Biopsychology Flashcards

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1
Q

Discuss research into plasticity of the brain including functional recovery (AO1)

A
  • plasticity = neural connections can change, or new neural connections can be formed, as a result of learning and experience
  • Maguire et al - london taxi drivers - ‘the knowledge’ test, longer they’d been in the job, the more pronounced was the structural difference - higher volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus ( part of brain that deals with development of spatial skills)
  • Draganski et al - medical students - 3 months before and after exams - changes occured in posterior hippocamus and parietral cortex
  • functional recovery - unaffected areas of the brain can compensate for the damaged areas and take over their functions
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2
Q

Discuss research into plasticity of the brain including functional recovery (AO3)

A
  • Maguire’s study is flawed - she didn’t measure the taxi drivers brains before ‘the knowledge’ so there’s nothing to compare it against - also biological reductionism
  • research is limited - most research only looks into one single factor - the posterior hippocampus
  • neurorehabilitation - motor therapy and electrical stimulation of the brain to counter negative effects and defecits in motor and cognitive functions after a stroke or injury
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3
Q

Discuss split-brain research (AO1)

A
  • hemispheric lateralisation - language is controlled by left hemisphere
  • Sperry - all participants had commissurotomy - to control epileptic seizures by cutting the corpus callosum in half so the two hemispheres cant interact anymore
    - image or word presented to the right visual field (left hemisphere) and the same or different word/image presented to the left visual field ( right hemisphere) - hemispheres can’t communicate so don’t have a complete picture of the full word
    - Describing what you see - can’t describe image shown on left visual field as the right hemisphere doesn’t control language
    - Recognition by touch - could pick matching object by touch in left visual field - couldn’t describe it but could understand what it was using the right hemisphere
    - Composite words - two words presented simultaneously - left hemisphere would say the word on the right, right hemisphere would write the word on the left - right hemisphere has supereriority in drawing
    - Matching faces - right faces dominant in recognising faces, picture of face presented to right hemisphere always picked whilst face presented to left hemisphere ignored - one pic of two different halves of face, left hemisphere could describe it, right hemisphere could select a matching picture
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4
Q

Discuss split-brain research (AO3)

A
  • issues with generalising - low ecological/population validity - only people who had gone through the specific surgery - only 11 participants
  • scientific- reliable and replicable - standardised procedures
  • high internal validity - measured what he was supposed to be measuring
  • differences between 2 hemispheres overmephasised - complex communication
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5
Q

Discuss research into circadian rhythms (AO1)

A
  • circadian rhythm - lasts about 24 hours a day
    - sleep/wake cycle and core body temperature
  • sleep/wake cycle - exogenous zeitgeber - daylight
  • Siffre - deprived of natural light and sound - 2 months in caves of the southern Alps - 6 months in Texas - his sleep/wake cycle was nearly the same as a normal one (25 hours)
  • Aschoff and Wever - group of people spent 4 weeks in a WW2 bunker - all but one = 24 - 25 hour sleep cycle ( 1 had 29 hours) - may suggest natural cycle is longer than 24 hours but entrained by daylight hours and meal times
  • Folkard et al - don’t overestimate external cues - 12 people lived in a dark cave for 3 weeks and slept and wake when the clock said specific times - researches gradually sped up the clock until it was only a 22 hour cycle - but only 1 person could adapt - may suggest that the cycle can’t be influenced by external factors so easily
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6
Q

Discuss research into circadian rhythms (AO3)

A
  • application to drug therapy - certain peak times to take medication - lead to development of guidelines to do with timing of drug dosing
  • small samples - can’t generalise
  • individual differences - Duffy et al - some people have a preference for waking early and some have a preference for waking late
  • confounding variable - Siffre still had a lamp - artificial light could have affected his cycle
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7
Q

Discuss the research into infradian and or/ultradian rhythms (AO1)

A
  • infradian - last longer than a day
    - menstrual cycle - typically 28 days
    - McClintock - studied how pheromones can influence the menstrual cycle - 29 women with irregular periods - cotton pads under arm pits for 8 hours on 9 women to gather pheromones - then treated with alcohol and froze before rubbing on other women’s lips - 68% cycles changed to become closer to the women’s whose armpit they licked
  • ultradian - more than one a day - sleep cycle - 5 stages, about 90 minutes
    - stage 1 and 2 = light sleep - alpha waves - slow and rhythmtic, theta waves - even slower as sleep deepens
    - stage 3 and 4 = slow wave sleep/deep sleep - delta waves - slower and a greater amplitude
    - stage 5 = REM sleep - body is paralysed but brain is working fast - rapid eye movement - fast jerky activity of eyes under the eye lid - highly correlated with dreaming
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8
Q

Discuss the research into infradian and or/ultradian rhythms (AO3)

A
  • methodlogical limitations of McClintock - confounding variables such as stress, changes in diet, etc could be the reason for change in cycle
    - also small samples of women so hard to generalise
  • Russell et al - used similar methodology- also found that pheromones contribute to the synchronisation of menstrual cycles, depending on when during the cycle the odor was collected
  • Dement and Kleitman - monitored sleeping patterns of 9 people- recorded using an EEG - REM activity during sleep was highly correlated with dreaming
  • animal studies- most research done on pheromones is used on animals
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9
Q

Discuss the effect of endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers on the sleep/wake cycle (AO1)

A
  • Endogenous Pacemakers - internal body clock
    - the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) - tiny bundle of nerve cells in the hypothalamus - recieves information about light from the optic chiasm (nerve fibers connected to the eye cross) - happens when eyes are closed- biological clock can adjust to changing daylight patterns whilst asleep
    - pineal gland and melotonin - SCN passes information about daylight to the pineal gland - during night it increased production of melotonin - induces sleep and inhibits wakefullness
  • Exogenous Zeitgebers - external factors which reset our biological clocks through a process called entrainment
    - light - can reset the SCN
    - Campbell and Murphy - can be detected by skin receptor sites even when the eyes can’t see light - 15 participants were woken up by having light pads shone at the back of their knees - could change the sleep/wake cycle by 3 hours
    - social cues - parents, alarms
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10
Q

Discuss the effect of endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers on the sleep/wake cycle (AO3)

A
  • animal studies - DeCoursey - destroyed SCN connections in chipmunks - returned to natural habitate and observed - sleep/wake cycle had disappeared and most were killed as they were attacked by predators when they should’ve been sleeping- ethical issues - animals were harmed
  • methodlogical issues - Campbell and Murphy - findings haven’t been replicated - confounding variable of limited light exposure to eyes
  • exogenous zeitgebers effect overemphasised - Miles et al - blind man had a cycle of 24.9 hours - exposed to social cues but couldn’t change his cycle so had to take sedatives at night and stimulants in the morning
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11
Q

Discuss the extent to which brain functions are localised (AO1)

A
  • localisation v holistic theory - used to believe the brain worked together in the process of thought and action
    - Broca and Wernicke - localisation of functions - different parts of brain has different functions
  • left hemisphere = controls right side, right hemisphere = controls left side
  • frontal lobe = decision area - at the back is the motor area
  • parietal lobe = somatosensory area
  • occipital lobe = visual area
  • temporal lobe = auditory area
    LEFT ONLY&raquo_space;> Broca’s area = speech producing ( frontal lobe)
    Wernicke’s area = speech comprehension (temporal lobe)
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