Biopsychology Quick

Question 1

What are the two main divisions of the nervous system?

Answer 1

Peripheral Nervous System
-refers to the parts of the nervous system that does not include brain and spinal cord

Central Nervous System
-comprised of brain and spinal cord
-receives information from senses and control’s body’s response.

Question 2

Describe the somatic nervous system

Answer 2

UNLIKE ANS
this part of PNS is responsible for carrying sensory and motor information to and from the CNS

Question 3

Describe synaptic transmission

Answer 3

Process by which a nerve impulse passes across the synaptic cleft from one neuron to another.

PRESYNAPTIC NEURON and POSTSYNAPTIC NEURON

Question 4

What are hormones?

Answer 4

Body’s chemical messengers
-travel through the bloodstream, influencing many different processes including mood, the stress response and bonding between mother and newborn baby

Question 5

Describe the flight or fight response

Answer 5

Sequence of activity within body
Triggered when body prepares itself for defending or attacking or running to safety
Activity involves changes in the nervous system and the secretion of hormones that are necessary to sustain arousal

Question 6

Why does the tend and befriend response occur in females?

Answer 6

Due to presence of oxytocin in females
Tends to induce a nurturing response
Effects of oxytocin are negated by testosterone which is why the tend and befriend response occurs largely in females.

Question 7

What are axons?

Answer 7

Axons carry electrical impulses down the length of a neuron away from cell body
Covered in fatty layer called myelin sheath

Question 8

Describe research into localisation of brain function

Answer 8

Broca carried out a postmortem on the brain of a patient known as ‘Tan’
-Found he had a part of his left frontal lobe missing leading to language function being associated with this area of the brain

Question 9

How can driving a taxi help with functional recovery?

Answer 9

It can help because it increases brain plasticity

MAGUIRE ET AL (2000)-
found that taxi drivers has a significantly higher volume of grey matter in their posterior hippocampus than the control group

Question 10

Describe split-brain research

Answer 10

Sperry (1968)
-Studied patients whose corpus callosum was severed
-patients had to watch as a word or image was projected to their right visual field (WHICH IS PROCESSED BY THEIR LEFT HEMISPHERE) or to their left visual field which is processed by their right hemisphere
-when object projected to their RVF- patients able to describe what was seen - but when projected to the left- said that nothing was there

HOWEVER
able to tactilely select a matching object to the one shown to their LVF

-led sperry to believe that they were unable to verbally identify what they had seen, because
the left hemisphere were LANGUAGE IS BELIEVED TO BE LATERALISED is NEEDED FOR SPEECH PRODUCTION

Question 11

Why are young people more likely to recover from brain trauma?

Answer 11

because
-during infancy and childhood
-the parin experiences rapid growth forming 15,000 synaptic connections between ages of 2-3
-this increases plasticity of the brain
-making it more likely that other areas of the brain can take on the role of damaged parts following a brain trauma

Question 12

What is Wernicke’s area?

Answer 12

Part of the brain that deals with language comprehension, located in temporal lobe.

Question 13

What is an electroencephalogram?

Answer 13

Recording of brain activity
-during test small sensors are attached to the scalp to pick up the electrical signals produced when brain cells send messages to each other

Question 14

Give examples of infradian rhythms

Answer 14

-Last LONGER THAN 24hrs
-example of this is female menstrual cycle and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Question 15

Describe Siffre’s research

Answer 15

Siffre spent a long period of time in a cave to examine the effects of free-running biological rhythms without the influence of of exogenous zeitgebers

-in each of his studies one in 1962- and the other in the 70s

-Siffre’s free running circadian rhythm settled at about 25hours - just above the usual 24

Question 16

What is an endogenous pacemaker?

Answer 16

The suprachiasmatic nucleus is an example of this
It helps to set out circadian rhythms by interacting with other parts of the body

ESSENTIALLY INTERNAL BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS

Question 17

Give examples of circadian rhythms

Answer 17

An example of a circadian rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle
CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS are those lasting 24 HOURS

Question 18

What is the suprachiasmatic nucleus?

Answer 18

Bundle of nerves that act like the body’s internal clock
WITHIN the hypothalamus

This helps to regulate our sleep-wake cycles

Question 19

Pros and Cons of postmortem examination

Answer 19

Pro-
allows for anatomical studying of the brain - that cannot be done on live subjects

Con-
Subject is dead so now follow up studies or questions cannot be asked to the patient on findings from the post-mortem

Question 20

Describe the autonomic nervous system

Answer 20

Part of the nervous system that controls the brain’s involuntary activities and is self-regulating (autonomous).

This further divided into the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system.