biopsychology

• Central nervous system = brain and spinal cord
• Peripheral nervous system = relay messages from CNS to the rest of the body
• somatic nervous system = facilitates communication between the CNS and the outside world to allow information to provide muscle responses vis the motor pathways
• autonomic nervous system = role in homeostasis (maintaining body temp, HR and BP)
• sympathetic nervous system = prepares body for fight of flight
• parasympathetic nervous system = relaxes the body and return to 'normal' resting state
• sensory neurons = found in receptors (eyes, tongue, ears etc.), carry nerve impulses to the spinal cord and brain to translate into 'sensations'

  
• relay neurons = found between sensory and motor responses. Allow sensory and motor neurons to communicate

  A)
• motor neurons = found in the CNS and control muscle movements. When stimulated they release neurotransmitters that bind to receptors to trigger movement

  
• Label:

  A) Relay Neuron

  B) Dendrite

  C) cell body

  D) axon

  E) pre-synaptic terminal

  
• label:

  A) Motor Neuron

  B) dendrite

  C) cell body

  D) myelin sheath

  E) axon

  F) node of Ranvier
• label:

  A) sensory neuron

  B) receptor cell

  C) myelin sheath

  D) axon

  E) cell body

  
• synaptic transmission =

  1. electrical impulse (action potential) reaches the end of the axon to be transferred
  2. it must cross the synaptic gap between the pre-synapatic neuron and post-synaptic neuron
  3. In the axon terminal are synaptic vesicles which contain neurotransmitters
  4. Neurotransmitters carry the signal across the gap and bind to the receptor sites
  5. Once the receptors have been activated they either produce excitatory or inhibitory effects
• excitatory neurotransmitters = increase the likelihood of a postsynaptic neuron firing (e.g. noradrenaline)
• inhibitory neurotransmitters = GABA , makes the post-synaptic neuron less likely to fire
• Endocrine system = glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream

  A) hypothalamus

  B) pituitary gland

  C) Thyroid

  D) pineal gland

  E) thymus

  F) pancreas

  G) adrenal glands

  H) ovary

  I) testicle

  J) placenta

  
• hypothalamus = connected to the pituitary gland and is responsible for stimulating or controlling the release of hormones
• pituitary gland = ' master gland ' , stimulates the release of hormones from the other glands in the endocrine system
• pineal gland = melatonin, responsible for biological rhythms (sleep-wake cycle)
• thyroid gland = thyroxine, regulating metabolism
• adrenal gland = adrenal medulla (releases noradrenaline and adrenaline) + adrenal cortex (releases cortisol)
• testes = releases testosterone, responsible for the development of male sex characteristics
• ovaries = oestrogen, controls the regulation of the female reproductive system
• fight or flight: the body's response to a threat, where the sympathetic nervous system is activated

  A) stressful/dangerous

  B) amygdala

  C) hypothalamus

  D) SAM

  E) adrenal medulla

  F) sympathetic nervous system

  G) SNS

  H) adrenal medulla

  I) adrenaline

  J) noradrenaline

  K) physiological

  L) fight

  M) flight
• evaluation fight or flight:

  • Gray = freeze response
  • Taylor - tend and befriend (women are more likely to protect offspring and form alliances)
  • beta bias (research carried out on men and generalised to women
• motor area = responsible for voluntary movements by sending signals to muscles in the body
• somatosensory area = receives sensory information from skin and muscles, sends information to the brain
• visual area = receives and processes visual information
• auditory area = responsible for analysing and processing acoustic information
• broca's area = found near the left frontal lobe and is thought to be involved in language production
• Wernicke's area = found in the left temporal lobe and is thought to be involved in language comprehension
• localisation of function = the idea that certain functions have certain locations or areas within the brain.
• Phineas Gage = 1848, train accident, left frontal lobe removed, personality changed.
• Label:

  A) motor cortex

  B) somatosensory cortex

  C) visual cortex

  D) auditory cortex

  
• 'Tan' = Broca's area, 'Tan' could understand spoken language but couldn't produce any coherent words.

  • After 'Tan' death Broca did a post-mortem examine and discovered he had a lesion in the left frontal lobe
  • Broca's aphasia
• Wernicke's area = Wernicke found patients with lesions to this area were still able to speak, but couldn't comprehend language (Wernicke's aphasia)
• localisation of function evaluation:

  • Case study evidence to suggest that Broca's area and Wernicke's area are responsible in producing language
  • HOWEVER - MRI's have found that other part of the brain could have contributed
• localisation of function evaluation:

  • fails to take individual differences into consideration
  • Women have a larger Broca's and Wernicke's area than men
  • Suggest a level of beta bias in this theory
• localisation of function evaluation:

  • biologically reductionist in nature - tries to reduce very complex human behaviours and cognitive processes to one specific brain region
• hemispheric lateralisation = the idea that the two halves of the are functionally different and that each hemisphere has functional specialisations