GCSE PSYCHOLOGY AQA Paper 2: Brain and neuropsychology

• The divisions of the human nervous system

  CNS:

  -Coordinates incoming sensory information

  -Sends response (instructions) to other parts of the nervous system

  PNS:

  -Network of nerve fibres

  -Connects various parts of the body with the CNS
• Divisions of the PNS

  Somatic nervous system:

  -Collects information from senses and internal organs

  -passes info to the CNS

  -receives instructions for movement from CNS

  Autonomic nervous system:

  -Collects information from our senses and internal organs and passes it to the CNS

  -Deals with emotions, responds to stress and body changes (ie during puberty)
• Divisions of the Autonomic nervous system


  Sympathetic nervous system:

  -Prepares for action

  -Fight or flight

  -Increases heart and breathing rate

  -Dilates pupils

  -Inhibits saliva production and digestion

  Parasympathetic nervous system:

  -Returns you to homeostasis

  -Rest and digest

  -Decreases heart and breathing rate

  constricts pupils

  -Stimulates digestion and saliva production
• Outline James Lange theory of emotion

  - EVENT-AROUSAL-INTERPRETATION-EMOTION

  EVENT:

  -Stressor or threat activates hypothalamus

  -Instructs sympathetic division of ANS

  AROUSAL:

  -Adrenaline is released causing physiological arousal

  -increase in bodily activity (beginning of fight or flight response)

  INTERPRETATION:

  -brain interprets physiological changes

  EMOTION:

  -Interpretation results in feeling of an emotion

  -If you do not feel any physiological changes you will feel no emotion
• Sensory neurones

  -carry messages from PNS to CNS

  -Long dendrites and short axons

  
• Relay neurones


  -connect sensory and motor neurons

  -connect to other relay neurons

  -short dendrites and short axons

  
• Evaluate James Lange theory

  + Real life examples of emotions following physiological arousal(phobias or panic disorders)

  -association formed between situation and emotion

  -emotion and avoidance occur due to the physiological reaction

  -Cannon Bard theory:

  -we experience emotion at the same time as the physiological change(blushing)

  -some physiological changes don't result in an emotion(exercising)

  -Too simplistic:

  -Two factor theory of emotion:

  physiological arousal doesn't come before emotion

  -we need social cues to label emotion
• Motor neurones


  -carry messages from CNS to effectors(muscles of glands)

  --short dendrites and long axons

  
• Outline Synaptic transmission

  -Neuron in resting state

  -inside cell is negatively charged compared to outside

  -Neuron fires

  -electrical charge in cell changes for split second causing action potential

  -Neurotransmitter crosses synaptic cleft:

  -attaches to next neuron at postsynaptic receptor sites (dendrites of next neuron)

  -Chemical message turned back to electrical impulse

  -travels down next neuron

  -Remaining neurotransmitters in the gap are broken by enzymes and reabsorbed by postsynaptic neuron to be reused.

  
• Define excitation and inhibition

  -Neurotransmiters = excitatory or inhibitory

  -excitatory: increases neuron's positive charge, makes it more likely to fire

  inhibitory: increases neuron's negative charge, makes it less likely to fire
• Outline Hebb's theory

  -brain is plastic:

  -can adapt, change structure and create connections as we learn at any age

  -every time you have a new thought it leaves an engram:

  -engram (trace) will quickly fade unless you practice and rehearse

  -During learning cell assemblies fire together:

  -the more this happens the stronger the synaptic connections between them becomes

  -leads to the group being more efficient

  -neurons change physically to more effectively manage the new learning (neural growth)

  -"Cells that fire together, wire together"

  -rewiring: more efficient and effective brain develops as learning takes place.
• Evaluate Hebb's theory

  +has scientific basis:

  -shows it's possible to study larning through looking at brain processes

  -provided scientific and objective basis for understanding behaviour

  +Some ideas are applicable to education

  -more stimulating the environment the more cell assemblies grow and learn

  -raised rats: rats in most stimulating environment were better able to find their way around the maze as adults

  -Reduced to a neuronal level:

  -reductionist theory

  -learning is complex and involves different levels of understanding

  -complete theory needs to discuss other factors that affect learning
• Where are the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal

  lobe, occipital lobe and cerebellum.

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• Basic function of frontal lobe

  -controls thinking, planning and the motor area

  -contains Broca's area

  
• Basic function of temporal lobe

  -Includes auditory lobe and wernicke's area

  -processes auditory information

  
• Basic function of parietal

  lobe

  -sepatef from frontal lobe by central sulcus

  -at the front of the parital lobe is the somatosensory area

  -processes sensory info, visual information, processing language and mathematics.

  
• Basic function of occipital lobe

  -contains the visual area

  -each eye sends info to the visual areas either side of the brain

  
• Basic function of cerebellum

  -attention, language movement

  -receives info from spinal cord&parts of the brain to help coordination, balance and fine movement

  -Has 50% of brain's neurons but 10% of it's mass

  
• Localisation of function in the brain


  when particular areas of the brain do particular jobs so if certain parts are damaged the function it controls may be affected or lost
• motor area


  -controls deliberate movement

  -uses motor neurons to send messages to our muscles

  -active parts of the body have a larger share of the it

  -One hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body's fine movement

  
• somatosensory area


  -deals with touch

  -most sensitive parts take up most 'space'

  -receives all sensory input from the body

  -One hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body's fine movement

  
• visual area


  -each eye sends info to visual areas on each side of the brain through the optic nerves

  
• auditory area


  -involves in hearing

  -receives information from both ears

  -processes auditory information

  
• Broca's area


  -controls speech production

  -damage to it leads to broca's aphasia

  -difficulty remembering and forming words

  
• Wernicke's area


  -to do with understanding speech

  -damage to this area leads to wernicke's aphasia

  -can speak perfectly but can't understand speech

  
• Cognitive neuroscience definition

  the scientific study of brain structures on metal processes
• how the structure and function of the brain relate to behaviour and cognition

  -low levels of neurotransmitter serotonin linked to depression
• CT scan

  -lots cross-section x-rays taken

  -all images put together to build detailed picture

  Advantages:

  -Useful for revealing abnormal structures in the brain (ie tumors)

  -Quality of images better than x-rays

  Disadvantages:

  -more radiation than x-rays so can't be used often

  -only provide structural information

  
• PET scan


  -allows measuring of brain activity

  -injected with radioactive glucose

  -active areas absorb the most glucose

  Advantages:

  -can show brain in action

  -show localisation of functions and link brain areas used for certain activities

  Disadvantages:

  -extremely expensive so not easily avaliable

  -results can be difficult to interpret

  -ethical issues with injecting radioactivity

  
• fMRI scan

  -uses radio waves to measure blood oxygen levels

  -most active areas will use more oxygen

  -3d images shown on screen

  Advantages:

  -shows areas used at any one time

  -safe; doesn't use radiation

  -produces clear and accurate images

  Disadvantages:

  -expensive

  -effective only in still person

  -5 sec delay between brain activity and onscreen, can cause problem when trying to interpret received data

  
• Tulving's 'gold' memory study AO1


  -Aim: To explore connections between types of memory and brain activity

  Study method: Case study

  -Method: 6 participants injected with mildly radioactive gold isotope

  -spread into blood stream to brain

  -short half life, no risk

  -distribution of these particles measured using form of PET called regional cerebral blood flow (measures blood flow in different parts of the brain)

  -compared episodic(personal events/memories) to semantic memory(knowledge)

  -participant lay on couch, eyes closed thinking about a topic of their choice

  -after 60 seconds gold isotope was injected

  -after 7-8 secs a reading of rCBF was taken.

  -lasted 2.4 seconds and consisted of 12 rapid

  scans of 0.2 secs each

  -each participant experienced 8 trails with 2 minte rest between each one

  -Involved 2 kinds of memory with two time periods for each one (recent and remote) and each was twice investigated

  -Results:

  - 3 participants were dropped for inconsistent results

  -3 showed clear differences in blood flow patterns depending on whether they were remembering episodic or semantic memories

  -difference same regardless of recent or remote

  -episodic memory showed more activation of the frontal and temporal lobes

  -semantic produced more activation in the parietal and occipital lobes of the cerebral cortex

  -Conclusion: Semantic memories produce activity in different parts of the brain
• Tulving's 'gold' memory study AO3

  -one of the first to show how we can investigate cognitive processes promoting further research

  -only 3 showed consistent results suggesting it's not applicable to all

  -no way of controlling what people were actually thinking
• how can neurological damage, eg stroke or injury can affect motor abilities and behaviour.


  -stroke: blood supply to brain interrupted

  -effect on motor area: damage to right side affects left movement

  -struggle with fine motor skill (holding a pen)

  -or more complex movements (walking)

  -Broca and wernicke's aphasia

  -Neurohabilitaion:

  -for most effects of brain injury are temporary

  -may be able to regain some of lost abilities by retraining other parts to take over

  -'plastic' describes how the brain can reorganize itself to reduce the effects of neurological damage
• Penfield's study of the interpretive cortex results

  Results:

  -stimulation applied to the visual area:

  -patients reported color and crude outlines of shapes

  -stimulation applied to somatosensory area:

  -produced tingling sensation or false sense of movement

  -If stimulation was applied to either temporal lobe there were two responses:

  -Experiences: -patients described things they

  experienced in the past as though they were

  reliving the events

  -memories were clear and vivid but patient

  was also aware of events around them

  -each time the same area was stimulated they

  had the same experience

  -Interpretations: -when other cells were

  stimulated patients reported feelings related

  to experiences