Biopsychology Flashcards
(46 cards)
What is ‘the nervous system’?
a specialised network of cells in our body.
Consists of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.
Communicates using electric signals.
What is the ‘central nervous system’ made up of?
-The brain
-the spinal cord
The brains outer layer is the cerebral cortex.
The brain is divided into two hemispheres
explain the parts of the ‘peripheral nervous system’
•Autonomic nervous system- governs vital functions in the body such as breathing, heart rate and stress responses
-within the autonomic there is the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.
•somatic nervous system- governs muscle movement and receives information from sensory receptors.
What is the ‘endocrine system’?
One of the body’s major information system that instructs the glands to release hormones directly into the bloodstream.
These hormones are carried toward target organs in the body.
Explain how the ‘endocrine and the ANS work together’
(flight or fight)
During a stressful event:
•A stressor perceived
•Hypothalamus activates the pituitary gland
•The ANS changes from resting state to (parasympathetic) to aroused (sympathetic state)
•ADRENALINE is released from the adrenal medulla into the bloodstream. This creates physiological arousal necessary for flight or fight.
•An immediate and automatic response occurs. A person will feel a raised heart rate, panic, stress.
•Finally, when the threat has passed the parasympathetic system returns to the resting state.
What is a ‘neuron’?
nerve cells that process and transmit messages through electrical and chemical signals.
Explain the different types on neurons.
sensory neuron-carry messages from the PNS to the CNS. They have long dendrites and short axons.
Relay neuron- connect sensory neurons to motor neurons. They have short dendrites and short axons.
Motor neurons- connect the CNS to effectors such as muscles and glands. They have short dendrites and long axons
Explain the structure of a neuron.
The cell body includes a nucleus (containing genetic material of the cell)
Dendrites are protrude the cell body down the length of the neuron.
The axon carries impulses away from the body down the length
The myelin sheath protects the axon and speeds up electrical transmission of an impulse.
The Myelin sheath is segmented by gaps called the nodes of ranvier.
Explain how ‘electrical transmission’ occurs.
(the firing of a neuron)
When a neuron is in resting state, the cell body is negatively charged. When stimulated, the cell body becomes positively charged causing an ACTION POTENTIAL to occur.
This creates an electrical impulse that travels down to the end of the neuron.
What is ‘synaptic transmission’?
The process by which neighbouring neurons communicate with each other by sending chemical messages across the gap that separates them.
explain the journey of synaptic transmission
•Signals between neurons are transmitted chemically through the synapse—>when the electrical impulse reaches the end of the neuron, it triggers the release of neurotransmitters.
•Once the neurotransmitters diffuse across the synapse, it is taken up by a postsynaptic receptor site.
•Here the information is converted back to an electrical impulse.
(direction of a neuron is one way)
What is ‘excitation and inhibition’ within neurotransmitters?
Inhibition- neuron becomes negative and less likely to fire ( for example, serotonin)
excitation- neurons become increasingly positive and more likely to fire. (for example, adrenaline)
What are the key assumption of ‘localised function in the brain’?
BROCA AND WERNIKE
•argued there was localisation of function within the brain. Different parts of the brain are responsible for different functions.
What are the hemisphere of the brain?
(localisation of function)
The main part of the brain is divided into two symmetrical halves, called the left and right hemisphere.
LATERALISATION- some different functions are controlled by a certain hemisphere.
the left hemisphere is responsible for the right side of our body and vise versa.
right hemisphere allows for physical needs such as drawing
left hemisphere allows for language centres, allowing speech production.
What are the functions of all the different areas of the brain?
motor area- a region in the frontal lobe involved in regulating movement
somatosensory- an area of the parietal lobe that processes sensory information such as touch
Auditory area-located in the temporal lobe and concerned with analysis of speech based information
Visual area- part of the occipital love that receives and processes visual information
Brocas area- An area of the frontal lobe in the left hemisphere which was responsible for speech production
Wernikes area- located in the temporal lobe and is responsible for language comprehenion
What is the supporting case study of localisation function the brain?
PHINEAS GAGE
got injured at work. A meter pole went through his cheek, most of his temporal lobe had been punctured.
He survived, but he had changed dramatically changed with his personality.
Evaluate the localisation of the function of the brain.
+evidence from neurosurgery
+evidence from brain scans
+case study evidence
What is hemispheric lateralisation?
(split brain research)
The two hemispheres of the brain function differently and different mental processes are controlled by one hemisphere rather than another.
Outline Split brain research.
SPERRY(1968)
A- wanted to see how the different hemispheres deal with functions, for example, speech and vision.
P- 11 people who had previously had split brain operations used. A image would be projected to the RVF, and a same or different imagine would be projected in the LVF.
In a normal person, the image would have been stabilised, and show on both sides.
F- when projected on the RVF, the ppts could describe what they had seen, but couldn’t draw
If projected to LVF a person could not describe as there was nothing there, but could draw
C-these show that certain functions of lateralised in the brain. LH is verbal, RH is silent.
Evaluate hemispheric lateralisation.
+Research support. Pet scans show different activity within the brain.
-research suggests that some people may not have a dominant side of the brain which creates a different personality.
Evaluate Split brain research.
(SPERRY)
- ethical issues
-ungeneralisable as they only used people with untypical brains.
What is ‘Brain Placicity?’
The brain is like plastic, as it has the ability to change through our lifetime. During childhood, our brains rapidly grow, making number of synaptic connections. As we age, we limit the amount of new connections, but strengthen our older ones
Outline research into brain plasticity.
MAGUIRE ET AL (2000)
Studied the brain of taxi driver and found more grey matter in the hippocampus than a march group.
This part of the brain is associated with knowledge of navigation, which a taxi driver would have to have.
They also found the longer the taxi drivers had been in the job, the more grey matter.
Evaluate Brain plasticity.
+May be a life long ability
-Seasonal brain changed, as our environment may change.
-research may be ungeneralisable due to only using taxi drivers
