What is Biopsychology?

Question 1

Neurons are…

Answer 1

… cells that receive and transmit electrochemical signals.

Question 2

Neuroscience is…

Answer 2

… the scientific study of the nervous system.

Question 3

Before neuroplasticity…

Answer 3

… the brain was thought to be a 3-dimensional static array of connected neural elements.

Question 4

Neuroplasticity refers to…

Answer 4

… the brain’s ability to continuously grow and change in response to genes and experiences.

Question 5

Biopsychology is…

Answer 5

… the scientific study of behaviour.

Also known as:
physiology
behavioural biology
behavioural neuroscience

Question 6

“The Organization of Behaviour”

Answer 6

by D. O. Hebb

Described how psychological phenomena could be produced by neural activity.

Question 7

Biopsychologists…

Answer 7

… draw knowledge from other neurosciences and apply it to the study of behaviour

Question 8

Neurosciences (6)

Answer 8

1. Neuroanatomy
   study of structure of nervous system
2. Neurochemistry
   study of chemical bases of neural activity
3. Neuroendocrinology
   study of interactions between nervous and endocrine systems
4. Neuropathology
   study of nervous system disorders
5. Neuropharmacology
   study of effects of drugs on neural activity
6. Neurophysiology
   study of functions and activities of the nervous system

Question 9

Examples of non-human test subjects

Answer 9

• Rats (most common)
• Mice
• Cats
• Dogs
• Primates

Question 10

Pros of human subjects (4)

Answer 10

1. Can follow instructions
2. Can describe subjective experience
3. Cheaper (since animals need to be of high quality and require care)
4. Human brains (animal brains may differ structurally)

Question 11

Pros of non-human subjects (3)

Answer 11

1. Simpler brains and behaviour
2. Comparative approach allows further insight on functions
3. Experiments deemed unethical for human subjects can be conducted

Question 12

Confounded variable…

Answer 12

… is a variable other than the independant variable which may unintentionally affect the dependant variable

Question 13

Quasiexperimental studies examine…

Answer 13

… subjects exposed to the conditions of interest in the real world.

Confounded variables are not controlled (not “true experiment”).

Question 14

Generalizability…

Answer 14

… is the degree to which experimental results can be applied to other experiments.

Question 15

Pure research…

Answer 15

… is motivated by curiosity of experimenter.

Question 16

Applied research…

Answer 16

… is motivated by the intention of bringing direct benefit to mankind.

Question 17

Physiological psychology

Answer 17

division of biopsychology that studies neural mechanisms of behaviour through direct manipulation of brain in controlled experiments (usually with non-human subjects)

Question 18

Psychopharmacology

Answer 18

Studies influence of drugs on behaviour and neural activity, often to develop therapeutic drugs or to reduce drug abuse (uses both human and non-human subjects)

Question 19

Neuropsychology

Answer 19

Study of psychological effects caused by brain damage (usually through case studies or quasiexperimental studies of humans).

Question 20

Psychophysiology

Answer 20

Studies the relation between physiological activity and psychological processes by measuring brain activity using electroencephalographs (using human subjects)

Question 21

Cognitive neuroscience

Answer 21

The study of the neural bases of cognition (usually in human subjects, but also in non-human subjects)

Question 22

Comparative psychology

Answer 22

Studies the biological base (evolution, genetics, adaptiveness) of behaviour.

Question 23

Ethological research…

Answer 23

… is the study of animal behaviour in its natural environment

Question 24

Converging operations…

Answer 24

… combines approaches toward a single problem to compensate for individual weaknesses

Question 25

Scientific interface…

Answer 25

… is the empirical method used to study the unobservable

Question 26

How do scientists study the unobservable workings of the brain?

Answer 26

• Scientific inference
• Using measured key events to logically infer the nature of unobservable events

Question 27

Critical thinking is…

Answer 27

… the process by which weaknesses in ideas are recognized (e.g. is the research published in a reputable journal?)