Biopsychology

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Somatic nervous system
Sensory nerve pathways bring information to the CNS from sensory receptors, dealing with touch, pain, pressure, temperature etc. Motor nerve pathways which control bodily movement by carrying instructions towards muscles
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Autonomic nervous system
The sympathetic ANS leads to increased arousal: e.g. increase in heart rate and blood pressure, pupil dilation, reduction in digestion and salivation. The parasympathetic ANS leads to decreased arousal.
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Sensory neurones
convey information about sensory stimuli: vision, touch, taste, etc. towards the brain.
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Motor neurones
convey instructions for physical operations: e.g. release of hormones from glands, muscle movement, digestion, etc.
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Relay neurons
connect different parts of the central nervous system (CNS).
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Synaptic transmission
Electrical nerve impulses travel from the dendrites along the cell body and the axon to the axon terminals. These action potentials are the basic units of information processing in the nervous system and control all aspects of human behaviour
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Excitatory
make a nerve impulse more likely to be triggered: for example, dopamine or serotonin which produce states of excitement/activity in the nervous system
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Inhibitory
make a nerve impulse less likely to be triggered: for example, GABA calms activity in the nervous system and produces states of relaxation
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Thyroid gland
Regulates metabolic rate and protein synthesis
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Adrenal medulla
Fight or flight response: increased heart rate, blood pressure, release of glucose and fats (for energy)
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Adrenal cortex
Release of glucose and fats for energy; suppression of the immune system
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Anterior pituitary
ACTH: Stimulates release of corticosteroids during flight-flight response. Prolactin: Stimulates production of milk from mammary glands (breasts). Growth Hormone: Cell growth and multiplication.
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Posterior pituitary
Vasopressin: Regulates water balance. Oxytocin: Uterine contractions during childbirth .
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Fight or flight response
Stress is experienced when a person’s perceived environmental, social and/or physical demands exceed their perceived ability to cope. The stress response (otherwise known as the ‘fight or flight’ response) is hard-wired into our brains
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The sympathomedullary pathway
Adrenal medulla secretes adrenaline which gets body ready for fight or flight. Arousal of sympathetic nervous system, decrease in digestion and increase in blood pressure and sweating.
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The hypothalamic pituitary adrenal system
Hypothalamus stimulates pituitary gland which secretes ACTH stimulates adrenal glands. Releases stress hormones cortisol which release glucose.
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Motor and somatosensory areas
The motor cortex controls voluntary movements. Both hemispheres have a motor cortex with each side controlling muscles on the opposite side of the body
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Visual centers
Processing of visual information starts when light enters the eye and strikes photoreceptors on the retina at the back of the eye. Nerve impulses then travel up the optic nerve to the thalamus and passed on to the visual cortex in the hindbrain
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Auditory centers
Processing of auditory information (sound) begins in the inner ear’s cochlea where sound waves are converted into nerve impulses to the auditory cortex which recognises the sound and may form an appropriate response to that sound.
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Broca's area
Considered to be the main centre of speech production. Patients with speech production problems had lesions (damage) to this area in their left hemisphere but lesions in the right hemisphere did not cause this problem.
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Wernicke's area
Also in the left hemisphere and is concerned with speech comprehension. Lesions in this brain area could produce but not understand/comprehend language.
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Hemispheric lateralisation
Hemispheric lateralisation concerns the fact that the brain’s 2 hemispheres are not exactly alike and have different specialisms. For example, the left hemisphere is mainly concerned with speech and language and the right with visual-motor tasks.
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Split-brain research
Sperry- showing something to either left or right visual field. Right hemisphere no language center can't speak about visual field.
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Plasticity
Plasticity refers to neurological changes as a result of learning and experience. Learning and new experiences cause new neural pathways to strengthen whereas neural pathways which are used infrequently become weak and eventually die.
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Functional recovery - Neuronal unmasking
Brain contains dormant synapses. When brain damage occurs synapses can be activated and take over the function.
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Functional recovery - Stem cells
Stem cells are unspecialised cells which can become specialised to carry out different types of task
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Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
A brain scanner which measures increased blood flow to brain sites when individuals are asked to perform cognitive/physical tasks. Increased blood flow indicates increased demand for oxygen in that area.
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Electroencephalogram (EEGs)
Measures electrical activity in the brain using electrodes attached to the scalp, and measures how electrical activity in the brain varies over time/in different states
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Event-related potentials (ERPs)
Measures small voltages of electrical activity when a stimulus is presented. Because these small voltages are difficult to pick out from other electrical signals in the brain, the stimulus needs to be repeatedly presented
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Post-mortem examinations
Brains from dead individuals who displayed cognitive abnormalities whilst alive can be dissected to check for structural abnormalities/damage
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Circadian rhythms
Follow a 24 hour cycle such as sleep wake cycle. Siffre 6 months underground adjusted to 25 hour cycle
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Ultradian rhythms
Cycles of REM during sleep. Experience a cyclical structure of REM and NREM during sleep.
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Infradian rhythms
Occur less than once a day such as menstruation which occurs monthly.
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Sleep wake cycle - Endogenous pacemakers
The EP controlling the sleep-waking cycle is located in the hypothalamus. Patterns of light and darkness are registered by the retina, travel up the optic nerves to where these nerves join and pass into the SCN of the hypothalamus.
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Sleep wake cycle - Exogenous zeitgebers
However, circadian rhythms are also influenced by EZ’s - ‘cues’ in the environment - about what time of day or night it is.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

The sympathetic ANS leads to increased arousal: e.g. increase in heart rate and blood pressure, pupil dilation, reduction in digestion and salivation. The parasympathetic ANS leads to decreased arousal.

Back

Autonomic nervous system

Card 3

Front

convey information about sensory stimuli: vision, touch, taste, etc. towards the brain.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

convey instructions for physical operations: e.g. release of hormones from glands, muscle movement, digestion, etc.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

connect different parts of the central nervous system (CNS).

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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Hannah baker was a thot

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