brain and neuropsychology

• The divisions of the human nervous system include the central nervous system (CNS) which coordinates incoming information and makes decisions about movement or other activities, and the peripheral nervous system (PNS) which collects information from, and sends information to, different parts of the human body.
• The central nervous system consists of the brain and the spinal cord.
• The peripheral nervous system consists of the somatic nervous system (SNS) which is a network of nerve fibres running throughout the body, and sense receptors such as those in our skin, muscles and internal organs, and the autonomic nervous system (ANS) which is a network of special nerves that take information to and from the CNS but do so more slowly as the nerve fibres are not myelinated.
• The autonomic nervous system (ANS) uses information from our internal organs to coordinate our general physiological functioning and also responds directly to information such as stressful or emotional events.
• The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is split into two divisions: the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions.
• The sympathetic division sets off arousal, which can be mild like a feeling of anxiety, or extreme such as the fight or flight response.
• The sympathetic division is activated when an individual feels “under threat”.
• The parasympathetic division allows the body to store up energy when we are not “under threat”.
• The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is the part of the nervous system which helps us react quickly and strongly to emergency situations.
• The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is responsible for breathing, digestion and is the main link between the brain and the endocrine system which is a set of glands that release hormones into the blood stream.
• Hormones change the state of the body and when adrenaline is released, it activates the heart, making it beat faster ready for action.
• The release of adrenaline is part of the fight or flight response.
• The area responsible for controlling movement is called the motor area and it controls deliberate movement, using motor neurons to send signals to our muscles.
• The angular gyrus is located at the back of the parietal lobe and receives information about written language from the visual cortex and interprets it as being similar to speech.
• The study used clinical case studies to investigate the brain functioning of a number of patients who were undergoing open brain surgery.
• The study design involved some of the brain surgery being conducted requiring patients to be conscious so the surgeon can be sure that any actions occurred in the right place.
• The cerebellum controls our physical movements as we become more experienced and practiced, making them smoother and more automatic.
• Another patient reported to hearing a clear memory when the same area of the temporal lobe was stimulated.
• The auditory cortex receives information from the ears and damage to this area of the brain can lead to hearing loss.
• Localisation of function in the brain refers to the understanding that some brain functions are associated with particular areas on the folded outer layers of the cerebrum known as the cerebral cortex.
• The study produced qualitative results, with one patient reporting to hearing a piano playing and could even identify the son being played when the temporal lobe was stimulated.
• Humans have specialised areas on the left hemisphere of the brain, which are dedicated to language processing.
• Wernicke’s area is in the temporal lobe, and is concerned with understanding speech.
• A female patient reported to hearing an orchestra playing a particular tune when the temporal lobe was stimulated.
• Broca’s area is at the base of the left frontal lobe and deals with speech production.
• The visual cortex is in the occipital lobe which is just above the cerebellum and receives information from both the eyes through the optic nerves.
• Penfield’s study of the interpretive cortex aimed to investigate the workings of the conscious mind.
• The volunteers all chose their own topics and lay on a couch and closed their eyes, beginning to think about their chosen topic.
• The remaining three showed a clear difference in blood flow patterns depending on whether what they were remembering was episodic or semantic information.
• The study design used case studies and measured the distribution of a gold radioactive isotope within the brain using a PET scanning technique called regional cerebral blood flow.
• Episodic recollection generally produced more activation of the frontal and temporal lobes, while semantic recollection produced more activity in the parietal and occipital lobes of the cerebral cortex.
• Tulving’s study compared episodic memory, which is the memory of something participants had experienced personally like a trip or holiday, with semantic memory, such as knowledge learned through reading a book.
• Tulving concluded that semantic and episodic memories produce activity in different parts of the brain.
• Each participant experienced eight trials in total, with a two-minute rest in-between.
• If a person reads out a word or is asked to think of a specific event, the fMRI scan will show which parts of the brain are active as they do this.
• Tulving’s Gold Memory Study 1989 aimed to explore the connection between different types of memory and brain activity.
• Tulving's Gold Memory Study demonstrated how different areas of the brain activity are related to cognitive processes.
• Researchers also compared whether the memory was recent or established some time ago.
• The reading lasted 2.4 seconds and consisted of 12 rapid scans of 0.2 seconds each.
• The study used ethical procedures with the participants fully informed before they gave their consent.