Week 3 - biological psychology Flashcards
What are sensory neurons in the spinal cord?
(Input neurons) - send messages to the brain from the body (eg temperature, pressure, pain, position etc). Located in dorsal spine.
What’re motor neurons in the spinal cord?
(Output) - send messaged from the brain to the body (eg actions, changes in organ function). Located in ventral spine.
What’re interneurons (spinal cord)?
Connect sensory and motor neurons at the spinal level allowing for reflexive movement.
Name the parts of the brain (CNS)
Forebrain: cerebral cortex and subcortical structures
Brain stem: midbrain, pons, medulla
Cerebellum (‘little brain’): balance, motor coordination, learning motor skills.
Pons and medulla sometimes called hindbrain.
Describe cerebral ventricles (central nervous system)
Cerebral ventricles are cavities within the brain and spinal cord that contains cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Nourishes and protects CNS from trauma.
Describe parts of the brain stem:
Connects brain and spinal cord
Regulates basic bodily functions
Pons: connects cortex to cerebellum
Medulla: respiration, heart rate, sleep/wake patterns. said to maybe be responsible for nausea for example when you’re concussed.
Midbrain: movement control, orienting to sensory stimuli (door slam)
Reticular activating system (RAS): consciousness and arousal.
Describe the forebrain (sometimes called the cerebrum)
Largest and most complex region of the brain comprised of:
- cerebral cortex
- subcortical structures
Left and right cerebral hemispheres connected by the corpus callosum - allows both hemispheres of brain to share info.
Describe the limbic system?
A sub cortical structure of the forebrain.
Interconnected brain regions involved in emotional processing, basic drives, control of the autonomic nervous system, learning and memory, smell.
Parts involved: Thalamus Corpus callosum Cingulate cortex Hypothalamus Hippocampus Amygdala
Describe the parts of the limbic system in more detail
Thalamus: receives/transfers incoming sensory information to the cortex (relay station). smell is the ONLY sense that DOESNT go through the thalamus
Hypothalamus: regulates autonomic nervous system and endocrine system (via pituitary gland).
- basic drives (eg fighting, fleeing, feeding, mating).
- homeostasis (body temperature, blood sugar, metabolism).
Amygdala: learning, recognising and responding to emotion (in particular, fear).
Hippocampus : encoding of new long term memories, spatial memory.
Describe the basal ganglia
It is a subcortical structure of the forebrain.
Control of movement (initiating and inhibiting)
-Parkinson’s disease
-Huntington’s disease
- Tourette’s syndrome
Initiating actions for reward
Some memory processes (eg, habit formation, procedural learning).
What is the cerebral cortex?
A part of the forebrain.
Cerebral cortex: outer convoluted (hills and valleys in texture) layer of brain (3mm thick)
Most recent evolutionary addition
Complex ‘higher order’ processes (eg,. Though, speech, reasoning, conscious responses).
Hills = gyri, valleys= sulci
Separating the left and right brain hemispheres is called the longitudinal fissure (type of sulci)
4 lobes in each hemisphere (from front to back): frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobe.
Describe some parts of the cerebral cortex’s hierarchical organisation.
Primary areas: receive incoming sensory information (raw data), or send messages to body to initiate movement
Association areas: adds cognitive element. Forms perceptions, applies meaning to incoming messages, plans responses.
Describe some aspects of the frontal lobe:
Prefrontal cortex: ‘executive function’, particularly important for personality, mood and memory.
Executive function: planning, guidance and evaluation of behaviour (ie decision making, problem solving, reasoning, self awareness, self control)
Broca’s area: speech production (typically left hemisphere)
Motor cortex: programming and execution of movement.
What’s some symptoms with frontal lobe damage?
Executive function deficits (eg inability to plan, loss/change in motivation, social inappropriateness, reduced flexibility of thinking)
Case study example: Phineas Gage (iron rod through head)
Describe some features of the parietal lobes
Processing of somatic sensations and perceptions
Somatosensory cortex: registers tactile sensations from body (temperature, pressure, pain)
Integration of inputs (eg somatic, motor, visual and Auditory), and integration of inputs with memories and internal states.
Spatial information for self and other
-‘where’ visual processing pathway
What happens with parietal lobe damage?
Left right confusions, problems integrating sensory information, vision-spatial and constructional problems (eg, neglect (just drawing right hand side of objects for example a clock)) can improve after a stroke
Describe some features of the temporal lobe
Processing auditory information
- primary auditory cortex: receives incoming sound, analyses according to frequency/tone
- auditory association cortex: applies meaning to sound
Wernickes area: language comprehension (typically Left hemisphere only)
Long term storage if autobiographical information (memory)
Storage of object representations
-‘what’ visual pathway
What would happen if the temporal lobe was damage?
Auditory problems, impaired language comprehension (wernickes aphasia), poor memory (amnesia), auditory and visual recognition problems (agnosia)
Agnosia- (object recognition problems) and prosopagnosia (face blindness)
Describe some features of the occipital lobes
Primary visual cortex: receives visual information from eyes via the optic nerve.
Visual association cortex: organises these simple features into more complex maps of features (eg colour, motion) and their position in space to form an image.
What happens when the occipital lobe is damaged?
Cortical blindness, problems with vision (eg colour vision, movement perception). Reading problems.
Hemispheric lateralisation: (left right Brain)
Localisation of function/functional specialisation: function is localised to specific area of brain
Lateralisation of function: function localised predominantly to one hemisphere (left or right). Generally this is NOT the case for many functions.
Corpus callosum: band of neurons that connects and transfers information between left and right hemispheres.
Facts about hemispheric lateralisation
-all sensory input (except olfaction) is argent processed by opposite hemisphere.
The left hemisphere receives sensory information from right and controls right side of the body.
The right hemisphere receives sensory information from the left and controls the left side of the body
The left hemisphere is specialised for language (in most people).
Split brain surgery and effects on function
Corpus callosotomy: surgical severance of the corpus callosum (‘split brain surgery’)
In split brain patients, sensory connections and motor control are normal, but info can not be shared between the hemispheres.
Hemispheric lateralisation can be examined using a split field technique
Information in right visual field can be verbally described (by left hemisphere)
Information form the left visual field cannot be described verbally, but can be acted upon non-verbally - can point to object that matches word with left hand (controlled by right hemisphere).
Describe some things involved in the left hemisphere of the brain
Motor control of right side
Somatosensory and primary sensory cortices (except olfaction) for right side
Fine tuned language skills
- speech comprehension
- speech production
- phonology
- syntax
- reading
- writing
Actions
- voluntary facial expressions
- motor detection
