Biopsychology

• Localisation of function


  Theory that states that different areas of the brain are responsible for different behaviours, processes or activities.

  
• Motor area


  Back of frontal lobe, involved in regulating movement.

  
• Somatosensory area

  Front of both parietal lobes, processes sensory information such as touch.

  
• Parts of the brain: Visual area.


  Occipital lobe, receives and processes visual information.

  
• Parts of the brain: Auditory area.

  Temporal lobe, analyses speech-based information.

  
• Parts of the brain: Language areas.

  Broca's area, frontal lobe in the left hemisphere = speech production.Wernicke's area, temporal lobe in the left hemisphere = language comprehension.

  
• Define plasticity.


  Brain's tendency to change and adapt (functionally and physically) as a result of experience and new learning.

  
• What five things must be used to evaluate localisation of function?

  Brain scan evidence, neurological evidence, case study evidence, Lashley's research and plasticity and the equipotentiality theory.

  
• Synaptic pruning.


  As we age, rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened.

  
• Axonal sprouting.


  Undamaged axons grow new nerve endings to reconnect neurons whose links were injured or severed.

  
• Recruitment of homologous areas.

  Regions on opposite sides of the brain take on functions of damaged areas.

  
• Functional recovery.


  Form of plasticity. Following damage through trauma, the brain's ability to redistribute/transfer functions performed by damaged areas to other, undamaged areas.

  
• Neural plasticity.

  Describes the brain's tendency to change and adapt - functionally and physically - resulting from experience and new learning.

  
• What is the central nervous system (CNS)?


  Consists of brain and spinal cord; origin of all complex commands and decisions.

  
• What is the peripheral nervous system (PNS)?


  Sends info to CNS from outside world, transmitting messages from CNS to muscles and bodily glands.

  
• Define hemispheric lateralisation.

  Certain mental processes and behaviours are controlled or dominated by one hemisphere rather than the other (as in the example of language).

  
• Corpus callosum


  A band of neural fibres that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

  
• Split-brain studies.


  Corpus callosum cut in patients with severe epilepsy, allowing researchers to investigate the extent to which brain function is lateralised.

  
• Describing what you see.


  Pictures shown to RVF could be described but not those to LVF because no language centres in left hemisphere (connected to RVF).

  
• Recognition by touch.


  Could not describe objects projected to LVF, but able to select a matching object from a selection of different objects using their left hand.

  
• fMRI


  Measures brain activity in specific areas by detecting associated changes in blood flow.

  
• EEG


  A record of the brain wave patterns produced by millions of neurons, producing characteristic patterns.

  
• ERPs

  Isolating specific responses of neurons to specific stimuli or tasks.

  
• Post mortem examinations


  Correlating behaviours before death with brain structures after death.
• Circadian rhythms.


  Have cycles that generally occur once every 24hrs.

  
• Infradian rhythms


  Have cycles that occur less than once every day.

  
• Ultradian rhythms


  Have cycles that occur more than once every 24 hours.

  
• Biological rhythm


  Distinct patterns of changes in biological activity that conform to cyclical time periods.

  
• Siffre study


  spent extended periods underground. Deprived of exposure to natural light and sound, but with access to adequate food and drink. His biological rhythm settled down to one that was just beyond the usual 24 hours.

  
• Aschoff and Wever


  Participants spent 4 weeks in a WWII bunker deprived of natural light. All but one of the participants displayed a circadian rhythm between 24 and 25 hours.

  
• Folkard et al.

  12 people lived in a cave. Researchers sped up the clock so a 24-hour day lasted 22 hours. No participants were able to adjust to the new regime.

  
• The sleep/wake cycle


  The fact that we feel drowsy when it's night-time and alert during the day demonstrates the affect of daylight - an important exogenous zeitgber - on our sleep/wake cycle.

  
• Exogenous zeitgebers


  External cues in the environment that entrain our endogenous rhythms.

  
• Endogenous pacemakers


  Internal body clocks that regulate many of our biological rhythms.

  
• Seasonal affective disorder - SAD


  Depression associated with seasonal changes, usually the onset of winter and decreased darkness.

  
• Stages of sleep


  90-minute cycles during sleep brain, sleep escalator from stage 1 to 5 and REM. Brain wave activity changes.

  
• What happens in stage 1 of sleep?

  Light sleep; person can be easily woken. Theta waves in stage 1; person in light sleep and can easily be woken.

  
• What happens in stage 2 of sleep?

  Sleep spindles, theta waves and mixed EEG activity. Light sleep where person can be easily woken.

  
• What waves are present in stage 3 and 4 of sleep?

  Involves delta waves that are slower and greater amplitude than earlier wave patterns. This is deep sleep/slow wave sleep and it's difficult to rouse somebody at this point.
• Rapid eye movement (REM sleep)


  A kind of sleep that occurs at intervals during the night and is characterised by rapid eye movements, more dreaming and bodily movement, and faster pulse and breathing.