Biopsych

• Main divisions of the nervous system

  • Peripheral Nervous System
  • Central Nervous System (CNS)
• Synaptic transmission


  Process by which a nerve impulse passes across the synaptic cleft from one neuron to another
• Hormones are the body’s chemical messengers that travel through the bloodstream, influencing many different processes including mood, the stress response, and bonding between mother and newborn baby
• Axons carry the electrical impulse down the length of a neuron and are covered in a fatty layer called a myelin sheath
• Tend and befriend response


  Occurs in females due to the presence of oxytocin inducing a nurturing response. Effects of oxytocin are negated by testosterone, leading to tend and befriend response largely in females
• Somatic nervous system


  Responsible for carrying sensory and motor information to and from the central nervous system
• Two main divisions of the nervous system are
• Hormones are
• Axons
• Fight or flight response


  Sequence of activity within the body triggered when the body prepares itself for defending or attacking (fight) or running to safety (flight). Involves changes in the nervous system and secretion of hormones
• Research into localisation of brain function

  Broca carried out research
• Research into localisation of brain function

  Investigating how different brain areas are responsible for specific functions
• Young people are more likely to recover from brain trauma due to the brain's increased plasticity during infancy and childhood, allowing other areas to take on the role of damaged parts
• Split-brain research


  Studying patients whose corpus callosum was severed to understand how the two hemispheres of the brain function independently
• An electroencephalogram is a recording of brain activity using sensors attached to the scalp to pick up electrical signals produced during brain cell communication
• How driving a taxi can help with functional recovery

  Increases brain plasticity
• Study on taxi drivers

  • Maguire et al (2000) found that taxi drivers had a significantly higher volume of grey matter in their posterior hippocampus than the control group
• Broca carried out a postmortem on the brain of a patient known as ‘Tan’ and found that he had part of his left frontal lobe missing, leading to language function being associated with this area of the brain
• Sperry (1968) studied patients with severed corpus callosum and found that information presented to the right visual field was processed by the left hemisphere, while information to the left visual field was processed by the right hemisphere
• Infradian rhythms


  • Monthly menstrual cycle, hibernation in animals
• Wernicke’s area is a part of the brain located in the temporal lobe responsible for language comprehension
• Circadian rhythms

  • Sleep-wake cycle
• During the test

  Small sensors are attached to the scalp to pick up the electrical signals produced when brain cells send messages to each other
• What are the pros and cons of postmortem examination?
• Describe Siffre’s research

  Siffre spent a long period in a cave to examine the effects of free-running biological rhythms without the influence of exogenous zeitgebers. His free-running circadian rhythm settled at about 25 hours
• Infradian rhythms

  • Female menstrual cycle
  • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
• What is an endogenous pacemaker?
• What is the suprachiasmatic nucleus?
• Describe the autonomic nervous system


  This part of the nervous system controls the brain’s involuntary activities and is self-regulating. It is divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems