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Biopsychology Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 2 things that makes up with nervous system?

A

central nervous system and peripheral nervous system

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2
Q

What does the nervous system allow us to do?

A

Respond to changes in the environment (stimulus)

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3
Q

What do receptors do?

A

Detect stimuli

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4
Q

What do effectors do?

A

Bring about a response to a stimulus

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5
Q

What do effectors include?

A

Muscle cells and glands

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6
Q

How do receptors communicate with effectors?

A

Via the nervous system or the endocrine system

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7
Q

What is the CNS made up of?

A

Brain and spinal cord

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8
Q

What is the PNS made up of?

A

Neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body

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9
Q

What are the 2 systems that make up the PNS?

A

Somatic NS and the autonomic NS

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10
Q

What does the somatic NS do?

A

Controls the conscious activities (running and playing video games)

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11
Q

What does the autonomic NS control?

A

Unconscious activities (digestion)

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12
Q

What is the autonomic NS system broken down into (they have opposite effects on the body)?

A

Sympathetic and parasympathetic NS

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13
Q

What does the sympathetic NS do?

A

Get the body ready for action (fight or flight)

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14
Q

What does the parasympathetic NS do?

A

Calms the body down, rest and digest system

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15
Q

What do neurones do?

A

Transmit information as electrical impulses impulses around the body

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16
Q

The cell body has dendrites what do these do?

A

Receives information from other neurones

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17
Q

Info passes along the axon in the form of what?

A

An electrical impulse

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18
Q

When the electrical impulses is travelling along the axon, where does It end up?

A

Synaptic knob

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19
Q

What does myelin sheath do?

A

Insulates the axon to speed up nervous transmission

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20
Q

What is the small gap between neurones called?

A

Synapse

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21
Q

What is the tiny gap between the cells at a synapse called?

A

Synaptic cleft

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22
Q

What does the presynaptic neuron have?

A

A swelling called a synaptic knob, containing synaptic vesicles filled with neurotransmitters

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23
Q

How do neurotransmitters work?

A

When an electrical impulse reaches the end of a neuron it caused neurotransmitters to be released into the synaptic cleft, they diffuse across to the postsynaptic membrane and bind to specific receptors

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24
Q

When neurotransmitters bind to receptors what can they cause to happen? (3)

A

Trigger an electrical impulse, cause muscle contraction or cause a hormone to be secreted

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24
Q

How do the synapses make sure impulses are unidirectional?

A

As the receptors are only on the postsynaptic membranes

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25
Q

What are the 2 types of neurotransmitters?

A

Excitatory and inhibitory

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26
Q

What do excitatory neurotransmitters do?

A

Increase the likelihood that an electrical impulse will be triggered in the postsynaptic neuron

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27
Q

What do inhibitory neurotransmitters do?

A

Decrease the likelihood that an electrical impulse will be triggered in the postsynaptic neuron

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28
Q

What does the neurotransmitter acetylcholine do?

A

Excitatory, involved in voluntary movement, memory or learning. Too much linked to depression and too little linked to dementia

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29
Q

What does the neurotransmitter dopamine do?

A

Helps with movement, attention and learning. Too much linked to schizophrenia and too little linked to Parkinson’s disease

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30
Q

What does the neurotransmitter noradrenaline do?

A

Often associated with fight or flight. Too much linked to schizophrenia and too little linked to depression

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31
Q

What does the neurotransmitter Serotonin do?

A

Involved in emotion, mood and sleeping. Too little is linked to depression

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32
Q

What does the neurotransmitter GABA do?

A

Inhibitory, too little inked to anxiety disorders

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33
Q

What does the endocrine system involve?

A

Glands and hormones

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34
Q

What is a gland?

A

A group of cells that are specialised to secrete a useful substance e.g a hormone

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35
Q

What are hormones?

A

‘Chemical messengers’, many hormones are proteins/peptides some hormones are steroids

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36
Q

When are hormones secreted?

A

When a gland is stimulated

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37
Q

How do hormones work?

A

They diffuse into the blood, then they’re taken around the body by the circulatory system and diffuse out of the blood all over the body but each hormone will only bind to specific receptors for that hormone. They trigger a response in the target cells.

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38
Q

What is the endocrine system responsible for?

A

Regulating a large number of bodily functions, such as growth, metabolism, sleep and reproduction

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39
Q

What does the hypothalamus do?

A

Produces hormones that control the pituitary gland

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40
Q

What does the pituitary gland do?

A

Known as the ‘master gland’ as it releases hormones to control other glands in the endocrine system

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41
Q

What does the pineal gland do?

A

Responsible for the production melatonin, which plays a role in the control of sleep patterns

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42
Q

What does the thyroid gland do?

A

Produces hormones such thyroxine, responsible for controlling the bodies metabolic rate as well as growth/maturation

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43
Q

What does the parathyroid gland do?

A

Produces a hormone called parathyroid hormone, helping to control the levels of minerals such as calcium within the body

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44
Q

What does the thymus gland do?

A

Regulates the immune system

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45
Q

What does the adrenal gland do?

A

Produces adrenaline, responsible for the fight or flight response

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46
Q

What does the pancreas do?

A

Releases insulin and glucagon, which regulates blood sugar level

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47
Q

What does the gonads do?

A

Produce sex hormones (testosterone/oestrogen) important in reproduction and development of the sex organs

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48
Q

What are gonads?

A

Ovaries and testes

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49
Q

What gland coordinates the fight or flight response?

A

Hypothalamus

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50
Q

Explain the activation of the fight or flight response?

A

In the initial shock response, the hypothalamus triggers activity in there sympathetic branch off the autonomic nervous system.
This stimulates the adrenal medulla within the adrenal glands which released adrenaline and noradrenaline into there blood

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51
Q

Give 3 affects of the fight or flight response

A

Blood pressure and HR increase to get blood to areas of the body quickly, breathing crate increases and pupils dilate for clearer visions

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52
Q

What does the motor cortex do?

A

Controls voluntary movements

53
Q

What does the somatosensory cortex do?

A

Processes information about touch, pain, temperature and proprioception (position of your body)

54
Q

What doe Broca’s area do?

A

Responsible for the production of speech

55
Q

What does the visual cortex do?

A

Processes information from out eyes

56
Q

What does the Wernickle’s area do?

A

Responsible for the understanding of language

57
Q

What does the auditory cortex do?

A

Processes information from our ears

58
Q

Who investigated the effects of split brain surgery?

A

Sperry (1968)

59
Q

In very severe cases of epilepsy what is the only treatment?

A

To sever the corpus callosum

Isolating each hemisphere from the other the corpus callosotomy reduces epileptic symptoms had few side effects for being so invasive

How we unusual behaviour and a sense of a loss of agency (feeling of control) led to research

60
Q

What is the issue with split brain surgery?

A

Information can no longer move between them

61
Q

What is plasticity?

A

Brain’s ability to alter its structure and function in response to changes in the environment

62
Q

How does plasticity work?

A

Information takes a pathway through the brain, travelling from one neuron to the next via synapses. When we are presented with new information, new neural pathways begin to form using a neural pathway strengthens it

63
Q

How do we learn and adapt to changes in our environment?

A

By a constant rewiring and reorganisation of the brain

64
Q

What is cortical representation?

A

When different areas in the somatosensory cortex and the motor cortex of the brain represent different parts of the body

65
Q

Who investigated plasticity in musicians?

A

Elbert et al (1995)

66
Q

Who studied plasticity in the motor cortex?

A

Karni et al (1995) and Nudo et al (1996)

67
Q

What can plasticity allow?

A

Functional recovery after brain damage

68
Q

What is constraint-induced movement therapy? (CIMT)

A

Forcing people to re-learn how to use their affected arm/leg

Stopping patients from using coping strategies makes them improve but functional reorganisation

69
Q

What is an advantage of constraint-induced movement therapy? (CIMT)

A

Produces cortical reorganisation which results in regained or improved function principles can also be applied to patients who suffer from aphasia (playing a game the requires them try and speak) making dysfunctional areas become more functional

70
Q

What is an disadvantage of constraint-induced movement therapy? (CIMT)

A

Can be frustrating for the patient, needs to be intensive to be effective most effective when treating patient who have suffered mild to moderate strokes

71
Q

What are fMRI scans?

A

Functional magnetic resonance imaging scans are 3D scans that provide structural and functional information showing changes in brain activity as they actually happen, by using a really strong magnetic field and radio waves

Detects blood flow in the brain, as more active area of the brain need more blood these active areas can be compared to low activation areas with low blood supply and displayed on fmri image

72
Q

What are some uses of fMRI?

A

Used to research the function of the brain as well as its structure (if patient carries out a task in the scanner it will be more active) Used to diagnose medical problems and study abnormal activity

72
Q

What does an EEG show/do?

A

Electroencephalogram shows the overall electrical activity of the brain it picks up the signals of many neurons firing together

The read out from each electrode is the sum total of activation of the brain cortex under the electrode
This is displayed as a series of lines showing distinct patterns called brain waves (amplitude shoes wave intensity and frequency shows the speed of activation)

73
Q

What are the uses of EEG’s?

A

Used in sleep studies, used to study sz and depression and diagnosis of anorexia nervosa

74
Q

What are the evaluations of EEGs?

A

+ Non-invasive, cheaper an have good temporal resolution
+ important in understanding brain activity in areas such as sleep studies
+ cheaper and portable
- poor spatial activity as pattern is sum of large number of neurons in the cortex
- info deep in brain can’t be recorded
-take 30 mins to place all the electrodes

75
Q

What is event-related potential?

A

Biopsychologists can also look at how an EEG wave pattern changes in response to a stimulus
Presents stimulus multiple times creating a smooth curve of activation by combining the data in a process called statistical averaging removing background electrical noise

76
Q

What are some uses of ERPs?

A

Used a lot in memory as they give clues and information processing in the brain, research has show differences in ERP’s of people suffering from certain psychiatric disorders

77
Q

What do post-mortems examinations do?

A

Show the structure of the brain
Compared to neurotypical (normal) brain

78
Q

What are the main uses of post-mortem examinations?

A

If they have a medical condition when alive, a post-mortem could show up any structural abnormalities which could explain their conditions and have provided evidence for localisation of function in the brain

79
Q

What are the evaluations of post mortems?

A

+high levels of spatial resolution, allows the study of microscopic brain structures down to neuronal level
- Person had to have died before the examination so wont benefit from any findings, they give us info for what going on but don’t allow cause and effect to be established

80
Q

What are the 3 types of biological rhythms?

A

Circadian, infradian and ultradian rhythms

81
Q

What is meant by circadian rhythms?

A

Have cycles that generally occur once every 24hours

82
Q

What is an example of circadian rhythms?

A

Sleep-wake cycle

83
Q

What is meant by infradian rhythms?

A

Have cycles that occur less than once every day

84
Q

What is an example of infradian rhythms?

A

Menstrual cycle

85
Q

What is the research surrounding infradian rhythms?

A

Sabbagh and Barnard (1984) found that when women live together their menstrual cycles may synchronise which may be linked to pheromones

86
Q

What is meant by ultradian rhythms?

A

Have cycles that occur more than once every 24 hours

87
Q

What is an example of an ultradian rhythm?

A

Sleep cycle has several repeating stages of light and deep sleep

88
Q

What are biological rhythms regulated by?

A

Internal and External influences

89
Q

Explain what is meant by endogenous pacemakers?

A

Internal influences, some aspects of our biological rhythms are set by genetically determined biological structures and mechanisms in the body

90
Q

In terms of endogenous pacemakers what does the suprachiasmatic nucleus do? (SCN)

A

Part of the hypothalamus, seems to act as an internal clock to keep the body on an approximate 24-hour-sleep-waking cycle
It is sensitive to light and regulates the pineal gland, which secretes melatonin creating a deep sleep more light, secretion is reduced and waking occurs

91
Q

Explain what is meant by exogenous zeitgebers?

A

These are influences outside of the body that act like a prompt, which may trigger a biological rhythm
Altering body clock to match the environment

92
Q

What is the most important zeitgebers?

A

Light

93
Q

Who studied exogenous zeitgebers?

A

Siffre (1975) - Spent six months in a cave, he had no clocks and no natural light as zeitgebers
His sleep wake cycle extends from 24 hours to 25-30 hour cycle

94
Q

Who studied endogenous pacemakers?

A

Menaker et al (1978)

95
Q

What did Menaker et al (1978) study?

A

Lesioned this structure in hamsters, their sleep-waking cycle was disrupted

96
Q

In some cases what do endogenous factors do?

A

May completely determine a cycle

97
Q

Other than light what else affects the sleep-walk cycle?

A

Culture factors (eskimos) and individual differences

98
Q

What disrupts the sleep-wake cycle?

A

When endogenous pacemakers become out of line with exogenous zeitgebers it can disrupt the sleep wake cycle

99
Q

When zeitgebers change what can happen?

A

As they change quickly, this can have negative effects on our ability to function
Slowing reaction times, impairing problem-solving skills, and limiting our ability to concentrate

100
Q

What are 2 examples when biological rhythms are disrupted?

A

Jet lag and night shifts

101
Q

What are the limitations of biological rhythms research?

A

Findings from animal studies can’t accurately be generalised to humans and humans have a greater adaptability.
Things like individual differences need further research as speed we adapt can vary.
Studies that deprive people of natural light often have artificial light which may have same effect as natural light

102
Q

What are 3 potential reasons for plasticity

A

Learning new skill
Developmental changes
Response to trauma to area of the brain or indirect effect of damage like swelling from a stroke

103
Q

What’s functional recover in the brain

A

Functions what were preformed by areas of the brain that are lost (neuronal cell death) or damages are preformed by ur damaged areas of the brain healthy areas compensating for the damages areas functional reorganisation)

104
Q

What’s synaptic pruning

A

Synapses that are used frequently become stronger over time however, unused synaptic connections are lost
This makes the brain a more efficient communication system over time
(Highly active as a young child)

105
Q

What’s axonal sprouting

A

Existing neurons grow new axons to connect to adjacent neurones
Neural regeneration is the growth of new nuronal cells

106
Q

What’s Denervation supersensitivity

A

To compensate for the loss of axons in a pathway the remaining axons become more sensitive
This can trust in side effects such as pain

107
Q

What are 3 factors affecting functional recovery

A

Age: children have the best ability to recover then young adults
Gender: women are more able to recover from brain damage
Rehabilitative therapy: focused effects result in improvement

108
Q

What was maguire et als study in 2000

A

Structural MRI brain scans of 16 male taxi drivers were compared to the brain scans of 16 matched (age/gender) non taxi driver controls

The posterior hippocampus in London taxi drivers were found have be larger than the controls
Also the size of the posterior hippocampus was positively correlated with the amount of time working as a taxi driver
Suggesting the physical structure of the brain is plastic able to reconfigure itself to better adapt to psychological demands in this case to improve memory formation

109
Q

What was danelli et als study in 2013

A

Case study of a 14yr old EB who at the age of 2 and half had a hemispherectomy of the left side of his brain to remove a tumour
This removed the language centres of brocas and wernickes areas
Immediately after surgery EB has lost all language ability
How we after 2 years of recovery he had recovered his language ability
Even without his left hemisphere, EB developed normally as he aged developed some dyslexia like supports
Researcher noted FMRI scans showed right hemisphere followed a blue print for language

110
Q

Strengths of functional recovery of the brain

A

Practical benefits- been used in rehabilitation therapy helping people return to their lives and work helping the economy
Deeper understanding of the brain-

111
Q

Weaknesses of functional recovery of the brain

A

Individual differences in how people recover, some people have greater cognitive reserve (meta analysis by Mathias demonstrated IQ and educational back group are positively correlate with better outcomes)

112
Q

What’s meant by the brain being contralateral

A

Each hemisphere of the brain controls the opposite side of the body
Including motor and sensory pathways

Left side deals with info from right side of the brain ect

113
Q

Who did a variation of sperrys sling brain research

A

Gazzaniga (1983) used facial recognition and brain asymmetries (clues to underlying mechanisms)

114
Q

Evaluations of sperrys split brain research

A
  • small sample rps compared to people without epilepsy
    -had varying amounts of connections cut and all undergone drug therapy could influence results (not generalisable)
  • lacks mundane realism
    + fundamental impact on understanding consciousness and identity
    + can lead to alien hand syndrome (acting against the brain)
115
Q

What’s spatial resolution

A

Level of accuracy in identifying the exact location of a brain structure of brain activity in space

116
Q

What’s temporal resolution

A

Level of accuracy in identifying the exact location of the brain activity in time

117
Q

How did broca use post mortems

A

Post Mortem on tan, who could only say tan (expressive aphasia)
Damage in an area of the frontal lobe was found after tans death (brocas area)

118
Q

Evaluations of fMRIs

A

+ good spatial resolution of approx 1mm, precisely identifying active brain regions and patterns of activation over time while rps complete experimental conditions
+ non-invasive and safe technique for experiments compared to options that use radiation like PET
- poor temporal resolution one image taken every fee seconds and delay in blood flow after activity
- expensive to build and operate

119
Q

Evaluations of ERPS

A

+ ERPS allow researchers to isolate and study how individuals cognitive processes take place in the brain while EEGS record general brain activity
+ good temporal resolution
- poor spatial resolution
- some processes can be studies as can’t be presented a large number of times with the same response

120
Q

Vetter (2011) study on circadian rhythms

A

27 office workers in an experimental group were exposed to strong blue light, they would shift their circadian rhythm to match the office lighting control group didn’t

121
Q

Ralph’s 1990 study that shows evidence for SCN

A

Golden hamsters either the Tau mutation have a circadian rhythm of 20 hours compared either 24 hours for normal golden

He replaced the scn in normal hamsters to have the scn of mutated hamster normal hamsters given the scn from Tau hamsters sleep cycles decreased to 20 hours

122
Q

Evaluations of the circadian rhythm

A

+ can help increase activity and alertness and decrease anxiety effects of jet lag on those who travel having a good impact on the economy
+ understanding circadian blood rhythm helps either timing drug treatments and health treatments
+ having sleep circadian rhythm protects us from accidental harm or predictors at night time

123
Q

What are the endogenous pace makers in the menstrual cycle

A

Oestrogen and progesterone

124
Q

How did stern and McClintock (1998) investigate infradian rhythms

A

Investigated whether synchronization of menstrual cycle was due to pheromones
20 women were given pads to wipe on their top lip each day, pads had been taken from the armpits of 9 donor women at various stage of the menstrual cycle
Researchers found they either extended or shortened their menstrual cycle to match the donor

125
Q

Evaluations of the iinfradian rhythm

A

+ pheromones are chemical messengers are not accepted widely as a process that happens in humans
+ a lot of studies support
- but Trevathan 1993 found that there was no synchronization between lesbian couples

126
Q

Stages of sleep in ultradian rhythms

A

N1 “falling sleep” east to wake and body may move suddenly shows theta waves
N2 deeper sleep harder to wake and body is relaxed heart rate and body temp lowered
N3 deepest sleep very hard to wake and most relaxed delta waves
REM: brain returns to normal n1

127
Q

Dermot and Kleitman 1957 study

A

Study 1: EEG recordings made of 33 RPS over a nights sleep
Brain waves followed a cyclic pattern of activation with bodily relaxation occurring during slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement during periods of high activation
Study 2: 9 participants woken at different stages in their sleep cycle reported dreaming more frequently when women in REM stage

128
Q

Evaluations of ultradian rhythms

A

+ tech and devices based on understanding sleep stages have been developed to track sleep and help individuals improve sleep
- circadian and ultradian rhythms are seen to be connected and shouldn’t be seen as separate processes

Psychology (11 decks)

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