is the ‘WEIRD population effect’?

A

The particular focus of psychological studies on people from the following types of country:
- Western
- Educated
- Industrialised
- Rich
- Democratic

38
Q

Regarding the WEIRD population effect, what does WEIRD stand for?

A
  • Western
  • Educated
  • Industrialised
  • RIch
  • Democratic
39
Q

What are the two parts of the nervous system?

A
  • Central nervous system
  • Peripheral nervous system
40
Q

Which type of neurons carry information from the PNS to the CNS?

A

Afferent neurons

41
Q

Which type of neurons carry information from the CNS to the PNS?

A

Efferent neurons

42
Q

What is the function of sensory neurons?

A

They carry information about both the internal and external environment to the CNS from the PNS

43
Q

What is the function of motor neurons?

A

They carry signals from the CNS to muscles

44
Q

What is the difference between a hormone and a neurotransmitter?

A

Hormone: chemical, released from a gland into the blood, circulates the body
Neurotransmitter: chemical, released from neurons and acts directly on target cells/organs

45
Q

What are some traits of a pyramidal neuron?

A
  • 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
46
Q

What is an axon?

A

The projection of the neuron which conducts action potentials away from the nerve cell body

47
Q

What are granule cells?

A
  • 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

(old)SK298 (7 decks)

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