physio bio chap 1

• Physiological psychology


  The study of the biological foundations of behaviour and mental processes
• Explanations of behaviour


  • Physiological
  • Ontogenetic
  • Evolutionary
  • Functional
• Physiological explanation


  Explanations of a person's physiology functions and how those functions affect a person's behaviour
• Ontogenetic explanation


  Describes how behaviour develops over a lifetime, including genes, nutrition and experiences
• Evolutionary explanation


  Focuses on the genetic history of a behaviour and how the capacity for that behaviour evolved
• Functional explanation


  Describes why a structure or behaviour evolved as it did, and what function it serves or served
• Mendelian genetics


  Gregor Mendel's demonstration that inheritance occurs through genes, which come in pairs along chromosomes
• DNA


  A double-stranded chemical that contains genetic information
• RNA


  A single-stranded chemical that can serve as a model for the synthesis of proteins
• Homozygous


  A person has an identical pair of genes on two chromosomes

  
• Heterozygous


  A person has an unmatched pair of genes on two chromosomes

  
• Dominant genes


  Show a strong effect in either the homozygous or heterozygous condition

  
• Recessive genes


  Show their effects only in the homozygous condition

  
• Types of genes


  • Autosomal
  • Sex-limited
  • Sex-linked
• Mutation


  A change in a single gene that is rare, random and independent of the needs of the organism
• Recombination


  New combination of genes in the offspring that yield characteristics not found in parents
• Epigenetics


  The study of how behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect gene expression
• Histones


  A family of basic proteins that associate with DNA in the nucleus and help condense it into chromatin
• Heredity


  The mechanism used to pass the message of inheritance from one generation to the next
• Heritability


  A measure of how well differences in people's genes account for differences in their traits

  
• Monozygotic (identical) twins


  Conceived when a single egg fertilized by a single sperm splits into two after fertilization

  
• Dizygotic (fraternal) twins


  Conceived when two eggs are fertilized by two different sperms

  
• Phenylketonuria (PKU)


  An inherited disorder that increases the levels of phenylalanine in the blood
• Genes produce proteins that interact with the rest of body chemistry and the environment, influencing behaviour even without being expressed in the brain
• Genes create a framework within which the environment acts to shape the behaviour of an individual
• Genes create the scaffold for learning, memory, and cognition, allowing animals to acquire and store information about their environment
• The environment can affect morphological and physiological development, which in turn affects behaviour
• Evolutionary explanation of behaviour


  Explaining how a behaviour helps us to survive and/or procreate
• The biological purpose of life is to procreate, so we have evolved to behave in ways that help our survival, which equals procreation
• Survival of the fittest means survival of the best adapted to procreate
• Behaviour that helps procreation gets passed on through genes, so offspring show the same behaviour
• Central nervous system


  Consists of the brain and spinal cord

  
• Peripheral nervous system


  Consists of the nerves emerging from the brain and spinal cord

  
• Parts of the peripheral nervous system

  • Somatic nervous system
  • Autonomic nervous system

  
• Somatic nervous system


  Conveys messages from the sense organs to the CNS and from the CNS to the muscles

  
• Autonomic nervous system


  Consists of neurons that receive information from and send commands to the internal organs
• Divisions of the autonomic nervous system


  • Sympathetic
  • Parasympathetic

  
• Sympathetic nervous system


  Prepares the organs for a burst of vigorous activity, responsible for the "fight or flight" response
• Parasympathetic nervous system


  Facilitates vegetative, non-emergency responses, sometimes called the "rest and digest" system
• Parts of the brain

  • Hindbrain
  • Midbrain
  • Forebrain