knight - biopsychology Flashcards
(73 cards)
1
Q
What is the nervous system devided into?
A
- central nervous system (CNS)
- peripheral nervous system (PNS)
2
Q
What does the CNS consist of?
A
- brain
- spinal cord
3
Q
What does the brain stem do?
A
controls involuntary (automatic) processes
4
Q
What are involuntary processes?
A
- heartbeat
- breathing
5
Q
What does the spinal cord do?
A
- transfers messages to and from the brain and the rest of the body
- responsible for simple reflex actions
6
Q
What is an example for simple reflex actions?
A
jumping out of chair if you sit on a drawing pin
7
Q
What is the brain involved in?
A
all psychological processes
8
Q
What is another key point of the brain?
A
different regions are responsible for different functions
9
Q
What are the four main lobes of the brain?
A
- ocipital lobe
- temporal lobe
- parietal lobe
- frontal lobe
10
Q
What is the function of occipital lobe?
A
processes visual information
11
Q
What is the function of temporal lobe?
A
processes auditory information
12
Q
What is the function of parietal lobe?
A
integrates information from the different senses
13
Q
What is the function of frontal lobe?
A
assosiated with high order functions
14
Q
What are some examples of high order functions?
A
- planning
- abstract reasoning
- logic
15
Q
What is the main function of the CNS?
A
complex commands and decisions are made
16
Q
What is the main function of the PNS?
A
sends messages (nerve impulses) from the CNS to the rest of the body (muscles and glands)
17
Q
What are the two main components are the PNS consisted of?
A
- somatic nervous system
- automatic nervous system
18
Q
What are the main functions of the somatic nervous system?
A
- carries sensory information from the outside world to the brain (sends info from sense organs to cns)
- provides muscles responses via the motor pathways (recieves info from the cns that directs muscles to act)
19
Q
What are the main functions of the automatic nervous system?
A
- transmits information to and from internal organs
- important role in homeostasis (maintain internal processes like body temperature)
20
Q
What type of system is the automatic nervous system?
A
involuntary
- as it is essential for survival (eg. breathing)
- so it is important that it keeps going at all times
21
Q
What are the two components of the automatic nervous system?
A
- sympathetic nervous system
- parasympathetic nervous system
22
Q
What is the function of the sympathetic nervous system?
A
prepares the body for flight or fight in stressful situations
- triggers physiological arousal
23
Q
What is the function of the parasympathetic nervous system?
A
returns us to our “normal” resting state after the threat has passed
24
Q
What is the endocrine system?
A
a network of glands across the body that secrete chemical messages (hormones) directly into the bloodstream
-> different hormones produce different effects on organs in the body
25
Which system works alongside the nervous system?
endocrine system
26
What are the main hormones released by the adrenal glands and what are their main functions?
1. adrenalmedulla (adrenaline and noradrenaline): the key hormones in flight or fight responses
2. adrenal cortex (cortisol): stimulates the release of glucose to provide the body with energy while surpressing the immune system
27
What is the main function of the hypthalamus?
stimulates and controls the release of hormones from the pituitary gland
28
What is the main function of the hypthalamus?
stimulates and controls the release of hormones from the pituitary gland
29
What are the main hormones released by the pituitary gland and what are their main functions?
1. ariterior (acth): stimulates adrenal cortex & controls release of the cortisol during the stress response
2. posterior (oxytocin): responsible for uterus contractions during childbirth
30
What is another name fr the pituitary gland and why?
master gland
- as it controls the release of hormones from all other endocrine glands in the body
31
What are the main hormones released by the testicle and what are their main functions?
testosterone
- responsible for development of male sex characteristics
- promote muscle growth
32
What are the main hormones released by the ovary and what are their main functions?
oestrogen - regulation of the female reproductive system
-> pregnancy
-> menstrual cycle
33
What is homeostasis?
the process which the body maintains a constant / balanced internaal state (eg. body temperature)
34
How does the automatic nervous system support homeostasis?
by controlling glands and the vital muscles and organs (eg. heart, stomach, blood vessels)
35
What does it mean by involuntary?
you dont have to think about doing them
36
What are the opposing actions of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system towards the gut?
sympathetic: slows digestion
parasympathetic: increases digestion
37
What are the opposing actions of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system towards the salivary glands?
sympathetic: inhibits saliva production
parasympathetic: increases saliva production
38
What are the opposing actions of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system towards the heart?
sympathetic: increases heart rate
parasympathetic: decreases heart rate
39
What are the opposing actions of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system towards the liver?
sympathetic: stimulates glucose production
parasympathetic: stimulates bile production
40
What are the opposing actions of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system towards the bladder?
sympathetic: increases urination (relaxes bladder)
parasympathetic: decreases urination (contracts bladder0
41
What are the opposing actions of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system towards the eye?
sympathetic: dilates pupils
parasympathetic: constricts dialation
42
What are the opposing actions of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system towards the lungs?
sympathetic: dilates bronchi
parasympathetic: constricts bronchi
43
What is the role of the brain and adrenaline in the flight or fight response? (6)
1. person enters a stressful situation
2. amygdala is activated -> sends distress signal to the hypothalamus
3. activates the SAM pathway that runs the sympathetic nervous system (sns)
4. sns stimulates tje adrenal medulla
5. secretes hormones - adrenaline and noreadrenaline
6. causes a number of physiological changes to prepare the body for flight or fight response
44
What are some evaluations for the fight or flight response?
- human behaviour is not just limited to two responses
-> Gray: first response to danger is to avoid confrontation - freeze- humans are hypervigiliant when decide the best course pfaction to deal with a threat
-> ff response is limited as it doesnt fully explian the different ways that humans may respond to stress/danger
- ff response is an androcentric explanation - early research was typically conducted on males
-> Taylor et al: females adopt a tend (more likely to protect their offspring) and befriend (more likely to form alliances with other women) rather than fight or flee
-> highlights a beta bias - assumed that femaless responded in the same way as males -> doesnt fully explain the stress response in females
- ff response can have a negative / detrinmental effect on health (especialy in modern day life)
-> ff response was a useful survival mechanism for our ancestors who faced life threatening situations but in modern day life we rarely require such an intense biological response
-> this matters as activating the sns can increase blood preasure, cause damage to their blood vessels and contribute to heart disease
45
What are neurons?
cells that make up the body
-> no identical neurons but similar structure
46
What is the main role of neurons?
processes and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals (nerve impulses) via synapses
47
What are the parts of the neuron?
- nucleus
- cell body
- dentrites
- axon
- direction of nerve impilse
- terminal buttons
- synaptic cleft
- presynaptic neuron
- postsynaptic neuron
48
What is the role of dendrites?
recieve signals from other neurons or sensory receptor cells
49
What is the axon and what is its role?
long slender fibre that carries nerve impulses
- using action potential (electric signal)
- away from the cell body towards the terminal button
50
What are terminal buttons?
Where the neuron ends
51
What is a myelin sheath?
- surrounds the axon
- insulates the axon so that the electric impulses travel faster along the axon
52
How do terminal buttons communicate to other neurons?
synaptic transmission
53
What are the three types of neuron?
1. sensory
2. relay
3. motor
54
Where are sensory neurons found?
found in sense receptors (eg eyes,ears, tongue, skin etc) - pns
55
What is the function of sensory neurons?
carry nerve impulses from pns to the spinal cord and brain (cns)
-> translated into sensations (eg. vision, hearing, taste and touch etc)
56
What is the structure of sensory neurons?
long dendrites + short axons
57
Where are relay neurons found?
found in cns (brain and spinal cord)
58
What is the function of relay neurons?
connect sensory and motor neurons so that they can communicate
59
What is the structure of relay neurons?
short dendrites + short axons
60
Where are motor neurons found?
found in cns
61
What is the function of motor neurons?
carry messages from the cns to effectors such as muscles and glands
-> when stimulated they release neurotransmitters that bind to the receptors on muscles and glands to trigger a response, which leads to movements
62
What is the structure of motor neurons?
short dentrites + long axons
63
How do neurons communicate?
1. action potential
2. synaptic transmission
64
What is action potential?
- an electrical signal which travels down the axon to terminal buttons (end of neuron)
- when a neuron is not active it has a negative charge inside it -> when it fires (becomes active) the electrical chrage with the neuron becomes positively charged for a split second causing an action potential
65
What are the steps of synaptic transmission?
1. electrical signials travels to end of presynaptic neuron
2. signal reaches terminal button
3. vesicls release chemicals (neurotransmitters)
4. neurotransmitter crosses synaptic cleft
5. receptor sites on postsynaptic neuron take up neurotransmitter
6. chemical signal turned back into electrical impulse
7. electrical impulse travels along the postsynaptic neuron
8. neurotransmitter left behind in synaptic cleft broken down and absorbed
66
What effect can neurotransmitters have on the postsynaptic neuron?
1. excitatory
2. inhibitory
67
What is excitation of the postsynaptic neuron?
increases the postsynaptic neuron’s positive charge
-> makes it more likely to fire
68
What is an example that causes excitation of the postsynaptic neuron?
Adrenaline
69
What is the inhibitation of the postsynaptic neuron?
Increases the negative charge of the postsynaptic neuron
-> makes it less likely to fire
70
What is an example that causes inhibitation of the postsynaptic system?
Serotonin
71
What is summation?
neuron fires when there are enough excitatory signals compared to excitatory signals
72
What are roles of dopamine?
- acts on areas of the brain to give you feelings of pleasure, love, addiction, satisfaction, motivation etc
- plays a role in controlling memory, mood, sleep, learning, concentration, movement etc
73
What are roles of endorphines?
relieve pain (natural painkillers) + reduce stress
