Biological Psychology Flashcards by Linzi MacDonald

What is biological psychology?

The scientific study of the biology of behaviour

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What did René Descartes suggest the universe is proposed of?

Physical matter

The human mind

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What is Cartesian dualism?

The ‘mental’ can exist outside of the body and the body itself cannot think

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Where did Descartes suggest the soul resided?

The pineal gland

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What are the approaches to studying bio psychology?

Experimental/quasi experimental
Neuropsychology
Neuroscience

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What is experimental/quasi experimental?

Categorising people but not randomly assigning p’s to conditions

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What is neuropsychology?

Study of brain damaged patients to gain an understanding about (normal) human cognition

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What case study is related to neuropsychology?

Phinneas Gage

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What is cognitive neuroscience?

Allows researchers to study the brain in action

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What are the three main physiological systems that control behaviour?

Nervous system
Endocrine system
Genetic inheritance

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What is the nervous system?

Brain, spinal chord and peripheral nerves

Rapid response system

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What is the endocrine system?

Chemical messengers e.g. Adrenaline, cortisol

Slower response that brings about sustained changes in behaviour

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What is genetic inheritance?

Traits passed on through sexual reproduction from parent to offspring
Innate behaviour patterns and predispositions to behave in certain ways

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What are the two main functions of the nervous system?

To collect, process and respond to info in the environment
To coordinate the workings of different organs and cells

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What are the three main areas of the brain?

The hindbrain
The midbrain
The forebrain

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What is the function of the hindbrain?

Controls basic functions which are essential for survival

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What does the hindbrain contain?

Medulla oblongata
Pons
Cerebellum

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What is the medulla oblongata responsible for?

Controlling basic autonomic bio functions such as regulating the cardiovascular system and respiratory system

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What is the pons responsible for?

Relays signals from hindbrain to the midbrain and forebrain
Contains important motor control and sensory nuclei (auditory info)
Involved in regulating brains levels of attentiveness, initiating sleep and generating dreams

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What is the cerebellum (little brain) responsible for?

Managing fine motor control

Controlling balance, precision, timing and coordination

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What can damage to the cerebellum result in?

Unbalanced, uncoordinated movements

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What does the midbrain do?

Sends info to forebrain and receives signals from the hindbrain
Involved in auditory and visual sensory processing
Involved in regulating body temp and involved in pain processing

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What does the forebrain do?

Involved in higher level cognitive processes, thinking and reasoning
Essentially what makes us humans; most recently evolved structure

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What does the forebrain consist of?

Cerebrum
Thalamus
Hypothalamus
Basal ganglia 
Lambic system

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Explain the cerebrum

Divided into two hemispheres (left and right)

What are the hemispheres of the cerebrum separated by?

Fibres called the corpus callosum

What is the outer layer of the cerebrum called?

The cortex

What are the four components of the cortex?

Frontal lobe Temporal lobe Parietal lobe Occipital lobe

What does the thalamus do?

Gathers/relays sensory and motor info to the cortex | Helps regulate consciousness, sleep and alertness

What does the hypothalamus do?

Links the NS to the endocrine system, helping regulate homeostasis in body

What does damage to the hypothalamus result in?

Problems with regulating body temp, growth and weight

What is the basal ganglia involved in?

Performing voluntary motor responses and regulating muscular contractions Disorders related = Parkinson's/cerebral palsy etc

What does the limbic system do?

Collect interconnected structures from cerebrum and midbrain | Hippocampus and amygdala are part of this system

What are the functions of the limbic system?

Processing and expressing emotion, motivation, long term memory and smell

What are the two main cell types of the NS?

Neurones | Glial cells

What do glial cells do?

Provide nutrients, structural support and regulate ion concentration Protect against invading microorganisms triggering inflammatory responses For, myelin sheaths around neurons in CNS and PNS Produce cerebrospinal fluid

What are neurons?

Cells that are specialised for reception, conduction and transmission of ELECTROCHEMICAL signals

Who was Luigi Galvani? (1737-98)

The pioneer of electrophysiology

What did Herman von helmholtz do?

Investigated conduction speed in nerves - discovered electrochemical signals

What are the 3 types of neuron?

Multipolar Bipolar Unipolar

What is the most abundant neuron type?

Multipolar neurons (99%)

What do dendrites do?

Receptive surface | Pick up neurochemical signals from other neurones and pass info on to cell body

What is the soma?

(AKA cell body) - metabolic centre of neuron which provides life support

What is the nucleus? (Neuron)

Control centre - contains genetic info and controls the function of the cell

What is the axon?

Long structure of the neuron which transmits AP's away from the soma towards other cells

What do the myelin sheaths do?

Insulate axon and increases speed/efficiency of neural signal

What do the nodes of ranvier do?

Help speed up neural transmission by allowing signal to 'jump' along axon

What are the terminal buttons?

End points of neuron which transmits signal to the next neuron

What is the presynaptic neuron?

The cell sending the signal

What is the postsynaptic neuron?

The cell receiving the signal

What are the pre/post synaptic neurons separated by?

Synaptic cleft

What did franz josef gall (1758-1828) believe?

The shape of the skull could infer personality and psychological attributes

What did mark dax believe?

The LH was responsible for speech and thus damage to this area caused speech impairments

What patient is associated with Broca's area of language?

Patient Tan

What is Broca's aphasia also known as?

Expressive aphasia

What are the aspects of expressive aphasia? (Broca's)

Patients have great difficulty producing grammatical sentences They also struggle to find right words to express themselves

What are the results of expressive aphasia? (Broca's)

Slow/disfluent speech | Difficult/often impossible to understand

What is wernickes aphasia also known as?

Receptive Aphasia

What are the aspects of wernickes aphasia?

Patients often have great difficulty reading and writing Also struggle to speak clearly (different to expressive aphasia) Patients are able to produce sentences with correct syntax and grammar but the words they use don't make sense

Where is the primary motor cortex located?

The precentral gyrus at the most posterior portion of the frontal lobe

What is the primary motor cortex important for?

Important area in the execution of voluntary movement

Where is the primary somatosensory cortex located?

The post-central gyrus

What is the primary somatosensory cortex responsible for?

Processing somatic sensations e.g. Touch, proprioception, temperature

What is the association cortex responsible for?

Function to produce a meaningful perceptual experience of the world Enables us to interact efficiently and support abstract thinking and language Organised in distributed networks

Biological Psychology Flashcards

(64 cards)