Biopsychology Flashcards
(21 cards)
How do neurons ensure that impulses are unidirectional?
Receptors for the neurotransmitters are only on the post-synaptic membrane, impulses can only travel only in one direction
How are neurotransmitters removed from the synaptic cleft?
They’re either taken back by into the pre-synaptic neuron or they’re broken down by enzyme action
What are excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters?
Excitatory - increase the likelihood of an impulse being triggered in the post-synaptic neuron
Inhibitory - decrease the likelihood of an impulse being triggered in the post-synaptic neuron
Give an example of an excitatory NTM
Acetycholine: involved in voluntary movement, memory, learning and sleep. Too much is linked to depression, too little is linked to dementia.
Give an example of an inhibitory NTM
GABA: too little is linked to anxiety disorders.
Give the three steps of the fight or flight response
- Initial shock response - hypothalamus triggers activity in the sympathetic branch of the ANS.
- The adrenal medulla of the adrenal glands is stimulated: noradrenaline and adrenaline are released into the bloodstream
- Physical effects ensue: perspiration, breathing, blood pressure and heart rate increase.
What is Broca’s area responsible for?
Speech production
What is Wernicke’s area responsible for?
Understanding and comprehending language
How are the two hemispheres connected?
Corpus callosum
Where are Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas in most people?
Left hemisphere
What is the left hemisphere primarily responsible for?
The bulk of language functions, aswell as logic, analysis and problem solving.
What is the right hemisphere primarily responsible for?
Spatial comprehension, emotion and facial recognition.
Outline Sperry
Aim: to investigate the effects of split brain surgery
Procedure: combo of case studies and experiments. 11 ppts who had undergone split brain surgery as a result of epilepsy were used, aswell as a control group. In one exp., ppts covered one eye and looked at a fixed point on a projection screen. Pictures were projected onto the right or left of the screen at high speeds so there was no time for eye movement.
Results: pictures on the right - ppts could say or write what it was. Pictures on the left - ppts couldn’t say or write what they’d seen, but they could select a corresponding object with their left hand, without knowing why.
Conclusion: evidence for hemispheric lateralisation of function
What is brain plasticity?
Refers to the brain’s ability to restructure and reorganise function in response to the environment.
How does plasticity work?
New info makes new neural pathways form. Using a neural pathway strengthens it - the more a pathway is used the stronger the connections between the neruons become. Pathways that aren’t used become weaker.
What is one study that supports the idea of plasticity?
Maguire et al (2000)
How did Nudo et al find evidence for plasticity?
Nudo et al mapped the motor cortex of adult monkeys before and after training in a task that mainly required working with digits. They found that cortical representation of the digits in the motor cortex increased.
What does functional recovery mean?
When brain damage results in loss of function, the brain can rewire itself; healthy areas of the brain surrounding the damaged area begin to take over the function.
What is constraint-induced movement therapy?
After a stroke, patients are prevented from using their non-affected side, to encourage re-learning.
What are the advantages of CIMT?
- Numerous studies have shown that CIMT produces cortical reorganisation which has resulted in regained or improved function.
- CIMT can be applied to Broca’s aphasia sufferers: instead of communicating in other ways, patients are made to try and speak.
What are the disadvantages of CIMT?
- CIMT can be very frustrating for the patient.
- CIMT must be very intensive to work, patients must train for several hours a day and their wokring limb is restrained for 90% of the time.
- CIMT is most effective in those who have suffered moderate or mild strokes.
