Psych Mental Influences

• Key Knowledge Dot Points


  • different approaches over time in understanding the role of the brain in behaviour and mental processes
  • the roles of the hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain, including the cerebral cortex, in behaviour and mental processes
  • Brain plasticity and brain injury
  • the capacity of the brain to change in response to experience and brain trauma, including factors influencing neuroplasticity and ways to maintain and/or maximise brain functioning
  • the impact of an acquired brain injury (ABI) on a person's biological, psychological and social functioning
  • the contribution of contemporary research to the understanding of neurological disorders
  • chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) as an example of emerging research into progressive and fatal brain disease (Studied in Year 10 instead)
• Nervous System


  Responsible for all aspects of human behaviour
• Neurons

  Billions of brain cells which communicate via electrochemical signals
• 3 Main Functions of the Nervous System

  • Receive
  • Process
  • Respond
• Enteric nervous system

  Regulates digestion
• Action potentials

  Neural impulses that carry information
• Functions of a neuron

  • receive
  • process
  • transmit information to another neuron
• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)


  Entire network of nerves located outside CNS
• Function of PNS

  Transmit information to and from the CNS
• Two subdivisions of PNS


  • Somatic Nervous System, Autonomic Nervous System
• Somatic Nervous System (SNS)


  Network of neurons that transmits information from sense organs to CNS and from CNS to muscles
• Functions of SNS


  • Carries sensory information (afferent) to the CNS
  • Carries motor information (efferent) from the CNS to skeletal muscles
• Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)

  Connects the CNS to the body's internal organs and glands
• Autonomous


  Self regulating, without conscious effort, not usually under voluntary control
• Three types of neurons


  • Motor/efferent neurons
  • Interneurons
  • Sensory/afferent neurons
• Differences between Somatic NS and Autonomic NS


  • Regulates voluntary movements of skeletal muscles (Somatic NS)
  • Manages involuntary movements of internal organs (Autonomic NS)
  • Can be voluntarily manageable (Somatic NS)
  • Involuntary (Autonomic NS)
  • Always causes the excitatory response at the effector (Somatic NS)
  • Always causes either excitatory or inhibitory response at the effector (Autonomic NS)
  • Always acts on skeletal muscles (Somatic NS)
  • Acts on smooth muscles, cardiac muscles and glands (Autonomic NS)
  • Detects sensory stimuli; smell, noise, taste, light, touch, pain and temperature (Somatic NS)
  • Detects sensory stimuli such as blood pressure, salinity, an pH levels (Autonomic NS)
• Summary Activity: Responses

  • Somatic nervous system (S)
  • Autonomic nervous system (A)
  • Both (S & A)
• Divisions of the Autonomic Nervous System


  • Sympathetic Nervous System
  • Parasympathetic Nervous System
• Sympathetic Nervous System


  Activates the fight or flight response
• Fight/Flight/Freeze Response


  Survival response that helps protect us from danger
• Physiological responses when Sympathetic NS is activated


  • Adrenaline is released
  • Organs/body systems that will help us to fight/flight/freeze will increase
  • Organs/body systems that will not be beneficial in fight/flight/freeze will decrease
• Adrenal glands


  Activate adrenaline
• Effects of adrenaline


  • Heart rate and blood pressure increase
  • Breathing rate increases
  • Pupils dilate
  • Sugar and fat released from storage
  • Sweat glands produce sweat
  • Digestion is slowed
• Parasympathetic Nervous System


  Maintains internal body environment in a steady, balanced state
• Parasympathetic NS vs Sympathetic NS

  Parasympathetic NS counterbalances the effects of the Sympathetic NS and restores the body to a state of calm
• Enteric Nervous System

  The gastrointestinal tract contains 400-600 million neurons that control digestion
• The ENS has extensive, two-way connections with the CNS, and communicates with the brain to control digestion
• The ENS can also function independently for some digestive processes
• In exam, always write out the full name of the nervous system divisions (Eg Somatic Nervous System (SNS)) as some divisions start with the same letter (eg, Parasympathetic & Peripheral & Sympathetic & Somatic). You must do this in each individual question of the exam but after writing it out in full you can then use the abbreviation for the remainder of the question.
• The brain vs heart debate aims to answer whether the brain or the heart is the source of our behaviour, thoughts and feelings.
• The brain hypothesis states that mental processes are located in the brain.
• The heart hypothesis states that mental processes are located in the heart.
• The mind-body problem is the question of whether our mind and body are separate entities or whether they are the same.
• Theories of the mind-body problem

  • Dualism - the mind and body are different but linked in some way
  • Monism - the mind and body are a complete unit
• Phrenology


  Study of the relationship between the skulls surface features and a person's personality and behaviour
• Brain ablation

  Disabling, destroying or removing selected brain tissue & assessing changes in behaviour
• Brain lesions


  Surgically created or natural damage to the brain
• Electrical brain stimulation (ESB)


  Stimulating the brain with electricity
• Brain imaging techniques

  • Structural: produce images or scans showing structure and anatomy
  • Functional: provide images of brain activity and structure
• CT scan


  Uses x-ray equipment to scan the brain at different angles