Biopsychology

• Synapses

  gap between any neuron
• dendrites

  receives signals from other neuron's
• cell body

  control centre of the neuron
• axon 


  part of the neuron that conducts electrical impulses away from cell body
• Reflex arc

  stimulus - passed along sensory neuron to CNS, impulses are passed from sensory neurone to motor neuron via relay neuron then transmits to an effector which carries out an response eg muscle contracts
• Nervous system

  central nervous system - brain + spinal cord

  Peripheral nervous system - somatic + automatic

  Automatic nervous system - sympathetic + parasympathetic
• Automatic nervous system

  involuntary movements eg internal glands
• Somatic nervous system

  voluntary movements eg skeletal muscles
• sympathetic nervous system

  fight or flight
• parasympathetic nervous system

  relaxes responses
• acute stressors

  sudden
• chronic stressors

  ongoing
• the endocrine system

  provides a chemical system via the bloodstream, it secretes hormones from glands to regulate bodily functions
• pituitary gland

  Master gland it secretes hormones into the blood, ACTH stimulates the adrenal cortex + release of cortisol
• thyroid

  controls the heart, muscles + digestive system - it releases thyroxine which is responsible for our metabolism
• adrenal glands

  adrenal medulla releases adrenaline + noradrenaline involved in fight or flight
• Brocas area

  speech production
• Sensory neurons


  sends info to the brain regarding the senses, carry info from PNS to CNS
• Motor neuron


  carry signals from the CNS towards organs, muscles + glands
• Relay neuron 


  connect sensory neuron to motor neuron - based in CNS and carry signals across the nervous system
• Synaptic transmission 


  Electrical impulses arrive at the end of the axon on the presynaptic neuron, neurotransmitters are released from the vesicles at the pre-synaptic membrane + they diffuse across the synaptic cleft + bind with receptors on the post synaptic membrane - this stimulates the postsynaptic neuron to generate an electrical impulse that travels down the axon, the neurotransmitters are then destroyed or recycled to prevent continued stimulation
• Localisation of brain function 


  certain functions have specific locations in the brain
• 4 lobes 


  frontal, motor control

  temporal, auditory processing + language

  parietal, body orientation

  occipital, sight or visual
• Phineas Gage 


  hit with iron - he didn't lose consciousness + could speak - he lost sight in one eye but fully recovered

  before the accident he was calm + well mannered

  after he wad rude + hostile

  shows that localisation + personality change can be explained by the damaged to a specific area
• hemispheric laterlisation 


  the brain is split into two equal parts, the brain is contralateral (left controls right right controls left)
• left hemisphere 


  process language
• right hemisphere


  recognising emotions of others
• Brocas


  responsible for speech
• Wernickes 


  language processing
• Sperry 


  11 pp who had their corpus callostomy, projected vital information into each visual field, controlling info each visual field accessed

  he found that info presented to the left hemisphere could be spoken however info presented to the right could be drawn or picked out from objects. This shows the hemispheres work independently.
• Motor area


  regulating + coordinating movements
• auditory area


  responsible for processing auditory information + speech
• Visual area


  processing visual info = occipital lobe
• somatosensory area


  processes information associated with senses
• circadian 


  full 24 hour cycle (sleep wake cycle)
• endogenous 


  internal clocks
• exogenous 


  external factors
• Siffre


  prolonged exposure to eg light becomes disrupted + there becomes a disconnection. This demonstrates that there is an internal clock
• Aschoff 


  deprived of natural light for 4 weeks in an underground bunker - showed that free running circadian rhythms are longer than 24 hour
• Ultradian rhythms


  less than 24 hours eg stages of sleep