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GCSE Psychology > Unit 4: The Brain and Neuropsychology > Flashcards

Unit 4: The Brain and Neuropsychology Flashcards

1
Q

How much does the brain weigh?

A

1.4kg

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2
Q

What is gyri/gyrus?

A

the bumps in the brain

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3
Q

What is a cortext?

A

a shell around the outside with many gyrus

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4
Q

Why is a large surface area on the brain useful?

A

gives us more space for nerve cells which are needed to control functions

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5
Q

How does the brain look like in other animals?

A

smoother and smaller surface area

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6
Q

What part of the body is used to communicate with the brain?

A

the spinal chord

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7
Q

What is the role of the frontal lobe?

A
  • decision making and impulse control
  • helps control problem solving skills
  • concentrate/pay attention to different activities
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8
Q

What is the motor cortex?

A

at the back of the frontal lobe is the motor cortex, it is important for voluntary movements that you must think about before doing

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9
Q

What is the role of the temporal lobe?

A
  • hearing and memory
  • understanding/creating speech
  • producing/processing sound
  • control memory functions
  • contains auditory cortex (sound)
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10
Q

What is the role of the parietal lobe?

A
  • perceptions and sensations of touch
  • important for our ability to understand the world (perception) like recognising faces
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11
Q

What is the somatosensory cortex?

A

large section at the front of the parietal lobe that is important for the sense of touch

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12
Q

What is the role of the occipital lobe?

A
  • the ability to see
  • helps process visual information from the eyes

(often called visual cortex)

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13
Q

What is the role of the cerelbellum?

A
  • motor movements
  • vital for movement, coordination, and balance (motor skills)
  • takes different senses and combines it to coordinate a behaviour. the messages are sent via spinal chord from CNS
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14
Q

Why does the brain have different areas?

A

because the structure of specific areas provide specific roles/functions

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15
Q

What is lateralisation of function between the two hemispheres of the brain?

A

each hemisphere of the brain have different roles and jobs. some are controlled by the left brain and some are controlled by the right brain

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16
Q

Are the two hemispheres alike?

A

they are asymmetrical and are not mirror images of each other

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17
Q

What is asymmetrical function?

A

the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body.

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18
Q

How do the two hemispheres work together?

A

the corpus callosum connects them together allowing communication to happen between them. although they still retain their own roles they work together to control behaviour in the body as one complete organ

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19
Q

What is the corpus callosum?

A

a thick layer of nerve fibers connecting the left and right hemisphere of the brain allowing them to communicate together

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20
Q

What is the role of the left hemisphere?

A

processing language in the Broca’s area. to understand, write and speak language.

quantitative, numerical, mathematical

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21
Q

What is the Broca’s area?

A

an area in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere which controls speech production, it controls nerve cells in your face which we need to speak.

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22
Q

What is the role of the right hemisphere?

A

it is needed for spatial awareness and our ability to recognise and perceive faces. it is involved in creativity, such as processing music hear and making sense of visual information

creative, music, art

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23
Q

What are the sex differences in brain lateralisation?

A

females are good at language (left brain activities), while males are good at spatial skills (right brain activities. this is because females have a thicker corpus callosum and use both hemispheres for tasks equally. while males have a dominant hemisphere during tasks.

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24
Q

What are the strengths of the gender differences in brain lateralisation explanation?

A

parts of the brain that process language are larger in females than males, which proves why they are better at language tasks, there is also lots of evidence supporting the explanation especially being scientifically done so it is reliable.

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25
Q

What are the weaknesses of the gender differences in brain lateralisation explanation?

A

Rilea et al 2005 is a study used to prove this explanation and has many weaknesses. in the results, the males did not always do better on spatial tasks and they spatial tasks done in the experiment didn’t really make use of right-brain activity making the evidence for this theory unreliable.

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26
Q

What is the CNS?

A

an area in the nervous system containing the brain and spinal chord. it helps the brain and body communicate with each other, by sensory nerves sending messages to the brain via the spinal chord - the brain processes the information and sends it back down the spinal cord. the full name is central nervous system.

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27
Q

What does the spinal chord activate?

A

the PNS (peripheral nervous system) which sends messages from the CNS to the rest of the body, causing the body to do actions

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28
Q

How quickly does information get passed in the nervous system?

A

in a fraction of a second

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29
Q

What are neurotransmitters?

A

chemicals found within the nervous system that pass messages from one neuron to another across a synapse

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30
Q

What are some examples of neurotransmitters?

A

serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline etc.

31
Q

What is synaptic functioning?

A

messages are sent from one neuron to another by synaptic transmission

32
Q

What is a synapse?

A

tiny gaps between neurons that allow messages (neurotransmitters) to pass from one cell to another

33
Q

Describe the transfer of neurotransmitters along a synapse

A
  1. an electrical impulse is triggered inside the cells and it passes a small impulse along the exon to the end of the nerve fiber
  2. at the end of the fiber is the terminal button which is filled with tiny sacs called vesicles - when the nerve impulse reach the terminal button vesicles release neurotransmitters into the synapse
  3. neurotransmitters are grabbed by receptors from the next neuron to pass the message on and on
34
Q

What are vesicles?

A

tiny sacs containing neurotransmitters

35
Q

What is neurological damage?

A

damage to the body’s central/peripheral nervous system

36
Q

What happens when the nervous system is damaged?

A

messages will be interrupted impacting how a person thinks and behaves. even if just a few neurons don’t work properly the brain can’t function normally

37
Q

What is agnosia?

A

the inability to interpret sensations and thus recognise things, because we can’t process sensory information and make sense of things

38
Q

What is visual agnosia?

A

the inability to recognise things that can be seen (you can still see though)

39
Q

What is prosopagnosia?

A

the inability to recognise faces, face-blindness

40
Q

Why may people get visual agnosia?

A

due to damage to the parietal lobe

41
Q

What are the symptoms of visual agnosia?

A

whatever information sent from the eyes to the brain cannot be understood/processed. they may not recognise the colour, name of an object or places they’ve been.

42
Q

What is the pre-frontal cortex?

A

an area of the brain’s cortex at the front of the frontal lobe, immediately behind the forehead. it is used to help control impulses: emotions and stop you from doing bad things.

43
Q

What happens when someone has prosopagnosia?

A

whatever information seen by the eyes is sent to the brain but its unable to be processed and recognised, even if they know the person very well. this is due to damage to the FFM (fusiform face area) at the back of the temporal lobe with is for face recognition.

44
Q

What are the symptoms of prosopagnosia?

A

can’t identify anyone, see all faces as the same

45
Q

What is the impact of damage to the pre-frontal cortex?

A

damage to this area causes neurological damage. it makes you more aggressive, impulsive and likely to commit crimes as your personality changes.

46
Q

What is Raine et al. (1997)?

A

Raine studied the brains of a murderer and a non murderer. murderers have less activity in their pre-frontal cortex while explains why they’re more violent and impulsive.

47
Q

What is the background of Damasio et al. (1994)?

A

in 1848 phineas gage had an iron rod fire through his head during an explosion, causing damage to his face and frontal lobe. causing his personality to change permanently after recovery, and died 12 years after accident. Harlow was his doctor and requested to study his skull, he left some reports after Harlow passed. Damasio and her colleagues used the ancient skull to further understand what happened using modern technologies.

48
Q

What are the aims of Damasio et al. (1994)?

A
  1. build a 3D model of Gage’s skull to use as a guide and map out how the iron rod passed through his head
  2. find out if the frontal lobe was damaged and other damaged areas as well
49
Q

What was the procedure of Damasio et al. (1994)?

A
  1. took pictures and measurement of the real skull
  2. built virtual 3D replica using references
  3. took measurements of rod and compared damaged parts of skull to find the pathway of the rod
  4. after cutting down to 5 pathways he used a virtual replica to find which areas were damaged
50
Q

What was the diameter of the rod?

A

109cm long and 3cm in diameter

51
Q

How many entry and exit points were there in Gage’s skull?

A

20 different entry points and 16 different exit points

52
Q

What were the results of Damasio et al. (1994)?

A
  • damage to left and right hemisphere of frontal lobe and no else
  • iron bar went through left eye socket and upwards through the head
  • more damage to underlying white matter in left hemisphere
  • damage to ventromedial region and slightly at the top edges of the dorsolateral region
53
Q

What is white matter?

A

where all the neurons pass messages along axon fibers. damage to white matter stops your nervous system from sending messages

54
Q

Where is the dorsolateral region and ventromedial region?

A

dorsolateral region: front of the frontal lobe in left hemisphere

ventromedial region: in the bottom of the frontal lobe

55
Q

What was the conclusion of Damasio et al. (1994)

A

the ventromedial region of the frontal lobe is important for sensible decisions and control our impulses + emotions, which Gage found difficult after the accident

56
Q

What are the strengths of Damasio et al. (1994)?

A

the use of modern day technology gives the results more scientific status

it allows us to make more predictions in the future of patients with frontal lobe damage, helping us understand what’s happening and how to treat it

57
Q

What are the weaknesses of Damasio et al. (1994)?

A

the reports were based 150 years ago therefore it may be inaccurate and outdated therefore unreliable. the brain damage was very unique so it’s ungeneralisable and may be unhelpful for other patients

58
Q

What was the start of psychology?

A

1875 - William Wundt: Leipzig, Germany. opened a laboratory to study peoples thoughts and not just the anatomy of the brain as usual. it helped psychologists make connections between behaviour and the physical brain.

59
Q

When was the Phineas Gage accident and how did it change the view of psychology?

A

it happened in 1848 and it encouraged doctors to investigate behaviours and how the brain has a role in them.

60
Q

How did people study case studies of brains before scans?

A

psychologists had to wait for someone to die to be able to take their skull and examine it. (post-mortem)

61
Q

What is an MRI scan?

A

magnetic resonance imaging: a method of studying the brain using electromagnets

62
Q

How do brain scans help us?

A

give us detailed information on how our brains work by showing how it looks like and when it is active. which is why the advancement of technology helps us.

63
Q

What is a PET scan?

A

colour images that have warm colours in high metabolism/energy areas and cool colours in low metabolism/energy areas which show us which areas of the brain work during different activities.

64
Q

What are the advantages of technology in psychology?

A

provides opportunities to help people with brain damage buy finding out where the damage is. it also allows us to zoom into neurons and synapses to create theories about which parts of the brain control types of behaviours.

65
Q

What is the background of Sperry et al. (1968)?

A

patients with sever epilepsy had surgery to sever the corpus callosum to reduce symptoms and seizures.

66
Q

How does the brain work without a corpus callosum?

A

it becomes a split brain, where both left and right hemisphere work separately like 2 different brains and cannot communicate.

67
Q

What was the aim of Sperry et al. (1968)?

A

To identify the effects that can be seen in split-brain patients to see how they processed information compared to a normal brain.

68
Q

How many participants were in Sperry et al. (1968)?

A

11 participants with a split-brain

69
Q

Describe the procedure for the visual task in Sperry et al. (1968)?

A
  1. participants had to focus on the center of a screen with information presented on the left/right side of visual fields
  2. participants were asked what they saw
    OR
    participants asked to point to the item/picture/word using the same hand and opposite hand
70
Q

Describe the procedure for the selecting task in Sperry et al. (1968)?

A
  1. participants were given an object in their right hand and could touch it to identify what it is
  2. then asked to find that object in a pile of things
  3. repeat but switch right to left hand
71
Q

What were the results of Sperry et al. (1968) for the visual task?

A
  • when shown to the right visual field (left brain) they could say what they saw. but when showed to left visual field (right brain) couldn’t saw what they saw.
  • when shown to right visual field (left brain) couldn’t point to object. but when left visual field (right brain) had to point they could do it with little trouble.
72
Q

What were the results for Sperry et al. (1968) for the selecting task?

A
  • when object was felt by the right-hand (left brain) they could say what they felt. but when object was felt by left-hand (right brain) they couldn’t say what they felt.
  • when 2 different objects were felt in the left and right hands simultaneously and asked to find it in a pile, they could only identify the object with the hand that felt it.
73
Q

What are the conclusions of Sperry et al. (1968)?

A

each hemisphere works perfect itself, but they each have their own memories which can’t be shared without a corpus callosum causing problems for activities as the right and left brain have different roles. the left brain is responsible for naming words while the right brain is responsible for feeling and touch. which proves the theory that left hemisphere is for language and right is for spatial awareness.

GCSE Psychology (6 decks)

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