Biological

• responding to change 5 steps

  1. change in stimulus 2. receptor 3.coordination PSN AND CNS interact 4. effector 5. response
• what is brain lateralisation

  the idea that the 2 halves of the brain are functionally different and each hemisphere has functional specialisations
• frontal lobe main function

  planning and executing movement
• Parietal lobe main function

  important area die the sense of touch
• Occipital lobe main function

  receives and processes visual information
• temporal lobe main function

  memory , recognition and processing sensory information mainly auditory
• cerebellum main function

  balance and coordination
• label 1-5

  1. frontal lobe 2.parietal lobe 3.occipital lobe 4.cerebellum 5.temporal lobe
• label 1- 9
• RECEPTOR : what is the node of ranvier

  gaps in the myelin sheath when depolarisation occurs
• RECEPTOR : what is the axon


  an extension of the cell body ,they receive the electrical impulse from other neurons
• RECEPTOR : what is the cell body

  contains the nucleus and many mitochondria
• RECEPTOR : what are dendrites

  attached to the cell body, they receive the electrical impulse from other neurons
• RECEPTOR : what are terminal buttons

  they release neurotransmitters at the end of the axon terminals
• RECEPTOR : what are shwann cells.


  they produce isulating layers around the axon
• RECEPTOR : what are axon terminals

  they are found at the end of the axon
• RECEPTOR : what is the Myelin sheath

  fatty insulating layer surrounding the axon
• what is the function of this neurotransmitter and is it inhibitory or excitatory and what can abnormal levels lead to : Acetylcholine


  brain and muscular functioning.excitatory neurotransmitter.abnormal levels linked to Alzheimer's disease
• what is the fucntion of this neurotransmitter and is it inhibitory or excitatory and what can abnormal levels lead to : Dopamine

  Linked to mood and feelings of pleasure. excitatory neurotransmitter . abnormal levels are linked to schizophrenia
• what is the function of this neurotransmitter and is it inhibitory or excitatory and what can abnormal levels lead to: serotonin

  stabilize the mood and is also linked to sleeping and eating. its produced when drinking alcohol. inhibitory - particularly inhibits agression abnormal levels linked anorexia
• what is the function of this neurotransmitter and is it inhibitory or excitatory and what can abnormal levels lead to: GABA

  Key role in behaivour and cognition.Inhibitory neurotransmitters released when drinking alcohol.Contributes to memory loss.abnormal levels linked to depressiona and insomnia
• what is the function of this neurotransmitter and is it inhibitory or excitatory and what can abnormal levels lead to: Glutamate

  Glutamate needs to be present in the right concentration in the right places at the right time for the brain to function properly. Excitatory neurotransmitter abnormal levels linked to neurotoxicity and depression.
• what is the function of this neurotransmitter, is it inhibitory or excitatory: Adrenaline / Epinephrine

  • Important role in your bodies 'fight or flight'. Is a neurotransmitter and a hormone.
  • Increases alertness and allows the body to respond quickly
  • Excitatory neurotransmitter.
• what are recreational drugs used for and what can happen over time to people. give 3 examples of recreational drugs legal in the UK

  • Recreational drugs are used for enjoyment rather than for medical reasons.
  • Although many of these drugs initially produce pleasurable feelings, over-repeated use can lead to addiction and health problems
  • legal in the UK- alcohol, caffeine and nicotine
• what is the reward pathway and what do drugs do to this pathway

  the brain contains a reward pathway which causes us to experience a pleasant and rewarding feeling which encourages us to repeat the behaviour that activates that pathway.drugs hijack this reward system and produce pleasurable feelings without any adaptive behaviour.
• what do drugs do to the reward pathway (4 steps)

  Drugs act by changing the way synapse function in the brain. Heroine/cocaine increases the amount of neurotransmitters in the reward pathways by boosting the activation of dopamine synapses, causing an intensely pleasurable experience or feeling of euphoria.However, this causes the brain to produce less dopamine (down regulation), so when the drug wears off the person now has less dopamine than they would have for normal brain functioning. This causes an unpleasant experience (dysphoria).Repeated use occurs to make up for the lack of dopamine produced by the brain and so leads to addiction . Gradually more of the drug needs to be taken to have the same effect.
• what does NICOTINE do ? binds to....

  binds to the receptors by mimicking neurotransmitter acetylcholine and increases transmission of domapine
• what does CANNABIS do ? dirsrupts...

  disrupts regular brain function and also causes the production of more dopamine
• what does Alcohol do ?

  has a depressant effect on the nervous system by increasing the action of GABA and seretonin to feel happier
• REWARD PATHWATHY - give an investigation to support this ..(rats)


  Olds and Milner (1954) wanted to see if there was a link between the reward pathway and behaivour by studying rats with wires connected to their brains. When rats pressed a pedal, they would give themselves a pleasurable electric shock to the brain. Olds and Milner concluded that rats would select the shocks over food and mates. Essentially ignoring everything else- acting the same way drug addicts do.
• evaluating drug effects on the brain : strength- supporting evidence


  lots of evidence supporting the arguements of drug effects on th brain. Olds and Milner found when stimulating the reward pathway , rats would keep pressing the lever due to its stimulating effects
• evaluating drug effects on the brain : strength- application

  understanding how drugs work on a neutral level can help understand addiction and possible biological solutions to addiction and withdrawl .
• evaluating drug effects on the brain : weakness - hard to measure

  there is a complexity in how transmission works in the brain that is hard to measure. cannabis limits hippocampal activity but also leads to more dopamine activity.Neurotransmitters also work in several pathways within the brain.
• evaluating drug effects on the brain : weakness - individual differences and environment

  individual differences and the environment make it difficult to generalise the effects of drugs as one person may react differently from another when taking drugs.
• who conducted biological psychologys Classic Study

  RAINE
• biological psych CLASSIC STUDY: RAINE: aim

  Adrian Raine (1997) wanted to use brain scanning technology to see the brain differences between the brains of a group of people convicted of murder who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and a control group.
• biological psych CLASSIC STUDY: RAINE: procedure

  39 men and 2 women charged with murder were assessed doe the defence of not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI)Participants were matched by age and ethnicity to create a control group.each particpant had a PET scan of their brain where they were injected witha radioactive tracer to light up their brain metabolism .they were made to do a task involving indentifying a target on a screen in order to the tracer in certain areas of the brain .the scan took 10 images of the brain.
• biological psych CLASSIC STUDY: RAINE: Results

  murderers have low glucose metabolism in the prefrontal cortex which is linked to emotional control, impulsive behaviour and rationl thoughtAbnormal asymmetries: reduced activity of the left, greater activity on the right. this applied to areas linked to violence.
• biological psych CLASSIC STUDY: RAINE: conclusions

  The findings showed that murderers pleading NGRI have different brain activity from people who are not violent offenders. The murderers had impaired functioning in areas of the brain previously identified as involved with violent behaviour. Raine et al. also concluded that we should be very cautious in interpreting the findings because there are other brain areas known to be involved in violence that they were unable to scan.
• biological psych CLASSIC STUDY: RAINE: evaluation: strength/ weakness - generalisable


  STRENGTH - Raine et al. use a large sample (82), which was the largest at the time for this sort of study. Anomalies, such as participants with unusual brain structure or people who disrupted the test by not focusing on the CPT, should not skew the data too much. This makes the results representative of a wider population. WEAKNESS - The NGRIs are unusual offenders. They are people who have killed someone, but either don’t remember doing it or are too confused to stand trial. These people are not representative of “typical” murderers, still less of typical violent individuals. As Raine points out, not all of the NGRIs killed their victims violently.