Biopsychology

• Central nervous System (CNS)


  Brain (responsible for higher order functioning)

  Spinal Cord (relays information between the brain and the rest of the body)
• Somatic Nervous System (SNS)


  Deals with voluntary movement
• PNS


  Part of the nervous system outside of the CNS
• Automatic Nervous System


  Deals with involuntary responses (e.g heartbeat)
• Sympathetic nervous system


  Switches the body in to fight or flight
• Parasympathethic Nervous System


  Switches the body back in to relax mode
• Neurons

  Sensory - Carries nerve impulses from the sensory receptors to the CNS

  Relay - Allows sensory and motor neurons to communicate with eachother (only found in the CNS)

  Motor - Directly or indirectly controls muscles, forming synapses with them
• Excitation vs Inhibition

  Excitation - Neurotransmitters that make the post - synaptic cell more likely to fire (when they bind to receptors it causes EPSP - brain stimulated)

  Inhibition - Neurotransmitters that make the post synaptic receptors less likely to fire (when they bind to receptors it causes - IPSP - brain calmed)
• Endocrine System


  Ovaries - In the female abdomen, secrets oestrogen and progesterone

  Testes - In the scrotum, secretes testosterone

  Adrenal Gland - Above the kidneys, secretes adrenaline which leads to fight or flight

  Pituitary Gland - In the brain, secretes lots of hormones such as FSH which promotes sperm production and stimulates ovaries to develop eggs
• Localisation of Function 


  Specific areas of the brain are responsible for specific functions
• Contralateralisation

  Right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa
• Hemispheric Lateralisation


  Some mental processes are specialised to either the right or left side of the brain
• Motor Cortex 


  Frontal lobe in both hemispheres, responsible for voluntary movements
• Somatosensory Cortex

  Parietal lobe in both hemispheres, responsible for touch
• Broca’s Area


  Frontal lobe in the left hemisphere, responsible for speech production
• Wernicke’s Area


  Temporal lobe in left hemisphere, responsible for understanding language
• Visual Cortex

  Occipital lobe in both hemispheres, receives information from optical nerve, responsible for the different parts of visual information
• Auditory Cortex

  Temporal cortex in both hemispheres, receives decoded information from the ears and is responsible for producing an appropriate response
• Brain Plasticity


  The brain can modify its own structure and function (through life experiences, video games, meditation etc.)
• Functional Recovery


  The brain can recover mental processes/functions after injury or disease
• Circadian Rhythms


  Patterns of behaviour that occur every 24 hours (e.g sleep - wake cycle)
• Infradian Rhythms

  Biological rhythms that last over 24 hours (e.g menstrual cycle)
• Ultradian Rhythms

  Biological rhythms that last under than 24 hours (e.g sleep)
• Endogenous Pacemakers


  Mechanisms within the body that govern the internal biological rhythms
• Exogenous Zeitgebers 


  External/environmental events that are responsible for influencing pacemakers / responsible for resetting the biological clocks
• Ways of Studying the Brain


  FMRI - Detects change in blood oxygenation and flow that indicates increased neural activity, maps are produced showing which areas of the brain are involved in different tasks

  EEG - Records changes in electrical activity of the brain using electrodes attached to the scalp
• Ways of Studying The Brain (2/2)

  ERP - Measures the brain response to direct cognitive, sensory, or motor events using EEG’s

  Post Mortem - Examines brain after death to establish neurobiological causes of behaviour
• Structure of the Neurones

  Structure