Psychology a level - biopsychology

everything on the spec

why is the pituitary gland known as the master gland?

regulates other glands in the secretion of the body’s hormones e.g. adrenal gland, thyroid and reproductive glands

list the divisions of the nervous system in order

nervous system

central and peripheral nervous system

somatic and autonomic nervous system

para-sympathetic and sympathetic nervous system

what is the role of the para-sympathetic nervous system

to conserve energy

what is the role of the sympathetic nervous system

to increase the amount of energy in the body

what is the role of the somatic nervous system

control voluntary behaviour

what is the role of the autonomic nervous system

control involuntary behaviour

what is adrenaline

the stress hormone, produced by the adrenal glands, that stimulates the fight or flight response

what is the fight or flight response

the acute stress response that impacts our physiology when we encounter something scary, triggered by the release of hormones

what is the endocrine system

A series of glands in the body that secrete hormones into the bloodstream

what is a hormone

a chemical compound secreted by glands that are used to send information and messages chemically around the body through the bloodstream

what is the auditory cortex

the part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information in humans

what is Broca’s area

area of the left hemisphere’s frontal lobe crucial in language production and speech control

what is EEG

electroencephalogram is used to measure electrical currents on the surface of the brain as a means of studying brain activity

what is ERP

Event-related potentials use electrodes placed on the scalp to measure electrical activity in the brain by exposing the participant to the stimuli many times

what is excitation

An act of irritation or stimulation or of responding to a stimulus

what is functional MRI (fMRI)

A technique for measuring changes in brain activity over time using magnetic resonance, using a strong magnetic field to create images

what is a gland

a group of cells or an organ that excretes a chemical substance

what is hemispheric lateralisation

the idea that both hemispheres are functionally different and that certain mental processes and behaviors are mainly controlled by one hemisphere

what is inhibition

decreasing the likelihood of the neuron firing

what is localisation of function

the idea that specific areas of the brain are assigned to specific functions e.g. left hemisphere to language

what is the motor cortex

an area within the frontal lobe involved in the planning, control, and carrying out of voluntary movement

what is the function of a motor neuron

to integrate signals from the brain to the muscles, glands, and organs that intend to carry out the required motor function. carry the impulse away from the CNS

what is a neurotransmitter

a chemical messenger that facilitates communication between nerve cells, or neurons

what is the peripheral nervous system

nervous tissue that lies outside of the central nervous system, connecting the CNS to the rest of the organism

what is neuroplasticity

the brain’s ability to change and adapt to the environment, both in function and structure

what is post-mortem

a technique used to examine the brain and body after death

what is the function of a relay neuron

connects sensory neurones to motor or other relay neurones, relaying their impulses. located in the CNS

what are scanning techniques

non-invasive ways of studying the brain including fMRI, EEG and ERP

what is the function of sensory neurons

cells that send information to the brain regarding the senses. Carry information towards the CNS

what is the somatosensory cortex

a region of the brain located in the parietal lobe and behind the primary motor cortex of the frontal lobe, responsible for processing sensory information from the body

what is split brain research

involving individuals who have had surgical separation of their brain hemispheres in order to relieve symptoms of epilepsy, this research can reveal to what extent other brain functions are lateralised

what is a synapse

where information is transmitted from one neuron to another

consists of the axon terminal of the pre-synaptic neuron, the synaptic cleft, and the dendrite or cell body of the post-synaptic neuron

what is the visual cortex

the part of the brain’s occipital lobe responsible for processing visual information received from the eyes

what is Wernicke’s area

an area of the left cerebral hemisphere, near the back of the temporal lobe, that is crucial in language comprehension

give two pieces of research to support plasticity

Maguire found increased grey matter in posterior hippocampus of London taxi drivers

Boyke found increased grey matter in visual cortex of 60 year olds juggling

what are the four types of functional recovery

axonal sprouting, unmasking, recruitment, neurogenesis

what did Teuber (1975) investigate? what did he find?

the effect of age on functional recovery. found that 60% soldiers under the age of 20 recovered from brain damage whilst only 20% over the age of 26 recovered

describe research that suggests education is linked to the brains ability to functionally recover

Scheider found that patients with a college education were 7x more likely to recover disability-free from brain damage after 1 year due to cognitive reserve

what is functional recovery

a form of plasticity following brain trauma where the brain redistributes functions

what is a circadian rhythm? give an example

a biological process that occurs around once a day. e.g. the sleep/wake cycle

what are endogenous pacemakers? give an example

internal biological clocks that regulate bodily processes. e.g. the SCN

what are exogenous zeitgebers? give an example

external factors which influence biological rhythms e.g. light

what is an infradian rhythm? give an example

a biological process that occurs less than once a day e.g. menstrual cycle

describe synaptic transmission

action potential at the end of the axon on the presynaptic neurone

neurotransmitters are released from vesicles at the presynaptic membrane

neurotransmitter diffuses across the synaptic cleft and bind with receptor molecules on the postsynaptic membrane

stimulates the postsynaptic neurone to generate action potential if threshold is reached

the neurotransmitters are then destroyed or re-uptaken

what is an ultradian rhythm? give an example

a biological process that occurs more than once every day e.g. the sleep cycle

describe brain trauma

creates fixed neural networks that are isolated from other parts of the brain and resistant to change

APFC Sperry & Gazzaniga’s split brain research

A - asses the extent to which function is lateralised in the brain

P - used split-brain patients. image projected either in left or right visual field, and patient was asked to either describe what they saw or draw what they saw. in the tactile task the patient was given an object to feel in one hand and then had to describe it or pick out the same object from a selection

F - patients could describe pictures projected in right visual field but the drawing was not clear. patients could not describe pictures projected in left visual field, sometimes saying they saw nothing, but the drawing was very clear. both conditions saw that patient be able to pick out a similar object, but only objects in the right hand were describable

c - some functions are lateralised. the left hemisphere is dominant in language tasks and the right hemisphere is dominant in visual-motor tasks

5 stages of fight or flight response

threat processed by hypothalamus

sympathetic nervous system activated

nerve message to adrenal gland in the medulla

adrenaline released into bloodstream

short term stress response

research from Peterson (1988) on localisation of function

brain scans showed Wernicke’s area active during listening task, Broca’s during reading task

research from Dronkers (2007) countering Broca’s research on localisation of function

re-examined 2 of Broca’s preserved brains and found damage to areas other than Broca’s area

how many split brain patients did Sperry and Gazzaniga use? is this a small or a large sample size?

11, small

APFC Folkhard et al’s ‘bunker study’

A - study the role of endogenous pacemakers in sleep/wake cycle

P - people lived in a bunker for 12 weeks, sleeping when the clock said 11:45 and getting up when it said 7:45. gradually the researchers made an apparent 24 hour day 22 hours

F - p’s cycles continued to follow 24 day rather than the imposed 22

C - supports the importance of endogenous pacemakers such as the SCN

APF Miles et al blind man study

A - study role of endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers on sleep cycle using the example of a man blind since birth

P - exposed the man to many EZ e.g. alarm clocks, radios

F - man had a strong, persisting 25hour biological rhythm. needed sedatives and stimulants to stay on 24hour cycle

findings of Morgan on sleep/wake cycle of hamsters

hamsters who had their SCNs removed lost their sleep/wake cycles completely

APF Dougherty et al’s study on biological basis of OCD

A - asses link between damaged areas of brain and OCD

P - studied patients who had a cingulotomy (interrupts neural pathways in cingulate gyrus) as OCD treatment

F - after 32 weeks, 30% had successful response, 14% had partial response

APF Stern and McClintock’s infradian rhythms study

A - investigate whether pheromones cause menstrual cycles to sync

P - 29 women with irregular periods. samples of pheromones collected through cotton pads worn in armpit for 8 hours, which was then rubbed on upper lip of another p

F - 68% of women’s cycles got closer to the “odour donors”

symptom of Broca’s aphasia. which patient was used by Broca to exemplify this

difficulty producing fluent speech. Tan

symptom of Wernicke’s aphasia

producing speech that is fluent but without meaning

why does fMRI have low temporal resolution

5 second lag between neuronal activity and picture

why does fMRI have high spacial resolution

identifies location of function with accuracy of 1mm

summarise Siffre’s cave studies of circadian rhythms (sleep/wake cycle)

spent several months in caves deprived of natural light and sounds

found his ‘free running’ biological rhythms set at around 25 hours

findings from Tucker on the sleep cycle (ultradian rhythm)

large differences between individual’s stages of sleep, particularly stages 3 and 4 (slow wave sleep)

concluded these individual differences are biologically determined

how long do the 5 stages of sleep span over on average

90 minutes

stages of sleep (3 categories)

1 and 2: alpha wave

3 and 4: slow wave

5: rapid eye movement

what kind of sleep reduces with age

slow wave sleep

example of disorder explained by an infradian rhythm. how does research suggest it can be treated?

seasonal affective disorder

one study found that light therapy reduces effects of SAD in 80% of people HOWEVER another study found that 46% people using light therapy relapsed the next winter, while only 27% of CBT treated patients relapsed

2 strength and a limitation of research into infradian rhythms

evolutionary explanation of menstrual syncing

methodological issues with menstrual syncing study e.g. could be due to chance

real world application of research into SAD

symptoms of SAD

persistent low mood, lack of activity thought to be triggered by increased melatonin during the winter inhibiting serotonin production

strength and a limitation of research into ultradian rhythms

improved understanding of link between sleep quality and age

individual differences

what is chronotherapeutic’s

a field concerned with administering medical treatment in a way that corresponds to a person’s circadian rhythms

study showing individual differences in sleep/wake cycles

Czeisler (1999) found individual differences vary between 13 to 65 hour cycles