Week 3 - biological psychology

Question 1

What are sensory neurons in the spinal cord?

Answer 1

(Input neurons) - send messages to the brain from the body (eg temperature, pressure, pain, position etc). Located in dorsal spine.

Question 2

What’re motor neurons in the spinal cord?

Answer 2

(Output) - send messaged from the brain to the body (eg actions, changes in organ function). Located in ventral spine.

Question 3

What’re interneurons (spinal cord)?

Answer 3

Connect sensory and motor neurons at the spinal level allowing for reflexive movement.

Question 4

Name the parts of the brain (CNS)

Answer 4

Forebrain: cerebral cortex and subcortical structures

Brain stem: midbrain, pons, medulla

Cerebellum (‘little brain’): balance, motor coordination, learning motor skills.

Pons and medulla sometimes called hindbrain.

Question 5

Describe cerebral ventricles (central nervous system)

Answer 5

Cerebral ventricles are cavities within the brain and spinal cord that contains cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Nourishes and protects CNS from trauma.

Question 6

Describe parts of the brain stem:

Answer 6

Connects brain and spinal cord
Regulates basic bodily functions

Pons: connects cortex to cerebellum
Medulla: respiration, heart rate, sleep/wake patterns. said to maybe be responsible for nausea for example when you’re concussed.
Midbrain: movement control, orienting to sensory stimuli (door slam)
Reticular activating system (RAS): consciousness and arousal.

Question 7

Describe the forebrain (sometimes called the cerebrum)

Answer 7

Largest and most complex region of the brain comprised of:

• cerebral cortex
• subcortical structures

Left and right cerebral hemispheres connected by the corpus callosum - allows both hemispheres of brain to share info.

Question 8

Describe the limbic system?

Answer 8

A sub cortical structure of the forebrain.
Interconnected brain regions involved in emotional processing, basic drives, control of the autonomic nervous system, learning and memory, smell.

Parts involved:
Thalamus 
Corpus callosum 
Cingulate cortex 
Hypothalamus 
Hippocampus 
Amygdala

Question 9

Describe the parts of the limbic system in more detail

Answer 9

Thalamus: receives/transfers incoming sensory information to the cortex (relay station). smell is the ONLY sense that DOESNT go through the thalamus

Hypothalamus: regulates autonomic nervous system and endocrine system (via pituitary gland).

   - basic drives (eg fighting, fleeing, feeding, mating).
    - homeostasis (body temperature, blood sugar, metabolism). 

Amygdala: learning, recognising and responding to emotion (in particular, fear).

Hippocampus : encoding of new long term memories, spatial memory.

Question 10

Describe the basal ganglia

Answer 10

It is a subcortical structure of the forebrain.
Control of movement (initiating and inhibiting)
-Parkinson’s disease
-Huntington’s disease
- Tourette’s syndrome

Initiating actions for reward

Some memory processes (eg, habit formation, procedural learning).

Question 11

What is the cerebral cortex?

Answer 11

A part of the forebrain.

Cerebral cortex: outer convoluted (hills and valleys in texture) layer of brain (3mm thick)

Most recent evolutionary addition

Complex ‘higher order’ processes (eg,. Though, speech, reasoning, conscious responses).

Hills = gyri, valleys= sulci

Separating the left and right brain hemispheres is called the longitudinal fissure (type of sulci)

4 lobes in each hemisphere (from front to back): frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobe.

Question 12

Describe some parts of the cerebral cortex’s hierarchical organisation.

Answer 12

Primary areas: receive incoming sensory information (raw data), or send messages to body to initiate movement

Association areas: adds cognitive element. Forms perceptions, applies meaning to incoming messages, plans responses.

Question 13

Describe some aspects of the frontal lobe:

Answer 13

Prefrontal cortex: ‘executive function’, particularly important for personality, mood and memory.

Executive function: planning, guidance and evaluation of behaviour (ie decision making, problem solving, reasoning, self awareness, self control)

Broca’s area: speech production (typically left hemisphere)

Motor cortex: programming and execution of movement.

Question 14

What’s some symptoms with frontal lobe damage?

Answer 14

Executive function deficits (eg inability to plan, loss/change in motivation, social inappropriateness, reduced flexibility of thinking)

Case study example: Phineas Gage (iron rod through head)

Question 15

Describe some features of the parietal lobes

Answer 15

Processing of somatic sensations and perceptions

Somatosensory cortex: registers tactile sensations from body (temperature, pressure, pain)

Integration of inputs (eg somatic, motor, visual and Auditory), and integration of inputs with memories and internal states.

Spatial information for self and other
-‘where’ visual processing pathway

Question 16

What happens with parietal lobe damage?

Answer 16

Left right confusions, problems integrating sensory information, vision-spatial and constructional problems (eg, neglect (just drawing right hand side of objects for example a clock)) can improve after a stroke

Question 17

Describe some features of the temporal lobe

Answer 17

Processing auditory information

• primary auditory cortex: receives incoming sound, analyses according to frequency/tone
• auditory association cortex: applies meaning to sound

Wernickes area: language comprehension (typically Left hemisphere only)

Long term storage if autobiographical information (memory)
Storage of object representations
-‘what’ visual pathway

Question 18

What would happen if the temporal lobe was damage?

Answer 18

Auditory problems, impaired language comprehension (wernickes aphasia), poor memory (amnesia), auditory and visual recognition problems (agnosia)

Agnosia- (object recognition problems) and prosopagnosia (face blindness)

Question 19

Describe some features of the occipital lobes

Answer 19

Primary visual cortex: receives visual information from eyes via the optic nerve.

Visual association cortex: organises these simple features into more complex maps of features (eg colour, motion) and their position in space to form an image.

Question 20

What happens when the occipital lobe is damaged?

Answer 20

Cortical blindness, problems with vision (eg colour vision, movement perception). Reading problems.

Question 21

Hemispheric lateralisation: (left right Brain)

Answer 21

Localisation of function/functional specialisation: function is localised to specific area of brain

Lateralisation of function: function localised predominantly to one hemisphere (left or right). Generally this is NOT the case for many functions.

Corpus callosum: band of neurons that connects and transfers information between left and right hemispheres.

Question 22

Facts about hemispheric lateralisation

Answer 22

-all sensory input (except olfaction) is argent processed by opposite hemisphere.
The left hemisphere receives sensory information from right and controls right side of the body.
The right hemisphere receives sensory information from the left and controls the left side of the body
The left hemisphere is specialised for language (in most people).

Question 23

Split brain surgery and effects on function

Answer 23

Corpus callosotomy: surgical severance of the corpus callosum (‘split brain surgery’)

In split brain patients, sensory connections and motor control are normal, but info can not be shared between the hemispheres.

Hemispheric lateralisation can be examined using a split field technique

Information in right visual field can be verbally described (by left hemisphere)

Information form the left visual field cannot be described verbally, but can be acted upon non-verbally - can point to object that matches word with left hand (controlled by right hemisphere).

Question 24

Describe some things involved in the left hemisphere of the brain

Answer 24

Motor control of right side

Somatosensory and primary sensory cortices (except olfaction) for right side

Fine tuned language skills

• speech comprehension
• speech production
• phonology
• syntax
• reading
• writing

Actions

• voluntary facial expressions
• motor detection

Question 25

Describe some features of the right hemisphere

Answer 25

Motor control of left side

Somatosensory and primary sensory cortices (except olfaction) for left side

Coarse language skills

• simple speech
• simple writing
• tone of voice

Visuospatial skills

• perceptual grouping
• face perceptions