Physiological Psychology & Psychopharmacology – Comprehensive Review

120 question-and-answer flashcards covering major brain structures, neurotransmitters, neural processes, disorders, psychopharmacology, and related concepts from the Physiological Psychology & Psychopharmacology lecture notes.

What are the four lobes of each cerebral hemisphere?

Frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital.

Where is Broca’s area located and what does damage to it cause?

In the dominant (usually left) frontal lobe; damage produces Broca’s (expressive, non-fluent) aphasia with slow, labored speech and relatively intact comprehension.

Which aphasia is characterized by fluent but meaningless speech and poor comprehension?

Wernicke’s (receptive, fluent) aphasia.

What structure connects Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas and what happens when it is damaged?

The arcuate fasciculus; damage produces conduction aphasia (fluent speech, intact comprehension, impaired repetition).

Primary function of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)?

Executive functions such as goal-directed behavior, working memory, judgment, and insight.

Psychiatric disorders linked to DLPFC abnormalities

Major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, OCD, schizophrenia.

Damage to the orbitofrontal cortex often results in _.

Impulsivity, social inappropriateness, and emotion dysregulation.

What does the primary motor cortex do?

Initiates voluntary movements; damage causes weakness or paralysis on the contralateral side.

Somatosensory cortex function

Processes touch, pressure, temperature, pain, and body position information.

Define ideomotor apraxia.

Inability to imitate or carry out a motor command on request despite intact motor and sensory systems.

Which parietal-lobe syndrome includes finger agnosia and agraphia?

Gerstmann’s syndrome.

Blindsight definition

Ability to respond to visual stimuli without conscious visual awareness after visual cortex damage.

Prosopagnosia is usually caused by lesions in the .

Bilateral occipitotemporal junction.

Left-hemisphere specializations (most people)

Language, logical/analytical thinking, positive emotions.

Right-hemisphere specializations

Holistic thinking, spatial relationships, intuition, negative emotions, emotional prosody, pragmatics.

In Sperry’s split-brain studies, why could patients verbally identify objects shown to the right visual field?

Because information reached the left (language-dominant) hemisphere.

Reticular activating system (RAS) primary role

Regulating arousal, wakefulness, and consciousness.

Hypothalamus helps maintain homeostasis by controlling _.

Body temperature, hunger, thirst, sleep, blood pressure, autonomic and endocrine functions.

Hormone stored in the posterior pituitary that promotes uterine contractions and social bonding

Oxytocin.

Cardoso et al. (2014) found high oxytocin levels can emotion recognition in healthy adults.

Impair (due to oversensitivity).

Main role of the hippocampus

Transfer of declarative memories from short-term to long-term storage.

Anterograde amnesia results from damage to the .

Hippocampus.

Basal ganglia dysfunction is linked to which tic disorder?

Tourette’s disorder.

Amygdala functions

Emotion processing, conditioned fear, evaluating emotional significance, attaching emotions to memories.

Endorphins are produced mainly by the and act like .

Pituitary gland & hypothalamus; opioid analgesics.

Neurons vs. glial cells – main difference

Neurons communicate information; glia provide support, insulation (myelin), and nutrients.

Three main parts of a neuron

Dendrites, soma (cell body), axon.

Purpose of myelin

Insulates axons and speeds neural conduction.

Multiple sclerosis pathology

Immune-mediated destruction of myelin in CNS.

Action potentials are responses.

All-or-none.

Neurotransmission between neurons occurs at the _.

Synaptic cleft via chemical neurotransmitters.

Four types of neuroplasticity (Grafman)

Homologous area adaptation, cross-modal reassignment, map expansion, compensatory masquerade.

Dopamine hyperactivity in subcortical regions produces symptoms of schizophrenia.

Positive.

Parkinson’s disease primary neurochemical deficit

Loss of dopamine-producing cells in the substantia nigra.

Low acetylcholine in hippocampus is associated with _.

Early memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease.

Glutamate excitotoxicity contributes to what conditions?

Stroke, seizures, TBI, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s.

Catecholamine hypothesis of depression focuses on deficiency of _.

Norepinephrine.

Primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in CNS

GABA.

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is first observed in which brain region?

Hippocampus (glutamate receptors).

Opposite of LTP that weakens synaptic strength

Long-term depression (LTD).

Central vs. peripheral nervous system components

CNS: brain & spinal cord; PNS: all nerves outside CNS.

Somatic nervous system controls actions.

Voluntary (skeletal muscles).

Autonomic nervous system subdivisions

Sympathetic (fight-or-flight) and parasympathetic (rest-and-digest).

General Adaptation Syndrome stages

Alarm, resistance, exhaustion.

Medulla regulates which vital functions?

Respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, swallowing reflexes.

Cerebellum role in memory

Stores procedural (implicit) memories.

Damage to cerebellum causes _.

Ataxia – impaired balance, coordination, slurred speech.

Substantia nigra involvement in addiction

Part of reward circuitry; dopamine release reinforces drug use.

Enteric nervous system controls which organ system?

Gastrointestinal tract.

Four characteristics of Kluver-Bucy syndrome

Hyperphagia, hyperorality, reduced fear, hypersexuality (plus visual agnosia).

Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) volume changes are linked to improvement.

Depression symptom (larger ACC after CBT).

Flashbulb memories rely heavily on which limbic structure?

Amygdala.

Trichromatic theory explains color perception at the level of the .

Retina (three cone types: red, green, blue).

Opponent-process theory accounts for _.

Afterimages and red-green / blue-yellow color blindness.

Gate control theory suggests pain signals can be inhibited by fibers.

Large myelinated non-pain sensory fibers or descending brain input.

Grapheme-color synesthesia definition

Seeing specific colors when viewing letters or numbers.

Signal detection theory ‘hit’ vs. ‘false alarm’

Hit: stimulus present & reported; false alarm: stimulus absent but reported.

Sleep stage with delta waves

Stage N3 (slow-wave sleep).

REM sleep is called paradoxical because _.

EEG resembles wakefulness while major muscles are paralyzed.

Normal aging effect on sleep architecture

Less deep (N3) sleep, more awakenings, phase advance.

James-Lange theory sequence

Physiological arousal → conscious emotion.

Schachter-Singer (two-factor) theory adds what component?

Cognitive appraisal/attribution of arousal determines emotion felt.

LeDoux’s two-system view: subcortical system mediates while cortical system creates .

Automatic defensive responses; conscious feeling of fear.

McEwen’s term for wear-and-tear from chronic stress

Allostatic load.

Ischemic vs. hemorrhagic stroke

Ischemic: artery blockage; hemorrhagic: vessel rupture/bleeding.

Post-traumatic amnesia duration predicts after TBI.

Severity and recovery outcome.

Key motor symptom distinguishing Huntington’s disease

Chorea – irregular, jerky movements.

Classic Parkinson’s motor triad

Resting tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia (plus postural instability).

Focal onset aware seizure old name

Simple partial seizure.

Status epilepticus first-line pharmacologic treatment

Benzodiazepines.

Aura of temporal-lobe seizure often includes a sense of .

Déjà vu, jamais vu, rising epigastric sensation, or unusual odor/taste.

Migraine with aura used to be called .

Classic migraine.

Hyperthyroidism hallmark metabolic effect

Increased metabolic rate causing heat intolerance and weight loss.

Central diabetes insipidus results from low levels of .

Antidiuretic hormone (vasopressin).

Hypoglycemia main hormone imbalance

Excess insulin relative to blood glucose.

EEG is especially useful for diagnosing disorders.

Seizure (epileptic) disorders.

Structural neuroimaging technique most sensitive to white-matter tract integrity

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).

First-generation antipsychotics mechanism

D2 dopamine receptor antagonists.

Tardive dyskinesia is a late-onset side effect of .

Long-term use of first-generation antipsychotics.

Second-generation antipsychotics block which receptors to reduce negative symptoms?

Serotonin 5-HT2A receptors (as well as dopamine).

Metabolic syndrome risk is highest with which antipsychotic class?

Second-generation (atypical), especially clozapine and olanzapine.

Third-generation antipsychotics are partial agonists at receptors.

Dopamine D2/D3 and serotonin 5-HT1A (while antagonizing 5-HT2A).

SSRI discontinuation syndrome common symptoms

Headache, dizziness, mood lability, flu-like sensation.

Dangerous interaction of MAOIs with tyramine-rich foods causes .

Hypertensive crisis.

Benzodiazepines act as at GABA receptors.

Positive allosteric modulators (agonists).

Main advantage of buspirone over benzodiazepines

No sedation or dependence risk.

Methadone’s role in opioid use disorder treatment

Long-acting opioid agonist that reduces craving and withdrawal without euphoria.

Propranolol helps anxiety primarily by reducing symptoms.

Somatic/physiological (e.g., tremor, tachycardia).

Lithium toxicity signs

Severe tremor, ataxia, confusion, seizures.

Valproic acid major organ to monitor

Liver (risk of hepatotoxicity).

Cholinesterase inhibitors in Alzheimer’s disease work by .

Delaying breakdown of acetylcholine.

Psychostimulants alleviate ADHD symptoms by increasing in the prefrontal cortex.

Dopamine and norepinephrine.

‘Drug holiday’ purpose in stimulant treatment of children

Allow catch-up growth and assess continued medication need.

Disulfiram produces adverse reaction by inhibiting metabolism of _.

Acetaldehyde (intermediate in alcohol metabolism).

Nicotine replacement therapy principle

Provide low stable nicotine levels to prevent withdrawal and aid cessation.

FDA ‘breakthrough therapy’ designation indicates what?

Preliminary evidence of substantial benefit; speeds development but is not full approval.

Drug half-life definition

Time for blood concentration of drug to fall to 50% of its peak level.

Cross-tolerance example involving alcohol

Chronic alcohol use confers tolerance to benzodiazepines and barbiturates.

Therapeutic index formula in human studies

TI = TD50 ÷ ED50 (toxic dose for 50% / effective dose for 50%).

Drugs with narrow therapeutic window require .

Close monitoring because effective dose ≈ toxic dose.