BIOPSYCHOLOGY PART 1

• What are the lobes in the brain called?

  . Fat, Pigs, Often, Trump

  - Frontal,Parietal,Occipital, Temporal
• What are the parts within the lives of the brain called?

  . Most, smell, vile, actually

  - Motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, auditory cortex
• What two parts is the brain divided into?

  The left and right hemispheres
• THE MOTOR,SOMATOSENSORY,VISUAL AND AUDITORY CORTEX

  What are the functions of the motor area/cortex?

  . Responsible for generation of voluntary motor movements

  . Located in the frontal lobe along precentral gyrus (crest of a fold in the brain).

  . Both hemispheres have a motor cortex

  . The motor cortex on 1 side of the brain controls the muscles on the opposite side of the body.

  . These regions are arranged logically next to one another-so the region that controls the axions of the foot is next to the region that controls the leg etc.
• What are the functions of the somatosensory area/cortex?

  . Detects sensory events arising from different regions of the body

  . Located in the parietal lobe along the postcentral gyrus.

  . Using sensory info from the skin, the somatosensory cortex produces sensations of touch, pressure, pin and temperature which it then localises to specific body regions.

  . Both brain hemispheres have a somatosensory cortex, with the cortex on one side of the brain receiving sensory info from the opposite side of the body.
• What are the functions of the visual area/cortex?

  . Receives and processes visual information

  . Located in the occipital lobe at the back of the brain

  . Spans both hemispheres of the brain

  . Each eye sends information from the right visual field to the left visual cortex and from the left visual field to the right visual cortex.

  . Therefore damage to the left hemisphere, can produce blindness in the right visual field of both eyes.

  . Contains many different areas with each of these areas processing different types of visual information
• What are the functions of the auditory area?

  . Concerned with the analysis of speech-based info/hearing

  . Lies within temporal lobes in both hemispheres of the brown which is where we find the auditory cortex

  . Sound enters the cochlea, where sound waves are converted to never impulses,which travel via the auditory nerve to the auditory cortex

  . Sound recognised in the auditory cortex
• BROCA'S AND WERNICKE'S AREAS

  What is Broca's area?

  . In the 1880's Broca identified a small area in the left frontal lobe responsible for speech production- therefore language is restricted to the left side of the brain in most people.

  . This area is the brain is also known as the 'language centre' of the brain or the 'speech production area'

  . Damage to Broca's area causes Broca's aphasia which is characterised by speech that is slow,laborious and lacking in fluency.
• What is Wernicke's area?

  . Wernicke discovered another area if the Brian that was involved in understanding language

  . It is an area of the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere in most people responsible for language comprehension

  . Wernicke found patients who had no problem producing language but severe difficulties in understanding it, such that the speech they produced was fluent but meaningless

  . When Wernicke's area is damaged patients suffers from Wernicke's aphasia-they often produce nonsense words as part of the content of their speech
• What is the evaluation of localisation of function?

  + Brain scan evidence of localisation

  . There is lots of research to support localisation,particularly in relation to language and memory.

  . Peterson et al (1988) used Brian scans to demonstrate how Wernicke's area was active during listening tasks and Broca's area was active during a reading task, suggesting that these areas of the brain have different functions

  
  

  + Neurosurgical evidence

  . Brain surgery also indicated localised function in the brain

  . Dougherty et al (2002) reported on 44 OCD patients who had undergone a cingulotomy (creating lesions in the cingulate gyrus)

  . A follow up 32 weeks later showed a third of patients had met the criteria for a successful response and 14% for a partial response

  . The success of such procedures strongly suggests that symptoms and behaviours associated with serious mental disorders are localised.

  
  

  - Lashley's research

  . Karl Lashley (1950) suggests that higher cognitive functions, such as the process involved in learning, are not localised
• but distributed in a more holistic way in the brain

  . He removed areas of the cortex in rats that were learning a maze. No area was proved to be more important than any other area in terms of the rats' ability to learn the maze

  . The process of learning applied to require every part of the cortex rather than being confined to a particular area

  . This seems to suggest that learning is too complex to be localised and requires the involvement of the whole brain

  
  

  - Language production may not be confined to Broca's area alone

  . Dronkers et al (2007) re-examined the preserved brains of 2 of Broca's patients. They looked at the extent of legions in more detail by using MRI imaging.

  . These MRI scans revealed other areas besides Broca's area could have also contributed to the patients reduced speech abilities.

  . This finding is significant because although lesions to Broca's area can cause temporary speech disruption, they do not normally result in severe disruption if spoken language
• This study suggests that language and cognition are far more complicated than once thought and involve networks of brain regions rather than being localised to specific areas
• SPLIT BRAIN RESEARCH AND HEMISPHERIC LATERALISATION

  What is the definition of hemispheric lateralisation?

  . The idea that the two halves (hemispheres) of the brain are functionally different and that certain mental processes and behaviours are mainly controlled by one hemisphere rather than the other, as in the example of language (which is localised as well as lateralised).
• What is hemispheric lateralisation?

  . Each hemisphere has functional specialisations e.g. research has shown the left hemisphere is dominant for language and speech, whereas the right excels at visual-motor tasks.

  . Even though the 2 hemispheres gave these specialisations they are connected. This allows information received in 1 hemisphere to be sent to the other hemisphere through connecting bundles of nerve fibres such as the corpus callosum.

  . The chance to investigate the different abilities of the 2 hemispheres came about when, in a treatment for severe epilepsy, surgeons cut the bundle of nerve fibres that formed the corpus callosum. The aim of this procedure was to prevent the violent electrical activity that comes with seizures crossing from one hemisphere to the other. Patients who had this surgery are called 'split brain patients'.
• What is some split brain research?

  . Sperry and Gazzaniga's research (1967) was some of the first to study split brain patients. To test the capabilities of the separated hemispheres, they were able to send visual information to just 1 hemisphere at a time in order to study hemispheric lateralisation.

  . Sperry and Gazzinga took advantage of the fact that info from the left visual field goes to the right hemisphere and info from the right visual field goes to the left hemisphere. Because the corpus callosum is cut in split brain patients, the info presented to 1 hemisphere has no way of travelling to the other hemisphere and can be processed only in the hemisphere that receives it.
• What are the details of Sperry and Gazzaniga's research?

  . Aim: to examine the extent to which the two hemispheres are specialised for certain functions.

  . Method: an image/word is projected to the patient's left visual field (which is processed by the left hemisphere). When information is not transferred to the other hemisphere (as the corpus callosum is cut).

  . Describe what you see task-picture presented to either the left or right visual field and the participant had to simply describe what they saw.

  . Drawing task-participants presented with a picture in either their left or right Vishal field,and had to draw what they saw.

  FINDINGS...

  . Object presented to RVF= pt cannot draw what they saw BUT can tell you what they saw

  . Object presented to LVF= pt will say they saw nothing BUT will draw what was shown on the screen

  . This shows: info going to the left side of the brain can be described-left side = language. Info found to right side of brain can be drawn-right side=visual

  * This study she is us a number of differences between the 2
• hemispheres-the left hemisphere is responsible for speech and language/analytical tasks,and the right hemisphere specialised in visual-spatial processing and facial definition

  . The left hemisphere is the analyser whilst the right hemisphere is the synthesiser.
• What is the evaluation of split brain research?

  + Strengths of methodology

  . Experiments use highly specialised and standardised procedures.

  . Sperry's method of presenting visual stimuli to one hemispheric field at a time was revolutionary

  . He developed a useful and well controlled procedure

  
  

  - Theoretical basis

  . Sperry's work promoted a theoretical and philosophical debate about the degree of communication between the two hemispheres

  . It represents a form of duality in the brain and suggest we'd are all of two minds

  . In contrast ofher researchers have argued that far from working in isolation, the two hemispheres form a highly integrated system and are both involved in everyday tasks.

  
  

  - Limitations of split-brain research

  . Split brain procedure is rarely carried out nowadays; therefore there are insufficient numbers to be useful for research.

  . Many studies are presented with as few as 1-3 p's

  . Conclusions have been drawn from patients with confounding physical disorders that made the split-brain procedure necessary e.g
• . epilepsy.

  . Andrews (2001) argues that many p's may have had a less complete sectioning of the two hemispheres than what was originally believed.

  
  

  -Lateralisation changes with age

  . Lateralisation of function appears not to stay exactly the same through an individuals lifetime, but changes with normal aging.

  . Szaflarski et al (2006) found language became more lateralised to the left hemisphere with increasing age but after 25. Lateralisation decreases with each decade of life

  . One explanation for this is the extra processing resources of the other hemisphere may in some way compensate for age-related declines in functions
• PLASTICITY AND FUNCTIONAL RECOVERY OF THE BRAIN AFTER TRAUMA

  What are the several factors that can affect the plasticity of the brain?

  . Life experience

  . Video games

  . Meditation
• How can life experience affect the plasticity of the brain?

  . As people gain new experiences, nerve pathways that are frequently used develop stronger connections, whereas neurons that are rarely/never used eventually die. By developing new connections and pruning away weaker ones, the brain is able to constantly adapt to a changing environment
• What are the studies into how life experience can affect the plasticity of the brain?

  . Draganski et al (2006)- medical student study

  - Imaged the brains of medical students three months before and after final exams.

  - Learning induced changes were seen to have occurred in the hippocampus and the parietal cortex presumably as a result of the exam.

  
  

  . Maguire et al (2000)- Taxi drivers study

  - Maguire et al (2000) studied male London tach drivers to discover whether changes in the brain could be detected as a result of extensive experience.

  - Using an MRI scanned. The researchers calculated the amount of Greg matter in the brains of taxi drivers and controls.

  - They found the posterior hippocampus of taxi drivers were significantly larger than controls.

  - The volume of the hippocampi was positive correlated with the amount of time they had spent as a taxi driver
• How can video games affect the plasticity of the brain?

  . Playing video games makes many different complex cognitive and motor demands.
• What are the studies into how video games can affect the plasticity of the brain?

  . Kuhn et al (2014)- Super Mario study

  - Kuhn et al (2014) compared a control group with a video game training group that was trained for two months for at least 30mins per day in the game Super Mario

  - They found a significant increase in grey matter in various brain areas including the cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum in the Mario group only.

  - The researchers concluded that video game training had resulted in new connections jn the brain areas involved in spatial navigation, strategic planning, and motor performance
• How can mediation affect the plasticity if the brain?

  . Researchers working with Tibetan monks have been able to demonstrate that meditation can change the inner workings of the brain.
• What are the studies into how meditation affects the plasticity of the brain?

  . Davidson et al (2004)- Tibetan monks study

  - Compared 8 practitioners of Tibetan meditation with novice student controls

  . Both were fitted with electrodes and meditated

  . The electrodes picked up much greater activation of gamma waves (coordinate neural activity) in mind

  . Concluded that meditation not only changes the workings of the brain in the short term, but may also produce permanent changes based on the fact that the monks had more gamma wave activity than the students even before meditation.
• What is the research support from animal studies for brain plasticity?

  . Evidence if the brains ability to change as a result of experience comes from animal studies

  . Kempermann et al (1998) investigated whether an enriched environment could alter the number of neurons in the brain. They found evidence of an increased number of new neurons in the brains of rats housed in complex environments compared to rats housed in laboratory cages. In particular, the rats housed in complex environments showed an increase in neurons in the hippocampus, a part of the brain associated with the formation of new memories and the ability to navigate from one location to another.
• FUNCTIONAL RECOVERY OF THE BRAIN AFTER TRAUMA

  What are the 2 ways the brain recovers after trauma?

  Neuronal Unmasking and Stem Cells
• What is neuronal unmasking?

  . The brain has many dormant synapses in the brain

  . In the case of the brain, if the most commonly used neural pathways are damaged or lost, secondary neural lineage that would not typically be used can be activated or 'unmasked' too enable functioning to continue.

  . Neuronal unmasking occurs through 3 steps:

  - Axonal sprouting: The growth of new nerve endings which connect with undamaged nerve cells

  - Reformation of blood vessels

  - Recruitment of similar areas in the opposite side if the brain to perform specific tasks
• What are stem cells?

  . Stem cells are unspecialised cells that have potential to replicate different cell types that carry out different functions including taking on the characteristics of nerve cells

  . There are a number of ideas about how stem cells could be used to help those who have brain injury or a illness that affects the brain

  .1. Stem cells implanted into the brain would directly replace dying/damaged cells

  .2. Transplanted stem cells directly secrete growth factors that 'rescue' injured cells

  .3. Transplanted cells form a neural network which links an uninjured brain site to a damaged brain site.
• What is the evaluation of functional recovery after trauma?

  + Research support from animal studies

  . Tajiri et al (2013) provided evidence for the role of stem cells in recovery from brain injury.

  . They randomly assigned rats with traumatic brain injury to 1 of 2 groups.

  . 1 group received transplants of stem cells into the region of the brain affected by traumatic injury. The control group received a solution infused into the brain containing no stem cells

  . 3 months after the brain injury, the brains of the stem cells rats showed clear development of neuron-like cells in the area of injury. This was accompanied by a solid stream of stem cells migrating to the brains site of injury

  . This was not the case with the control group

  
  

  + Schneider et al (2014)

  . Patients with equivalent of college education are 7x more likely than those who didn't finish high school to be disability free 1 year after a moderate/severe brain injury

  . Retrospective study on data from the US traumatic brain injury database

  . 769 patients studied, 214 were disability
• free after 1 year-39.2% of these had 16 or more years of education, 30.8% had 12-15 years of education and just 9.7% recovered who had less than 12 years education

  . Greater educational achievement could be a factor in neural adaptation during recovery from trauma
• WAYS OF STUDYING THE BRAIN

  What are the different ways of studying the brain?

  . Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

  . Electroencephalogram (EEG)

  . Event-related Potentials (ERPs)

  . Post Mortem examinations
• What is an fMRI?

  . A technique for measuring brain activity. It works by detecting changes in blood oxygenation and flow that indicate increased neural activity in specific parts of the brain.

  . If a brain area becomes more active there is increased demand for oxygen in that area. The brain then responds by increasing blood flow, delivery oxygen in red blood cells

  . Patients complete tasks whilst in the scanner such as looking at visual stimuli for 30 secs and then just resting with eyes closed. This data would then show which areas of the brain had been activated during the visual task
• What is an EEG?


  . A method of recording changes in the electrical activity of the brain using electrodes attached to the scalp via a skull cap. They record activity such as brainwave patterns

  . Electrodes detect small electrical charges resulting from the activity of brain cells. When electrical signals from the different electrodes are graphed over a period of time they produce an EEG.

  . They can be used to diagnose patients with brain disorders such as epilepsy or to diagnose other disorders that influence brain wave activity such as Alzheimer's disease. For example, EEG readings that show spikes of electrical activity suggest that the patient has epilepsy
• What are ERP's?


  . A technique that measures very small voltage changes in the brain that are triggered by specific events or stimuli, such as cognitive processing of a specific stimulus

  . It does this by taking multiple readings and averaging them in order to filter out all brain activity that is not related to the appearance of the stimuli

  . They can be divided into 2 categories Sensory ERP's-initial responses to the stimulus

  Cognitive ERP's-information processing related to the stimulus
• What are post mortems?

  . The brain is analysed after death to determine whether certain observed behaviours during the patient's lifetime can be linked to abnormalities in the brain

  . They involve the dissection of the brain, allowing researchers to look at the physical internal structure

  . They are usually performed on the brains of individuals who had a rare disorder or had experienced unusual mental processes/behaviours in their lifetime, in order to try and establish the cause of them. They may also compare the "damaged" brain with a typical brain to see the extent of the difference
• What are the strengths of an fMRI?

  . Unlike other scanning techniques such as PET, it doesn't rely on the use of radiation.

  . If administered correctly if is pretty much risk-free, non-invasive and easy to use.

  . It produces images that have very high spatial resolution, depicting detail by the kilometre and providing a clear picture of how brain activity is localised.
• What are the limitations of fMRI?

  . It is expensive compared to other neuroimaging techniques and can only capture clear images if the patient remains perfectly still

  . It has poor temporal resolution because there is around a second time-lag behind the image on screen and the initial firing of neural activity.

  . Only capable of measuring blood flow in the brain, if cannot hone in on activity.
• What are the strengths of EEG?

  . High temporal validity-Records brains activity in real time rather than a still image of a passive brain-can accurately measure brain activity as it happens when completing tasks.

  . Useful in clinical diagnosis, measures brain activity that is associated with certain disorders-epilepsy. This helps to diagnose the patient

  . Non-invasive

  . Contributed to our understanding of stages of sleep