General Psychology Exam 2

Cards (71)

  • What is a neuron:
    • cells of nervous system
    • nerve cells
    • convey information throughout the body
    • could include sending information to brain
    • electrochemical impulses
    • electro: within individual neurons
    • chemical: happening between neurons
  • Parts of neurons:
    • Dendrites: where neurons receive information
    • Soma: body of neuron
    • Nucleus: where cell process oxygen and nutrients, holds DNA
    • Axon: carries electrical signal away from soma
    • Axon terminal: end of neuron, where neuron sends information
    • Synapse: where 2 neurons meet to communicate
    • Postsynaptic Neuron: is receiving information
  • Electrical charges = action potentials
    • at rest = more negatively charged inside, positively charged outside
    • action potentials cause negative to go outside and positive to go inside
    • sparks action potential to go to axon terminals
  • Glial cells
    • " glue "
    • support staff of nervous system / neurons
    • bring nutrients to neuron
    • take away waste products from nervous system
    • wrap around axons of neurons, as insulation
    • Myelin sheath
  • Myelin sheath
    • allows for signal to travel faster
    • De myelinated: causes Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
    • loss of motor control
    • vision problems
  • Steps of Synaptic Transmission:
    1. Synthesis of neurotransmitters (NTS)
    2. action potential reaches axon terminal and depolarizes membrane
    3. Release of NTS into synaptic gap
    4. channels open up and chemicals flow out
    5. Binding of NTS to receptor sites (Key and lock step)
    6. binds to receptor site to trigger ions to come in
    7. Reuptake (recycle)
    8. reabsorption of loose or left over NTS
    9. NTS go to reabsorption channel
    • Actions of Neurotransmitters
    • Excitatory: the receiving neuron becomes more active
    • Inhibitory: the receiving neuron becomes less active
  • Ways that chemicals can modify synaptic transmission
    • Agonist : " acts like " a neurotransmitter
    • Ex: pain killers; get in car accident, arm broke, given drugs
    • Antagonist : " blocks " the effect of a neurotransmitter
    • Ex: anti psychotics
    • distorted, irrational thinking, hallucinations, linked to too much of neurotransmitter binding
    • Reuptake Inhibitor : " blocks " reabsorption of a neurotransmitter
    • Ex: SSRI ; Selective, Serotonin, Reuptake, Inhibitor ; Zoloft, Prozac, Paxil
  • Types of Neurotransmitters:
    • Serotonin (5ht): regulates mood, appetite & sleep
    • may be involved in eating disorders, insomnia, depression, OCD, aggression, suicide
    • increases binding of serotonin via SSRI s
  • Types of Neurotransmitters:
    • Acetylcholine (Ach):
    • Muscle contraction
    • Ex: botulism, food poisoning from eating out of dented can, honey has it and can cause if people don't have tolerance; botox
    • stops release of acetylcholine
    • Formation of new memories
    • high production of Ach in hippocampus, "memory maker"
    • Henry Molaison "H.M" removed hippocampus, because of debilitating seizures and couldn't form more
    • London Cab drivers had a larger hippocampus than rest of population in London
    • Ach and Alzheimers:
    • Main problem: buildup of waste products in brain (tangles and plaques)
  • Types of Neurotransmitters:
    • Dopamine (DA): takes place in Mesolimbic Dopamine Pathway "reward pathway)
    • Movement
    • Emotion (esp. "reward")
    • Thought
    • Linked to addictive behavior
    • Anna Lembke "Dopamine Nation" : we are more sad bc we always have access to DA through our phones, our brains are not wired to like easily accessible DA sources
    • DA & schizophrenia: unusual activity of DA in the brain
    • Ex: thought disturbances; most common is delusion of persecution
    • Death of DA Producing Neurons: Parkinsons Disease (movement)
    • Brain Area- Substantia Nigra (" dark substance ")
    • L Dopa : agonist for DA
  • Types of Neurotransmitters:
    • Norepinephrine (NE): increases in arousal (alertness, focus, heart rate increase)
    • Nor = found in brain
    • Epinephrine = adrenaline
    • relased when threatened ; when senses are heightened
    • " Fight of Flight "
    • NE related to depression and bipolar disorder
  • 6 Types of Neurotransmitters:
    1. Serotonin: regulates mood, appetite & sleep
    2. Increases bind of serotonin via SSRI s
    3. Acetylcholine: muscle contraction, form new memories
    4. Botulism, botox
    5. Dopamine: Movement, emotion (reward), thought
    6. Schizophrenia: unusual activity of DA in brain
    7. Parkinsons : Substantia Nigra
    8. Mesolimbic DA Pathway
    9. Norepinephrine: incr. arousal
    10. Fight or Flight
    11. Related to depression & bipolar
    12. Gaba: decr. arousal, stops excitatory messages
    13. Depressants, barbiturate inc. levels of GABA
    14. Seizure disorders
    15. Endorphins: pain killing NTs, inhibitory
    16. Released when in pain
  • Types of Neurotransmitters:
    • GABA: decreases arousal, stops excitatory messages
    • Depressants: alcohol
    • Tranquilizer: valium
    • increase levels of GABA
    • Low levels of GABA is related to seizure disorders
    • Prescribed Gabapentin, agonist for GABA
    • Gamma Amnio Butyric Acid
    • Creates feelings of relaxation
  • Types of Neurotransmitters:
    • Endorphins: pain killing Neurotransmitters, inhibitory
    • Inhibitory: stop neurons from sending messages, stop the release of substance P
    • released when in pain
    • Endo= Endogenus means coming from within
    • Orphins= Morphine
    • Ex: labor, running marathon
  • Too high or low
    • Serotonin: regulates mood & appetite
    • ED, insomnia, depression = low binding of serotonin
    • Acetylcholine: muscle contraction, memory making
    • Botulism = stop release of Ach
    • Not enough Ach= buildup of waste products in brain, Alzheimers
    • Dopamine: movement, emotion, addiction
    • Too much= schizophrenia
    • Too little= Parkinsons
    • Norepinephrine: increase arousal
    • Too little= depression
    • Too much= bipolar disorder
    • GABA: decreases arousal, stops excitatory messages
    • Too little= seizure
    • Endorphins: pain killing NTs
    • Too little= feel pain
    • Too much= feel no pain
  • Hindbrain:
    • Medulla: controls vital life functions (heart rate, breathing)
    • Pons: Relays information from upper regions of the brain to cerebellum
    • Cerebellum: Coordinates muscle movements, maintain posture & equilibrium
    • Reticular formation: regulates attention, alertness & sleep
    Hindbrain and midbrain make up brain stem
  • Midbrain:
    • Substantia Nigra: Involved in motor control, produces Dopamine, involved with Parkinsons
    Hindbrain and Midbrain make up brain stem
  • Forebrain:
    • Subcortical Structures: limbic system, the border between the brain stem & cerebral cortex
    • Thalamus: processes & distributes almost all sensory & motor information going to and from cerebral cortex. Traffic director & security guard
    • Hypothalamus: regulates the autonomic nervous system & behaviors related to survival. Motivation to engage with survival behaviors Feeding / drinking, fleeing / fighting, reproduce
    • Hippocampus: critical for forming new memories
    • Amygdala: emotional expression & emotional aspects of memories
  • Forebrain:
    • Cerebral Cortex: contains centers involved in complex behavior & mental processes (tree bark)
    • Occipital lobe: process visual information (esp. in visual cortex)
    • Temporal lobe: process auditory information (esp. in auditory & wernicke's area)
    • Parietal lobe: process bodily sensations (in somatosensory cortex/ homunculus)
    • Frontal Lobe: controls voluntary motor movements (in motor cortex) & involved in thinking & planning
    • Corpus Callosum: the communication link between left & right cerebral hemispheres
  • Major structures:
    • Hindbrain : Medulla, pons, cerebellum, reticular formation
    • Midbrain : Substantia Nigra
    • Subcortical Structures: thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala
    • Cerebral Cortex: occipital lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, frontal lobe
    • Corpus Callosum: link between left and right cerebral hemispheres
    • Amygdala
    • almond in latin
    • helps form memory by adding emotion to it,
    • Emotional expression
    • Hippocampus
    • sea horse in latin
    • takes 2 weeks for hippocampus to form 1 good memory
    • Sleep helps form memories
    • Separates right from left brain
    • Spares on both sides
    • Located in Forebrain and Subcortical Structures
  • Cerebral Cortex:
    • divided into hemispheres by the longitudinal fissure
    Corpus Callosum:
    • information highway
  • Collateral Organization: each hemisphere sends info to and receives info from the opposite side of the body
  • Lobes of Brain
    A) Frontal Lobe
    B) Temporal Lobe
    C) Spinal Cord
    D) Parietal Lobe
    E) Occipital Lobe
  • Cortex and Lobes
    A) Somatic Sensory
    B) Motor Cortex
    C) Broca Area
    D) Auditory Cortex
    E) Wernicke Area
    F) Visual Cortex
    G) Frontal Lobe
    H) Temporal Lobe
    I) Occipital Lobe
    J) Parietal Lobe
  • Major Brain Structures
    A) Hypothalamus
    B) Pituitary
    C) Pons
    D) Medulla Oblongata
    E) Spinal Cord
    F) Reticular Formation
    G) Cerebellum
    H) Midbrain
    I) Thalamus
    J) Corpus Callosum
  • Major Brain Structures
    A) Thalamus
    B) Hypothalamus
    C) Amygdala
    D) Hippocampus
  • Homunculous : little Person
    A) Somatosensory Cortex
    B) Somatomotor Cortex
  • Right Hemisphere
    • Emotion
    • Face Recognition
    Left Hemisphere
    • Language
  • Specialization of Hemispheres
    • Wernickes: brain's translator
    • Brocas: controls mouth so you can talk
    Right handers have in left side, Left handers have it in right side
  • Split Brain:
    • a brain with a severed corpus callosum
    • Roger Sperry determined the function of corpus callosum
    • Result of surgery, thought that it would be good for people with grand mal seizures
    • Patients that had this were cured, and did not have major side effects
    • Roger Sperry got patients that are recovered, told patients to reach with left then right hand and tell what object is
    • Left hand often said that there was nothing in hand or couldn't verbalize it
    • Right hand could tell what object was
    • Right hand-> goes to left brain which could translate
  • Right handers:
    • have communication properties in left brain
    • emotion in right brain
    Left handers:
    • have communication properties in right brain
    • emotion in left brain
  • Brain Plasticity
    • The brain's ability to change ( or brain growth)
    • Structural Plasticity - the brain growing after learning, training, etc
    • Studied rats engaging in enrichment
    • Human brain can benefit from enrichment too
    • Autopsys found that college graduates had up to 40% more synaptic connections than high shool dropouts
    • People who got Alzheimer's by age 70 were much less active physically and intellectually in early adulthood than those who weren't
  • Consciousness:
    • Awareness and stimuli
    • Stimuli is just something environment
    • Can be aware of:
    • Internal: thought, memory, emotion, feeling in body
    • External: taste, temperature
    • Not on or off
    • Continuum from low to high awareness
    • Baseline: normal waking state
    • Altered: changed or modified
    • sleep
    • hypnosis
    • meditation
    • under influence (illicit, prescription, coffee, pain medication)
  • Levels of Awareness:
    • Low: happening in enviroment, but some part of brain recognizes and registers it
    • autopilot: going through familiar street and not paying too much attention
    • High: can do something about it
    • On a freeway in a busy city, car in front is three feet away from your car
  • Sleep research machines
    • Electroencephalograph (EEG): mesures electrical activity in brain
    • measures action potentials
    • Electrooculargraph (EOG): measures eye movement during sleep
    • measures amount of REM
    • Electromyograph (EMG): measure muscle tension
    • measure muscle contraction and ragdoll
  • Five Distinct Stages of sleep, divided into two types of sleep:
    • Non - REM stages 1 through 4
    • eyes are still
    • REM sleep stage 5
    • rapid eye movement
    • Stages 1-4 of non-REM + stage 5/REM= one cycle of sleep; ~ 90 minutes
    • Cycle repeats ~ 5 cycles in eight hours
    • Different stages of sleep provide different benefits
    • Awake & alert: 10-13 beta waves per sec
    • Awake & drowsy: 8-10 alpha waves per sec
    • Stage 1: Sleep onset, falling asleep, NREM
    • 6-8 theta waves per sec
    • mix of alpha and theta waves
    • lightest sleep
    • hypnogenic hallucination: brief intense sensation
    • Stage 2: light sleep NREM
    • Sleep spindles: high frequency brain activity
    • K Complexes: high frequency, reaction to external, processes it
    • 4-7 theta & start of delta
    • Stage 3: between light & deep, NREM
    • 1-3 theta & delta
    • Stage 4: deep NREM
    • lowest level of brain activity, neurons synchronize
    • REM : High brain activity, paralyzed
    • Beta waves