BIOPSYCHOLOGY Flashcards
(141 cards)
1
Q
What is the endocrine system?
A
instructs glands to release hormones directly into the bloodstream
2
Q
whats the nervous system
A
collects, processes and responds to information in the environment
3
Q
what is your nervous system divided into
A
central nervous system and peripheral nervous system
4
Q
What is the PNS divided into?
A
somatic and autonomic
5
Q
whats the PNS
A
everything but brain and spinal chord
6
Q
whats CNS
A
brain and spinal chord
7
Q
What’s the somatic nervous system?
A
voluntary muscle movement
8
Q
What’s the autonomic nervous system?
A
involuntary muscle movement
9
Q
what are the functions of the autonomic nervous system
A
activate internal organs and conserve energy
10
Q
what are the branches of the autonomic
A
sympathetic and parasympathetic
11
Q
whats the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system
A
activates organs
12
Q
whats the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system
A
conserves energy
13
Q
what does the parasympathetic and sympathetic branch do to the eyes
A
parasympathetic - contracts pupil
sympathetic - dilates pupil
14
Q
what does the parasympathetic and sympathetic branch do to the lungs
A
parasympathetic - constricts bronchi
sympathetic - relaxes bronchi
15
Q
what does the parasympathetic and sympathetic branch do to the heart
A
parasympathetic - slows heart beat
sympathetic - accelerates heartbeat
16
Q
what does the parasympathetic and sympathetic branch do to the stomach intestines
A
parasympathetic - stimulates activities
sympathetic - inhibits activities
17
Q
what does the parasympathetic and sympathetic branch do to the blood vessels or internal organs
A
parasympathetic - dilates vessels
sympathetic - contracts vessels
18
Q
what is the somatic nervous system concerned with
A
muscles and sense organs
19
Q
what is the autonomatic nervous system concerned with
A
bodily functions
20
Q
where are hormones secreted to
A
the bloodstream
21
Q
What secretes hormones?
A
glands
22
Q
whats the main function of the endocrine system
A
controls vital physiological processes by regulating cell or organ activity
23
Q
what does the first or immediate shock of stress involve
A
sympathetic branch of your ANS
24
Q
what does the second or counter shock response of stress involve
A
the parasympathetic branch of your ANS
25
process of fight or flight syndrome
eyes - hypothalamus - activates sympathetic branch - adrenal medulla - releases adrenaline - increase sympathetic activity and decrease parasympathetic
26
what are the 3 types of neuron
motor
sensory
relay
27
What's a neuron?
nerve cells that process and transmit messages through electrical and chemical signals
28
What are sensory neurons?
carry messages from the PNS to the CNS
29
structure of a sensory neuron
long dendrites and short axons
29
what are relay neurons
connect the sensory neuron to motor or other relay neurons
30
structure of a relay neuron
short dendrites and short axons
31
Structure of a motor neuron
Short dendrites and long axons
32
What's a motor neuron?
connects the CNS to effectors such as muscles and glands
33
How do neurons communicate with each other?
within groups known as neural networks
34
what are neurons separated by
synapse
35
How are signals BETWEEN neurons transmitted?
Chemically across the synapse
36
How are signals WITHIN neurons transmitted?
electrically across the synapse
37
what happens when the electrical impulse reaches the end of the neuron
triggers the release of neurotransmitters from synaptic vesicles
38
What are neurotransmitters?
chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons
39
what effect do neurotransmitters have on the neighbouring neuron
either inhibitory or excitatory
40
what is excitation
When a neurotransmitter increases the positive charge of the postsynaptic neuron
40
what does excitation do
increases the likelihood that the neuron will fire and pass on the electrical impulse
41
What is inhibition?
When a neurotransmitter increases the negative charge of the postsynaptic neuron
42
what does inhibition do
decreases the likelihood that the neuron will fire and pass on the electrical impulse.
43
What is summation?
decision on whether a postsynaptic neuron with fire
44
where does the motor neuron carry messages
away from the brain
45
where does the sensory neuron carry messages
towards the brain
46
where does the relay neuron carry messages
in between the other neurons
47
what are the ways of scanning the brain
fMRI
EEG
ERP
post-mortems
48
What does fMRI measure?
blood flow to the brain
49
what does an fMRI track
oxygenated blood
50
What is a post-mortem?
analysis of brain after death
50
What is an EEG?
measures electrical impulses in the brain (as waves)
51
What does EEG stand for?
electroencephalogram
52
How does an EEG work?
electrodes placed on the scalp measure electrical activity in neurons
53
what premise do EEGs work on
that information is processed in the brain as electrical activity
54
What does ERP stand for?
event related potential
55
What is an ERP (event related potential)?
an application of an EEG where stimulus is presented
56
What does invasive mean?
clinician invades the brain or body in some way
57
what does spatial resolution mean
The smallest feature (or measurement) that a scanner can detect
58
whats temporal resolution
how reflective the scan is of real time
59
What's causation?
whether the scan allow us to detect the cause of the brain changes
60
What is localisation of function in the brain?
The theory that lobes are associated with different functions
61
What do the hemispheres control?
the opposite side of the body
62
where is the motor area
back of the frontal lobe in both hemispheres
63
what does the motor area control
voluntary movement on opposite side of body
64
Where is the somatosensory cortex located?
front of the parietal lobe in both hemispheres.
65
what does the somatosensory area control
what we sense
66
Where is the visual cortex/area located?
occipital lobe
67
What does the visual cortex do?
processes visual information
68
where does information in the right visual field go to
the left side and vice a versa
69
Where is the auditory cortex located?
temporal lobe
70
what does the auditory area do
Analyses speech based information
70
Where is Broca's area located?
left frontal lobe
71
What is Broca's area responsible for?
speech production
72
How was Broca's area discovered?
post mortem of Paul Broca's patient Tan
73
What does damage to Broca's area cause?
Broca's aphasia
74
how can Broca's aphasia be described?
speech that is slow, laborious and lacking in fluency
75
Where is Wernicke's area located?
left temporal lobe
75
what is Wernickes area responsible for
language comprehension
76
what does damage to the Wernicke area result in
Wernickes aphasia
77
What is Wernicke's aphasia?
production of fluent but meaningless speech - neologism
78
what's neologism?
nonsense words
79
What's hemispheric lateralisation?
the idea that the two halves of the brain are functionally different
80
who looked into hemispheric lateralisation?
Sperry
81
Aim of Sperry's split brain research
To find out about hemispheric lateralisation in relation to the function of left and right of the brain
82
Sample in Sperry's research
11 patients with epilepsy who had undergone a commisurotomy
83
What's commissurotomy?
Surgical incision of the corpus collosum
83
What was the procedure of Sperrys research?
Told to focus on a fixation point image/word was projected to patients right visual field and the same or different to the left
84
What would happen in a normal brain in Sperrys research?
The corpus collosum would immediately share the information to get a complete picture
85
When was Sperry's research
1968
86
What is the left hemisphere responsible for?
analytic and verbal
87
What is the right hemisphere responsible for?
spatial ability
88
What is brain plasticity?
the brain's ability to change and adapt throughout life adapt as a result of experience and new learning.
89
what happens during infancy with synapses
rapid growth in synaptic connections
90
how many synaptic connections do infants have at 2-3 years
15000 - twice as many as adult brain
91
What is neuroplasticity?
the ability of neural connections to form rapidly in response to stimuli
92
What was Maguire's sample?
MRI scans of 16 right handed London taxi drivers Aged 32-62 and compared them to a MRI scans of 50 healthy right handed males that did not taxi drive
93
What did Maguire find?
Increased grey matter was found in the posterior hippocampus of taxi drivers
94
What does Maguire's research show?
Supports the idea that the brain changes in response to the demands of being a taxi driver and meets demands of environment
95
What is neurorehabilitation?
the process of supporting people after brain trauma to regain as much function as possible
95
What is the posterior hippocampus associated with?
Development of spatial and navigational skills
96
What are biological rhythms?
a change in body processes or behaviour in response to cyclical changes within the environment
97
what are 3 types of biological rhythms
Circadian
Infradian
Ultradian
98
what are biological rhythms governed by
internal biological clocks
99
What are circadian rhythms?
A type of biological rhythm subject to a 24-hour cycle
100
examples of circadian rhythms
Sleep/wake cycle and body temperature.
101
what do circadian rythms help
coordinate heartrate, digestion and hormones
102
what are the 2 types of internal biological clocks
Endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers
103
What are endogenous pacemakers?
Internal body clocks that regulate many of our biological rhythms.
104
Endogenous pacemaker factors
- Superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
- Pineal gland and Melatonin
104
What is the superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN)?
bundle of nerve cells located in the hypothalumus
105
Where is the SCN located?
above the optic chiasm
106
what does the optic chiasm do
receives information about light then passes the information to the pineal gland
107
what does the pineal gland do in when there is little light
increases the production of melatonin
108
Process of Melatonin Secretion
light - eyes - optic chiasm - SCN - pineal gland
109
What is an exogenous zeitgeber?
external factors that that rese biological clocks
109
Exogenous zeitgebers factors
- Light
- Social cues
110
How does light influence biological clock?
light is a significant factor in controlling our sleep cycle and it can rest the SNC
111
How do social cues influence babies biological clock?
infants circadian rhythms begin at 6 weeks and parents influence this encouraging wakefulness in the day and night routine in evening
112
examples of infradian rhythms
Menstrual cycle
SAD
112
what are infradian rhythms
Natural cycles that occur less than 1 every 24 hours and are longer than 24 hours
113
What does SAD stand for?
seasonal affective disorder
114
What's the menstrual cycle governed by?
monthly changes in hormone levels which regulate ovulation
115
What is SAD caused by?
lack of melatonin from insufficient amounts of natural light
115
What is SAD?
A depressive disorder which has a seasonal pattern of onset
116
What are ultradian rhythms?
more than 1 in 24 hours and last less than 24 hours
117
Example of an ultradian rhythm
the sleep cycle
118
Sleep Stage 1 and 2 (Theta Waves)
light sleep
119
Sleep Stage 2: Light Sleep
light sleep
120
Sleep Stage 3 and 4 (delta waves)
Deep sleep characterized by regular brain patterns
121
Sleep Stage 5
REM, most active stage of sleep
122
What does REM stand for?
rapid eye movement
123
what 3 structural changes can happen to the brain during recovery
axonal sprouting
reformation of blood vessels
recruitment of homologous areas on opposite hemispheres
124
What happens in the brain during recovery?
The brain rewires and reorganises itself by forming new synaptic connections close to the area damage
125
What does homologous mean
similar
126
What is axonal sprouting?
the axon sprouts to create more synaptic connections
126
whats reformation of blood vessels
blood vessel reform or connect so that blood can flow
127
whats the recruitment of homologous areas on opposite hemispheres
damages area in one hemisphere gets the same area in opposite hemisphere to perform the function the damaged area no longer can
128
what is functional recovery
the brain can adapt to carry out the desired function of a damaged part of the brain
128
function of corpus callosum
carry information between hemispheres
