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biopsych
a level aqa psychology
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| two initial/main sections of the nervous system | peripheral and central nervous system |
| central nervous system | brain and spinal cord |
| peripheral nervous system | outside of cns, goes to organs,muscles,glands etc. |
| what does the pns split into? | autonomic and somatic nervous system |
| what are the divisions of the ans? | sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions |
| sympathetic division | fight or flight response, helps to deal with danger |
| parasympathetic division | rest and digest, return to homeostasis |
| dendrite | picks up info from the previous neuron |
| node of ranvier | gaps in the myelin sheath, speeds up the message |
| axon terminal/terminal button | where synaptic transmission occurs |
| nucleus | controls the cell, contains DNA |
| axon | runs through myelin sheath , from dendrite to axon terminal |
| myelin sheath | protects and stops the message leaving/escaping |
| sensory neuron | senses the messages, carries it from pns and cns, cell body in the centre |
| relay neuron | sends messages to and from the brain,short axon, quick messages |
| motor neuron | carries messages to effectors from the cns through the pns, from cell body to dendrites, long axon |
| differing lengths of axons and dendrites | motor neurons-short dendrites,long axons relay neurons-short dendrites,long or short neurons sensory neurons-long dendrites,short axons |
| synapse/synaptic cleft | the gap between neurons,end of an axon and the start of dendrites |
| signals within pre and post-synaptic clefts | electrical |
| signals in the synapse/synaptic cleft | chemical |
| neurotransmitters | chemical messengers |
| pre-synaptic cleft | where the message comes from |
| post-synaptic cleft | where the message is received |
| can any neurotransmitter attach to any receptor? | no they function like a lock and key |
| which systems work together to reach homeostasis | endocrine and nervous system |
| gland | organ that produces a hormone often attached to a major organ |
| example of how hormones impact cells/processes | thyroxine impacts heart cells etc. to increase metabolic rate |
| process of fight or flight | pns collects info of stress, informing cns/hypothalamus triggers sympathetic division and adrenaline is released changes from a ps state to a physiological sympathetic state once stress has passed, the ps ns returns body to homeostasis rest,digest |
| Broca's aphasia | damage to Broca's area means someone is unable to produce speech even though they understand language |
| Wernicke's aphasia | damage to Wernicke's area means someone is unable to understand language even though they can produce speech |
| motor cortex | located in the frontal lobe along precentral gyrus generation of voluntary motor movements on both hemispheres different parts of cortex control different body parts e.g region that controls the foot is next to the one that controls the leg |
| visual centres | visual cortex,occipital lobe visual processing begins in retina nerve impulses from retina travel to areas of the brain via optic nerve both hemispheres different areas control different visual info e.g shape,colour,movement |
| where do most nerve impulses terminate? | most terminate in the thalamus (relay station passing info to visual cortex) |
| what is visual processing in the retina? | light enters and strikes the photoreceptors (rods and cones) |
| auditory centres | temporal lobe,both hemispheres cochlea inner ear, sound waves to nerve impulses which travel via auditory nerve to cortex brain stem,basic decoding thalamus,further processing,stops at cortex to create appropriate response (already largely decoded) |
| examples of decoding in brain stem in auditory centres | duration and intensity of sound |
| somatosensory cortex | detects sensory events from different regions parietal lobe,along postcentral gyrus processing of sensory info related to touch uses sensory info from skin to produce sensations like touch pressure,pain,temp then localises to regions both sides |
| language centres, broca's area | critical for speech production however neuroscientists have found when people perform cognitive tasks broca's area is active Frodorenko (2012) 2 regions, 1 selectively involved in language, other responds to many cognitive tasks |
| broca's area, evidence/research | treated 'Tan' (can only speak this one word can understand language) 8 other patients with lesions had similar language deficits but only when on the left hemisphere of the frontal lobe so the existence of language centre in back portion was identified |
| wernicke's area | back portion of left temporal lobe involved in understanding language lesions on wernicke's area, can speak,can't understand proposed language involved separate motor/sensory regions located in different cortical regions |
| which regions are close to the broca and wernicke's area? | motor and sensory |
| what connects broca and wernicke's area? | neural loop (arcuate fasciculus) |
| hemispheric lateralisation | one side of the brain controls the other side of the body |
| occipital lobe | controls visual cortex and centres |
| visual field | the information processed from each section of the eye |
| connection in the brain explanations | air traffic and road network |
| road network connections in the brain explanation | new connections are built over old ones to carry/store new info |
| air traffic connections in the brain explanation | connections are made to new popular destinations and old ones are abandoned/restructured |
| what happens when you gain new info | a new neural pathway is created,using it more strengthens it, creating stronger connections between neurons , if not used the pathway is forgotten |
| Maguire et al (2000) aim | to investigate if neural networks in the brain needed to adapt to remember so much spatial memory |
| Maguire et al (2000) method | right handed male taxi drivers, right handed male non-taxi drivers MRI scanning of hippocampus (role in human memory) |
| Maguire et al (2000) results | taxi drivers had a much larger posterior hippocampus, more neural pathways but their anterior was smaller (isn't the most important, focus instead on posterior) |
| Maguire et al (2000) conclusion | neuroplasticity strengthened a neural network in the posterior hippocampus, as a result of long term,intense spatial memory tasks synaptic pruning reduced the strength of other networks (anterior) |
| Elbert (1995) | brain imaging to measure somatosensory cortex in musicians and a control group, right hemisphere is lager in musicians area representing the digits in the left hand was larger in musicians |
| Kuhn et al (2014) | 23 p's played supermario increase in cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum |
| functional recovery | following injury the unaffected area adapt to compensate heightened plasticity in first few weeks as neurorehabilitation takes place in this period |
| axonal sprouting | growth of new nerve endings which connect with undamaged nerve cells |
| which connections are most likely to be lost in injury? | the ones most commonly used |
| What happens when secondary connections are activated/'unmasked'? | 1) axonal sprouting 2) reformation of blood vessels 3) recruitment of similar areas on the opposite side to perform specific tasks |
| Schneider et al (2014) cognitive reserve | more time in education=increased chance of disability free recovery (DFR) 40% of patients with 16+ years achieved DFR 10% with less than 12 years achieved DFR keeping the brain active can prevent dementia |
| constrained induced movement therapy (CIMT) | forces patients to relearn the use of the weak side by preventing the use of the strong side |
| CIMT advantages | improves function through cortical reorganisation helps patients with aphasia and stroke damage can improve function in areas around the damage |
| CIMT disadvantages | frustrating training for hours a day only effective in mild to moderate cases needs to be intensive to be effective |
| What are the 2 hemispheres in the brain connected by and communicate through? | the corpus callosum ( a bundle of nerve fibres) |
| Commissurotomy | the severing of the corpus callosum connecting the hemispheres |
| Sperry's split brain experiment (1968) aim | to show the independent streams of conscious awareness possessed by each hemisphere and to show how each hemisphere has it's own memories |
| Sperry's split brain experiment (1968) method | 11 epileptic p's couldn't be treated with drugs already had corpus callosum split fixation point upright translucent screen slides projected either side (one field or other) 1/10 s tactile tasks , could only feel not see, at the same time |
| Sperry's split brain experiment (1968) variations | 1) describing what you see 2) recognition by touch 3) composite words 4) matching faces 5) drawing |
| Sperry's split brain experiment (1968) describing what they see results | when a picture of an object was shown to a patient's right visual field, could easily describe what was seen when shown to left visual field p's couldn't describe it (often report nothing is there |
| Sperry's split brain experiment (1968) drawing results | could draw better with left hand right hemisphere was superior |
| Sperry's split brain experiment (1968) recognition by touch results | shown object in their left visual field they can pick up object with left hand, couldn't verbalise what they were selecting able to select an object associated two different objects in each hand the hidden for retrieval, can only select their object |
| Sperry's split brain experiment (1968) composite words results | 2 words presented simultaneously, one on either side of visual field e.g key left, ring right say ring and pick up key with left hand |
| Sperry's split brain experiment (1968) face recognition/matching results | split, left half woman and right half man say man (language centre, left hemisphere) matching faces, select an image of a woman |
| plasticity | how the brain adapts based on circumstances |
| fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) | can investigate structure/function during tasks more active areas need more oxygen and therefore blood so iron in haemoglobin is picked up and tracked |
| no lie MRI | US company, believe an MRI can predict 90% accuracy can be an evaluation point as a result of morals |
| fMRI strengths | risk free no lasting damage not invasive high quality images |
| fMRI weaknesses | expensive and uncomfortable/claustrophobic poor temporal resolution ( approximately 5 seconds ) only measures blood flow not neuronal activity |
| EEG ( electroencephalogram) | electric activity electrodes on scalp detects small activity resulting from millions of neurons |
| EEG strengths | helps diagnose conditions e.g epilepsy helps understand sleep high temporal resolution ( no lag time) |
| EEG weaknesses | very generalised information not a clear image of the brain |
| ERP ( event related potentials) | measuring electrical activity that results from specific stimuli (events) inconsistent activity filtered out repeat many times identify consistent and repeating events |
| ERP strengths | high temporal resolution measures specific activity that relates to a specific task |
| ERP weaknesses | large repetition is required, takes time difficult to ensure extraneous noise etc is eliminated |
| post mortem | examining structural damage to the brain after death establish how/what damage leads to specific deficits often on patients with rare deficits in mental processes or behaviour |
| How were Broca and Wernicke's area discovered? | they were discovered through post mortem |
| post mortem strengths | vital before neuroimaging allows exploration of deeper areas within the brain that's not possible through scans |
| post mortem weaknesses | difficult to establish causation of functions, not alive many factors that affect quality- e.g how long they've been dead, of the brain was damaged when being removed |
| PET scan | inject glucose solution with a radiotracer to track the radiation in the blood that flows to the area in use active-red and yellow less active-blue and green |
| PET weakness | radioactive substance, lack of protection from harm |
| PET strength | see which area of the brain is active, more specific |
| CT scan | x-rays, finds tumours and abnormalities |
| CT weaknesses | cannot have more than 3 x-rays a year, risk of cancer etc. doesn't show where the function is happening |
| CT strength | picks up tumours/abnormalities easily |
| what are the three biological rythms? | infradian circadian ultradian |
| biological rythm | happens frequently and repetitively |
| circadian rythm | once every 24 hours, e.g sleep wake cycle |
| exogenous Zeitgeber | external factors that effect our bodily rythms (e.g light and dark) |
| Siffre (1975) | 6 months alone in a cave underground no clocks or natural light sleep wake cycle still happening day changed to 25.5 hours suggested natural internal body clock -endogenous pace maker |
| Aschoff and Wever (1976) | repeated Siffre's study in a war bunker a group, all but one changed to a 29 hour day, supports however, social cues impact results in a group situation, if others fall asleep you most likely will |
| infradian rythms | longer than 24 hours |
| examples of infradian rythms | SAD and the menstrual cycle |
| menstrual cycle in reference to infradian rythms | 28 day cycle, rythms influenced by hormones ( endogenous pacemakers) however there are some exogenous zeitgebers SAD |
| SAD in reference to infradian rythms | type of depression, follows seasons most common in winter, lasts from early winter to summer melatonin hormone (pineal gland) in summer the hormone is reduced, the light suppresses its production) in winter more melatonin is released, endogenous |
| ultradian rythms | more than once in 24 hours e.g the sleep cycle |
| the sleep cycle | 5 stages repeated every 90 minutes, contains various levels of sleep, can track using EEG |
| stage 1 and 2 of sleep cycle | light sleep, easily woken muscles relax occasional twitches no dreams alpha waves (EEG) |
| stage 3 and 4 of sleep cycle | deep rythmic sleep breathing and heart rate slow muscle activity almost stops delta waves (EEG) |
| stage 5 of sleep cycle | REM (rapid eye movement) brain activity is similar than when awake do not move from neck down neurons in brain stem inhibit muscles in the rest of the body dreaming |
| which ratio of REM to non-REM is wanted when sleeping | 75%-non-REM 25%-REM |
| McCintock (1971) | 135 women (17-22) became synchronised because of pheromones |
| McCintock and Stern (1988) | 10 years, longitudinal 29 women (29-35) with irregular, spontaneous ovulation samples of pheromones from 9 women placed under nose of other 20 on a daily basis after treated with alcohol 68% synched |
| what were the pheromones in McCintock's study | exogenous zeitgeber |
| McCintock and Stern strengths | longitudinal study two studies (reliable) |
| McCintock and Stern weaknesses | temporal validity-1971,1988 doesn't take into account exogenous zeitgebers |
| brain stem | connects brain to rest of nervous system |
| medulla oblongata | regulates breathing,heart rate and blood pressure |
| cerebellum | balance and muscle coordination |
| pons | operates facial expressions |
| midbrain | filters nerve signals from brain stem |
| olfactory bulb | relays signals from nose receptors |
| pituitary gland | the 'master gland' regulates the endocrine system |
| amygdala | creates emotions |
| hypothalamus | controls basic drives (sleep,sex,hunger) |
| hypothalamus | regulates neuro-transmitter production |
| septum | processes feelings of pleasure |
| corpus callosum | filters and relays nerve signals between the hemispheres |
| thalamus | relays sensory information |
| basal ganglia | operates basic physical movements and reactions |
| hippocampus | builds and organises memories |
| cerebrum | beneath the cerebral cortex performs basic cognitive functions-talking,watching and listening moving around |
| cerebral cortex | outer layer of cerebrum performs advanced thinking,reasoning and concentration |
| prefrontal cortex | highest-level thinking introspection,moral judgement, philosophy and creativity |
| visual cortex | vision and visualising visual memory |
| motor cortex strip | fine motor control, complex movements |
| sensory cortex strip | advanced perception, interpretation or fine sensory stimuli |
| endogenous pacemaker | internal mechanisms that govern biological rhythms |
Created by:
emsteel
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