Physiological

    Cards (115)

    • Herculano-Houzel et al. (2015) estimated the number of neurons in different parts of the human brain and spinal cord
    • A neuron is the basic functional unit of the nervous system
    • Three types of synapses in the central nervous system (CNS) are: axodendritic, axosomatic, and axoaxonic
    • Diagram of the autonomic nervous system
    • Difference between a normal brain and a brain with hydrocephalus: hydrocephalus is an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the brain causing enlargement and developmental problems
    • Arrows on a woman's body indicate the three major body planes: sagittal, frontal, and transverse; x-axis is the horizontal plane, y-axis is the vertical plane, and z-axis is the sagittal plane
    • Diagram of the adult human brain showing the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain divisions and their functions
    • Cross-section of the human brain
    • Human brain image with the left temporal lobe highlighted in red
    • Group of doctors performing surgery
    • Biopsychology is the study of the relationship between biological makeup and psychological functioning, helping understand personality, abnormal behaviors, reactions to stress, and therapy effectiveness
    • Biopsychology is also known as psychophysiology, physiological psychology, or behavioral neuroscience
    • Biopsychology aims to relate biology to psychology, explaining behavior through physiological, evolutionary, and functional perspectives
    • Biopsychology integrates knowledge from neuroscientific disciplines like neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neuroendocrinology, neuropathology, and neuropharmacology
    • Human and non-human subjects are used in biopsychological experiments, with advantages and considerations for each
    • Experiments in biopsychology study cause and effect, with different designs like between subjects, within subject, and quasi-experimental studies
    • Pure research in biopsychology is driven by curiosity, while applied research aims to bring direct benefits to humanity
    • Physiological psychology directly manipulates the brain in controlled experiments to study neural mechanisms of behavior using surgical and electrical methods
    • The adult human brain has three main divisions: the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain
    • The forebrain is the largest part of the brain and contains the cerebral hemispheres, responsible for higher functions like thinking, reasoning, and language
    • The midbrain connects the forebrain to the hindbrain and is responsible for visual and auditory processing
    • The hindbrain, the most posterior part of the brain, contains the cerebellum responsible for coordination and balance
    • Neuropsychology focuses on the psychological effects of brain damage on human patients through case studies and quasi-experimental studies
    • Psychophysiology studies the relation between physiological activity and psychological processes in human subjects through non-invasive procedures like EEG, muscle tension, and eye movement
    • Cognitive neuroscience studies the neural bases of cognition, focusing on higher intellectual processes like thought, memory, attention, and complex perceptual processes
    • Comparative psychology deals with the biology of behavior, comparing different species to understand evolution, genetics, and adaptiveness of behavior
    • Biopsychologists work together through converging operations, combining different approaches to focus on a single problem, compensating for each other's strengths and weaknesses
    • Scientific inference is used by biopsychologists to study unobservable processes by characterizing them through empirical methods
    • The cell of the nervous system consists of neurons and glia, with the blood-brain barrier excluding most chemicals from the brain
    • Neurons receive and transmit information to other cells, specialized for transmitting information in the nervous system
    • The structure of an animal cell includes the membrane, protein channels, nucleus, mitochondria, ribosomes, and endoplasmic reticulum
    • Motor neurons receive excitation through dendrites and conduct impulses along the axon to muscles, responsible for movements and data collection from the brain to be enacted by the body
    • Sensory neurons are highly sensitive to specific types of stimulation like light, sound, or touch, specialized for senses and coordination
    • The structure of a neuron includes dendrites with synaptic receptors, a cell body containing the nucleus, and an axon conveying impulses towards other neurons or organs
    • The axon hillock pushes chemical messengers to travel from one neuron to another, like a gun trigger
    • The myelin sheath covers axons, speeding up transmission and serving as protection, insulator, and nourishment
    • Presynaptic terminals release chemicals that cross the junction between neurons, aiding in synaptic transmission
    • Synapses are junctions between the axon of a neuron and a dendrite of another neuron, facilitating synaptic transmission
    • Efferent neurons carry information away from a structure, with every motor neuron being an efferent from the nervous system
    • A major goal of biopsychologists is to characterize unobservable processes by which the nervous system controls behavior through scientific inference