Biopsychology Flashcards
Nervous system
Body’s primary internal communication system.
Responds to environmental stimuli and co-ordinates body’s organs and cells.
Has two sub systems: Central nervous system (CNS) which is the brain and spinal cord which handles commands and decisions.
Peripheral nervous system (PNS) transmits messages to and from Central nervous system through neurons. This can be divided into the autonomic nervous system (heart rate + stress response) and somatic nervous system (muscle movement)
Endocrine system
Instructs glands to release various hormones which travel around the body.
Hormones are chemical messengers which travel to particular organs have many effects. Pituitary gland controls the release of hormones from other glands in the body.
Fight or flight response
Endocrine system and Autonomic nervous system work together. It is triggered in a stressful response, adrenaline is released which leads to psysiological changes (increased heart rate, sweating etc)
Neuron definition and types:
Neurons - Nerve cells which transmit messages chemically and electrically. 3 types:
Motor - Connect the CNS to muscles and glands
Sensory - Carry messages from the PNS to CNS
Relay - Connect sensory neurons to motor and other relay neurons
Synaptic transmission
Messages are transmitted electrically within neurons and chemically between them. This communication takes place across synapses.
Message reaches the end of one neurone which triggers the release of neurotransmitters from vesicles located at the terminal button. Chemicals are released into the synapse and are taken up by the next neuron. Chemical message is converted into an electrical one and is sent along the dendrites to the next neuron.
Localisation of Function in the brain
Broca + Wernicke - Specific areas of the brain are associated with particular functions and behaviours. Prior to this, holistic theory believed that the brain worked together as a whole to do any task.
Hemispheres and the cerebral cortex
Two halfs of the brain = hemispheres.
Left = Controlling actions of the right side
Right = Controlling actions of the left side
Areas of the brain
Motor area - Back of frontal lobe, controls voluntary movement
Sematosenory area - At the front of each parietal lobe, where sensory information from the skin (pressure, heat etc) is processed
Visual cortex - Processes visual information, right eye sends information to left visual cortex, left eye sends info to right visual cortex etc
Auditory area - temporal lobes, analyses spoken information.
Language area:
Left hemisphere for most people, Broca’s area, responsible for speech production.
Damage to this leads to a lack of ability to speak fluently and clearly.
Broca’s patient, could only say the word ‘tan’.
Wernicke’s area is responsible for language comprehension. When it is damaged people may say say nonsense words.
Language area (Evaluation)
Petersen et al (1988) Wenicke’s area was active when doing listening tasks and Broca’s area was active when doing reading tasks. Supports the idea that different areas of the brain have specific functions.
Phineas Gage supports localisation of function. Gage had a large metal pole forced through his head in an work related accident, removed most of his left frontal lobe. He survived but became rude and angry, this suggested that mood regulation might be in the fronal lobe.
Brain plasticity
Brain plasticity = The ability of the brain to make new neural connections and fix existing connections. During childhood, new connections are made and ones which are unused get deleted.
Study - Maguire et al (2000) did a study on London taxt drivers, their brains had a much larger posterior hippocampus than the matched group who weren’t taxi drivers. The longer they had been a taxi driver, the bigger their posterior hippocampus was.
Functional recovery after trauma
After traumas like a stroke, unaffected areas are able to compensate for the injury by taking over the functions of the damaged areas. Unused neural pathways that were not previously used are unlocked to be used to make up for it.
Evaluation of Functional recovery and brain plasticity
Has led to practical application, as the brain’s recovery slows down in the time after a trauma, it shows that therapy will be needed to continue the process. This has led to success in the field of neurorehabilitation.
