Biopsychology

Question 1

nervous system

Answer 1

based on electrical signals

specialised network of cells responsible for:

• collecting, processing and responding to information in environment
• co-ordinating different organs and cells to work

divided into:

• central nervous system (cns)
• peripheral nervous system (pns)

Question 2

central nervous system

Answer 2

made up of brain and spinal cord

• brain is centre of all conscience awareness and is divided into two hemispheres
• cerebral cortex is 3mm thick and only found in mammals
• spinal cord is extension of brain that passes messages to and from brain
• connects nerves to pns
• responsible for reflex actions such as moving hand from hot plate.

Question 3

peripheral nervous system

Answer 3

transmits messages via neurons to and from cns

divided into:

• autonomic nervous system(ans)
• somatic nervous system(sns)

Question 4

endocrine system

Answer 4

major information system that instructs glands to release hormones into bloodstream

• communicates via chemicals
• acts slower but with more widespread and powerful effects

Question 5

autonomic nervous system

Answer 5

governs vital functions such as breathing, heart rate, digestion, sexual arousal and stress responses

Question 6

somatic nervous system

Answer 6

governs muscle movement and receives info from sensory receptors

Question 7

pituitary gland

Answer 7

master gland that controls the release of hormones from other glands in body

Question 8

hypothalamus gland

Answer 8

-connected to pituitary gland so is responsible for stimulating release of hormones from it

Question 9

thyroid gland

Answer 9

produces thyroxine

• affects cells in heart and increases heart rate
• aids digestion
• increases metabolic rates

Question 10

adrenal gland

Answer 10

produces adrenaline

-triggers physiological changes in the body to prepare for fight or flight

Question 11

ovaries

Answer 11

produces oestrogen and progesterone

-used in menstrual cycle to prepare uterus for pregnancy

Question 12

testes

Answer 12

produce testosterone

• primary male sex hormone
• produce sperm

Question 13

fight or flight

Answer 13

endocrine system and ans work together when stressor perceived

• hypothalamus activates pituitary gland which triggers sympathetic system
• adrenal gland triggered to produce adrenaline
• ans changes from resting parasympathetic state to aroused sympathetic state

immediate and automatic response to stimulus

Question 14

adrenaline

Answer 14

• released into bloodstream from adrenal medulla
• triggers physiological changes such as increased hr, redirects blood flow to vital organs (inhibits saliva and digestion)

Question 15

parasympathetic response

Answer 15

rest and digest response

works as antagonist to sympathetic by acting as a brake

-hr decreased
-breathing rate decreased
-constricts pupils
-stimulates digestion
stimulates saliva production
-relaxes rectum

Question 16

sympathetic response

Answer 16

fight or flight

• hr increases
• breathing rate decreases
• dilates pupils
• inhibits digestion
• inhibits saliva production
• contracts rectum

Question 17

neuron

Answer 17

signal sent makes cell positively charged when going through it. called action potential as going down

• dendrites (tree branches) that receive signal at one end
• cell body containing nucleus
• axon (long string) covered in myelin sheath which speeds up signal
• axon terminals at end to pass on signal

Question 18

motor neuron

Answer 18

transmits messages from cns towards muscles and organs

long axons
short dendrites
looks like wheel

Question 19

relay neuron

Answer 19

connect neurons together

short dendrites
short axons
looks like relay race with stuff either end

Question 20

sensory neuron

Answer 20

carry messages to cns from senses processed by pns

long dendrites
short axons
sensitive octopus shape

Question 21

neuron location

Answer 21

• motor neurons may be stretched across both cns and pns
• sensory neurons located in pns in ganglia clusters
• relay neurons make up 97% of all neurons

Question 22

synaptic transmission

Answer 22

communicate in neural networks

each neuron separated by tiny gap called synapse, signals across these transmitted chemically

when impulse reaches end of neuron (pre synaptic terminal) it triggers release of neurotransmitters from tiny sacs (synaptic vesicles) its then taken up by postsynaptic receptor sites

Question 23

neurotransmitter

Answer 23

brain chemicals released from synaptic vesicles that relay signals across synapses

each neurotransmitter has a specific molecular shape that fits into a specific post synaptic receptor site

either perform:

• excitatory function
• inhibitory function

Question 24

excitation

Answer 24

neurotransmitter that increases positive charge, making it more likely to fire (dopamine)

Question 25

inhibition

Answer 25

neurotransmitter that increases negative charge, making it less likely to fire (serotonin)

Question 26

summation

Answer 26

the addition of positive and negative post-synaptic potentials potentials are summed and if the net effect on the postsynaptic neuron is inhibitory, the neuron will be less likely to fire, if the net effect is excitatory, the neuron will be more likely to fire.

Question 27

localisation of function

Answer 27

different parts of the brain are responsible for specific behaviours, processes or activities

Question 28

brain hemispheres

Answer 28

cerebrum of brain divided into two hemispheres some physical and psychological functions are controlled by one specific side - lateralisation right hemisphere controls right side of body and left hemisphere controls left side of body-linked to language too

Question 29

motor area

Answer 29

located in frontal lobe controls voluntary movement on opposite side of body

Question 30

somatosensory area

Answer 30

located in parietal lobe sensory information from skin is recognised amount of somatosensory area devoted to area equates to sensitivity of area

Question 31

visual area

Answer 31

located in occipital lobe eyes send info from one sides visual field to opposite visual cortex

Question 32

auditory area

Answer 32

located in temporal lobe analyses speech-based information

Question 33

broca's area

Answer 33

responsible for speech production 1880's paul broca identified area, located in temporal lobe damage cases brocas aphasia which is slow + nonfluent *gcse language speaking*

Question 34

wernickes's area

Answer 34

responsible for language comprehension 1880's karl wernicke found area in temporal lobe wernickes aphasia causes difficulty understanding language or meaningful sentences *foreign language*

Question 35

dougherty et al (2002)

Answer 35

- reported on 44 people with ocd that had a cingulotomy - 30% has successful response - 14% had partial response neurosurgery sometimes used to treat mental disorders- targeting specific areas of brain success shows some mental disorders are localised

Question 36

petersen et al (1988)

Answer 36

used brain scans to show wernicke's area active during listening tasks and broca's during reading task brain scans are objective methods of measuring brain activity that provide scientific evidence

Question 37

buckner and petersen (1996)

Answer 37

long term memory study that revealed semantic and episodic memories are in different parts of the prefrontal cortex localised areas for everyday behaviours

Question 38

karl lashley (1950)

Answer 38

removed 10-50% of cortex in rats learning maze route - no area proven to be any more important for rat to learn the route - learning needed all part of cortex for optimum higher cognitive processes like learning aren't localised but more holistic

Question 39

dick and tremblay (2016)

Answer 39

found only 2% of researchers now believed language is only controlled by brocas and wernickes area development of fmri means neural processes can be studies more clearly to show more holism some language streams identified in right hemisphere such as thalamus

Question 40

phineas gage (ao3)

Answer 40

case study of man with metal pole through left side of his head, taking out most of frontal lobe changed his personality from calm and reserved to quick tempered and rude

Question 41

hemispheric lateralisation

Answer 41

two sides of brain called hemispheres certain processes lateralised to one side left side is analyser - language right side is synthesiser - emotional context to words

Question 42

contralateral wiring

Answer 42

cross wiring of the brain left hemisphere controls right side of body right hemisphere controls left side of body

Question 43

split brain research

Answer 43

operation severing connection between LH and RH (corpus callosum) used to reduce epilepsy as during epileptic fit excessive electrical activity sent between hemispheres

Question 44

sperry (1968)

Answer 44

11 people who had split brain surgery see how split brain reacted without communication across hemispheres - image projected to rvf (processed by lh) - image projected to lvf (processed by rh) when object shown to rvf (lh) they could describe object on lvf (rh) couldn't describe anything as no link to language centre lvf could match object out of sight using left hand and could produce emotional reaction lh is verbal and rh is 'silent' but emotional

Question 45

fink et al (1996)

Answer 45

hemispheres process info differently pet scans to identify which areas where active in visual processing task - when looking at whole picture rh more active - when looking at finer detail lh more active in visual processing - hemispheric lateralisation

Question 46

lateralisation vs plasticity (ao3)

Answer 46

lateralisation is adaptive as it allows two tasks to be performed at once with greater efficiency -rogers et al (2004) lateralised chickens could find food and watch for predators plasticity could also be seen as adaptive because after damage some functions taken over by non specialist areas on opposite hemisphere

Question 47

luck et al (1989)

Answer 47

split brain perform better than connected on some tasks -faster at identifying odd one out in normal brain lh's better cognitions are watered down by rh

Question 48

generalisation (ao3)

Answer 48

sperrys control group were neuro-typical and none had epilepsy confounding variable as any differences could have been due to epilepsy rather than split brain hard to generalise to the general population

Question 49

lateralisation changes with age (ao3)

Answer 49

- appears not to stay exactly the same throughout lifetime, but changes with age - across types of tasks and brain areas, lateralised patterns found in younger individuals tend to switch to bilateral patterns in healthy older adults. szaflarski et al (2006) found that language became more lateralised to the left hemisphere with increasing age in children and adolescents, but after 25, lateralisation decreased this implies that a lateralised brain is in fact only a feature of young adults and not true for everyone.

Question 50

brain plasticity

Answer 50

brain changing and adapting as a result of new experiences and learning during infancy brain has around 15,000 synaptic connection's aged 2-3 - double of adult brain

Question 51

synaptic pruning

Answer 51

rarely-used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened

Question 52

maguire et al (2000)

Answer 52

studied brains of london taxi driver finding significantly more grey matter in hippocampus compared to control -part of brain associated with navigation + spatial skills maguire found the learning for the knowledge alters the structure of their brain - the long they had been doing it the larger their hippocampus got (positive correlation)