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Biopsychology Flashcards

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1
Q

What are darwins influences?

A

Studied on animals
Considered animals behaviour to help understand humans
Psychologists therefore apply this

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2
Q

What are genes?

A

Physical characteristics - eye/hair colour

Psychological characteristics - smart/aggressive

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3
Q

What is a dendrite?

A

Receives the nerve impulse from the adjacent neuron

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4
Q

What is the axon?

A

Passes the electrical signals along

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5
Q

What is the myelin sheath?

A

Protects the axon from external influences which may effect the transmission of nerves

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6
Q

What is the synaptic terminal?

A

Sends the signal to the adjacent cell

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7
Q

What three ways does the biological approach explain human behaviour?

A

Anatomy, physiology, inheritance

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8
Q

What are behaviour genetics?

A

How human characteristics result from our genetic makeup

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9
Q

What is a genotype?

A

A persons generic makeup - represented through chromosomes

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10
Q

What is a phenotype?

A

The expression of a persons genetic makeup (physical characteristics)

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11
Q

How is the phenotype calculated?

A

Genotype + environment

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12
Q

What do our genes decide ?

A

How our characteristics inherit

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13
Q

What does the environment decide about genes?

A

How they develop

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14
Q

What are the 7 ways psychologist research behaviour?

A
  • recording activity of neurons
  • scanning techniques
  • animals: damage brains
  • case studies
  • selective breeding
  • experiments with chemicals on the brain
  • twin studies
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15
Q

What are the 5 assumptions of the biological approach?

A
  • our behaviour is strongly influenced by our genetic makeup
  • the central nervous system is essential for thought
  • chemical processes are responsible for psychological functioning and an imbalance of this can cause disorders
  • the brain and the mind are the same
  • humans have evolved biologically, through evolution
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16
Q

What are monozygotic twins?

A

Identical genotypes, developed from one fertilised egg, identical genetic makeup

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17
Q

Dizygotic twins…?

A

Develop from 2 separate eggs

  • 50% of their genes
  • no more alike than siblings
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18
Q

What is a concordance rates?

A

The extent to which a pair of twins share similar traits and characteristics

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19
Q

Describe clongiers study into adoption studies

A

Found that sons of alcoholics are more likely to become alcoholics themselves if they were adopted
Shows heredilibility

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20
Q

Describe Kety’s study

A

Studied participants over a 20 year period to investigate the incidence of schizophrenia in children with biological and adopted parents

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21
Q

What were the results of Kety’s study?

A

5,000 adopted adults were noted and 33 of them had schizophrenia after contacting their biological and adopted parents
14% had it with biological parents
2-7% adopted
Strong evidence for genetic factor in schizophrenia

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22
Q

Describe the Minnestona study

A

Both identical and fraternal twins were given intelligence tests, some were raised together and some raised apart
The higher concordance rate was between the identical twins which were brought up together proving there is a strong genetic basis

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23
Q

Describe darwins theory of evolution

A

Natural selection
Competition for resources
Those who had the best variations survived
Reproduction
Over time useful trait was passed on through genes

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24
Q

Evaluation of the Minnesota twin study

A

The study only measured intelligence meaning that It cannot be generalised to any other traits
Fraternal twins may not share the same environment because identical were apparently to be treated the same
The concordance rate was not 100% so proved that behaviour isn’t made from just a biological basis

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25
Evaluation of adoption studies
Research underestimates the importance of the environment Birth order - may have had an influence on psychological traits Very little evidence No two environments are identical Environmental influences are difficult to control
26
Evaluation of twin studies
Have been used to settle the nature vs nurture debate Intelligence tests is only a certain measurement of genetic basis Dizygotic twins might not be treated similarly and may not have been in the same environment Concordance rates are not 100% so the environment must have an impact
27
Describe synaptic transmission
An action potential arrives at the synapse Vesicles fuse with the pre-synaptic membrane Terminal buttons feature a neurotransmitter which is released and diffused over the synaptic cleft The neurotransmitter binds with receptors in post synaptic membrane The action potential is initiated in the post synaptic membrane
28
Describe Sperry's study
Cut down someone's corpus callosum Found that people were able to name and talk about objects in their right hand but not in their left (right hemisphere) Was found that when a word or picture was presented in one visual (right eye), 1/2 of the word could be seen but when presented in left eye, they wouldn't See anything
29
Describe Krupa's study into localisation of the function (sides of the brain)
Investigate the role of the cerebellum region of the brain in memory, researchers conditioned rabbits to blink their eyes in response to specific sounds. Following the conditioning, the rabbits received drugs to stop the action of the cerebellum. The rabbits didn't blink when the drug was active The cerebellum is involved in simple memory tasks
30
Research methods used by biologists
Labs, with controlled conditions in an objective manner so can be replicated easily
31
What happens with a high sex drive of animals?
More offspring is produced, passing on the chance of genes
32
What are PET scans?
Measures activity of the brain Radioactive chemicals are injected into the brain and the head is put into a scanning machine Radiation is measured Higher radiation, more activity, can see which parts are used for difficult tasks
33
Evaluation of pet scans
Expensive and hard to analyse results As the brain is always active, it is hard to see when certain parts of it are used at different times Different people may use different parts to do tasks - playing chess, some people may know exactly what to do when playing a game of chess so automatic but some people have to think about it
34
What is a EEG scan?
Electrodes are attached to the head Record electrical activity in certain parts of the brain Can pick up abnormalities- rhythmic waves:healthy -arrhythmic waves- unhealthy
35
Evaluation of EEG scans
Safe and painless Good to diagnose - epilepsy or sleep disorders Used to study differences inside of brain Recently more electrodes, so move in depth and reliable
36
What functions are in the frontal lobe?
Motor processing, body movement
37
What does the temporal lobe do?
Auditory
38
What does the parietal lobe do?
Information from senses | Sensations from skin and muscles
39
What does the occipital lobe?
Visual
40
Describe Wernicke's area
Left temporal lobe | Responsible for speech comprehension
41
What happens if there is damage to Wernicke's area?
Difficult to understand what another person is saying | Produces meaningless speech
42
Describe Broca's area
Left frontal lobe Responsible for speech production Memories ~ language Thoughts ~ language
43
What happens if there is damage to Broca's area?
Slow speech, lack of fluency
44
What is the corpus callosum?
Joins the 2 hemispheres and allows communication between them.
45
Why have people had their corpus callosum cut?
To stop severe epilepsy
46
TRUE OR FALSE: the left side of the brain is specialised in language/logical thoughts
TRUE
47
What is the right hemisphere specialised in?
Emotion and face recognition
48
Is the right hemisphere creative, artistic and musical?
Yes
49
What is the mind body problem?
Believing the brain and the mind are the same | Some psychologists- regard mental life as something separate from physical life and hence different to brain function
50
What is the evaluation of the biological approach?
- reductionist: breaks down thoughts sns behaviour into smaller parts instead of looking at it as a whole - deterministic: believe that behaviour and thoughts is to some extent programmes for an individual - nature: the biological approach only emphasises the nature side of the debate and ignores environmental factors
51
What is a short term stress reaction?
Fast chemical response- brain stimulates the sympathetic nervous system which causes the adrenal gland to release adrenalin
52
What is a long term stress reaction?
Slow chemical response- hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland, instructing the adrenal glands to release cortisol in the brain. Cortisol will inhibit reproductive functions
53
What is the hypothalamus?
Controls body temperature, thirst, sexual behaviour and sleep cycles Regulates the interaction between the endocrine and nervous system
54
What is the endocrine system?
Made up of glands that secrete chemicals
55
What is a pituitary gland?
Located deep in the brain Releases hormones that stimulate other glands to secrete hormones Sends information through the central nervous system Is controlled by the hypothalamus
56
What are thyroid glands?
Secrete hormones that affect metabolism, energy levels and mood
57
Ovaries- release...?
Oestrogen and progesterone
58
What are adrenal glands?
Just above kidneys | Release adrenaline
59
How does the adrenal gland act when there is a flight/fight response?
Activity increases | After response has gone, still feel weird as takes a while for the hormones to leave the bloodstream
60
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
- prepares the body for flight/fight response in stressful situations
61
What is the parasympathetic nervous system?
Maintains and conserves energy | Reduce bodily activity
62
Features of the sympathetic system?
- pupils dilate - inhibits saliva production - increase breathing - inhibits digestion - relax bladder - increase heart rate - increases action of adrenal gland
63
Features of parasympathetic?
- contracts pupils - stimulates saliva production - decrease breathing - stimulates digestion - contracts bladder - decrease heart rate
64
What does a sensory neuron do?
Receiving information from the outside world through sense organs and transmit nerve impulses to the central nervous system
65
Interneurons - what do they do?
Transmit nerve impulses within the cns
66
What is a motor neurone?
Transmits information from the central nervous system to the muscles in the body
67
Name the 4 neurotransmitters
Acetylcholine Dopamine Serotonin Endorphins
68
What is acetylcholine? What is it involved in?
Involved in voluntary movements of skeletal muscles
69
What is dopamine and what happens if you have too much?
Involved in motivation | If there's too much - results in schizophrenia
70
What is serotonin involved in?
Sleep, wakefulness, emotion, mood & pereception
71
What do endorphins do??
Regulate mood and sensations of pain, happy
72
What do drugs like cocaine and heroin increase levels in?
Dopamine - increased feelings of pleasure
73
How does the body respond to heroin?
In the brain, there is a reduced production of endorphins
74
What do endorphins do in healthy individuals?
Regularly released in the brain/nerves to weaken pain
75
Why do you feel pain after taking drugs?
Due to the lacks of endorphins
76
What is the role in adrenalin?
A hormone and a neurotransmitter Fight/flight hormone which prepares body for short-term stress reaction Secreted into the bloodstream from adrenal glands in stressful situations Accelerates bodily processes which help in fight or flight
77
What is the history of localisation?
Joesph Gall- claimed that the contours of the skull could be analysed to reveal a persons personality.
78
What happened to Phineas Gage?
A metal rod went through his left cheek and top of skull while he was working on a railway. This caused damage to the frontal lobe, making him rude, impulse and irresponsible.
79
Are biological children likely to be more or less like their biological parents if they are heritable?
More like
80
What is cortical specialisation?
Different areas of the cortex deal with different senses

Biopsychology (1 decks)

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