Biopsych Exam 3

left side

damage to the right hemisphere can leave the ____

Yes

Is sex a physiological drive like hunger and thirst?

Sex is not essential for survival of an individual.

What is the difference between sex, and say hunger?

Arousal and satiation, role of hormones, and involvement of specific brain areas.

What are 3 similarites between hunger, thirst, and sex?

Excitement, Plateau, Orgasm, Resolution

What are the 4 phases of Sexual Response Cycle?

Refractory Period

Duration of time before another excitement can happen.

Refractory Period

Males experience, an ______ because of sensory-specific satiety.

Sensory-Specific Satiety

The more of a specific food a person eats, the less appealing the food becomes; encourages a varied diet.

Coolidge Effect

Male specific; shortens the refractory phase

Coolidge Effect

Quicker return to sexual arousal for a male when a new female is introduced.

Cheap Sperms, Expensive Eggs Theory

Male can potentially have a large number of children quickly by mating with different females--more of his genes passed to the next generation.

Androgen

male characteristics & functions

Estrogen

female characteristics & functions

Sexual behavior decreases

If you remove the gonads (castration) what happens?

Minimal

Testosterone appears necessary for male sexual behaviors but amount required is____

Midcycle

Females initiate sex more at___ when both estrogen and testosterone levels are increased.

Testosterone

___ may be more important than estrogen for female sexual increase.

Increases

Testosterone ___ as a result of sexual activity in both males and females.

unclear

What is the cause and effect relationship between testosterone and sexual activity?

Medial Preoptic Area (MPOA) of Hypothalamus

Increases copulation (sexual activity)

Sexually Dimorphic Nucleus of MPOA

larger in male rates; depends on prenatal exposure to testosterone

Medial Amygdala

active during copulation (in both males and females)

Medial Amygdala

stimulation causes dopamine release in MPOA

Ventromedial Nucleus (VMN) of Hypothalamus

active during copulation in females; destruction reduces responsiveness to males

increases MPOA in rats

Dopamine and Serotonin

increases in men and women during sex

Norepinephrine

Nucleus Accumbens

Dopamine increases in____

Body Symmetry

is an important determinant of sexual attractiveness; may be indicative of genetic fitness

Pheromones

airborne chemicals related by an animal that have a physiological or behavioral effect on another animal of the same species

Detected by the VNO

What are Pheromones detected by?

MPOA and Ventromedial Nucleus of hypothalamus

the VNO sends signals to the ___

McClintock Study

Studied menstrual synchrony in females due to pheromones

microscopic in size and generates electrical potentials to pheromones

Humans have a VNO that is ___ and ___

higher

Men rate photographs and voice recordings of women ___ when sniffing inhalers containing suspected pheromones from the women.

highest on sexiness

Men rate t-shirts of more attractive women ___ smell itself is not pleasant.

after shave

Men using___ containing suspect male pheromones report more sexual activity than controls.

Pheromonal influence

____ on sexual behavior of humans is still controversial.

Emotion

"movement" of mind (soul) which in return body responds

Emotion

i.e., feeling happiness-- smiling(somatic nervous system)-- higher heart rate (autonomic nervous system).

James Lange Theory (late 1800s)

Perception of specific patterns of physiological arousal--specific emotional experience

James Lange Theory (late 1800s)

i.e., I feel sad because I cry (rather than I cry because I feel sad).

Cannon's Criticism (1920s) to James Theory

Autonomic nervous system responds the same way in different emotions -- perception of physiological responses cannot account for variety of emotional experiences.

Schacter & Singer's Cognitive Theory (1962)

identification of emotions relies on a cognitive assessment of the external stimulus situations--physiological arousal contributes

only to the intensity of an emotion

autonomic activation

There are distinctive patterns of _____ among different emotions; anger and sadness both elevate heart rate but only anger involves also motor activation.

emotional feedback

facial expressions are a source of ___

physiological feedback

plays a role in emotion

hypothalamus

Electrical stimulation of this in humans evokes feelings of rage, fear, or pleasure.

threatening or defensive behaviors (cat's hissing)

Electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus in animals produces _____ in animals.

Septal Nuclei

Electrical stimulation in humans results in feelings of pleasure (sexual)

Amygdala

involved in perception of facial expressions of emotion, especially fear.

fear and aggression

Damage to the amygdala removes ____ and ____ in animals.

Amygdala

Stimulation produces fear and agression

anti- anxiety medications

have some of their effects in the amygdala

CNS--Limbic System

Complex network of Subcortical Structures

emotionally to rewards and punishments

Damaged amygdala patients do not respond__________

fear and anxiety

the amygdala plays a major role in

fear

emotional reaction to a specific immediate threat

anxiety

apprehension about a future and often uncertain event

part of the cingulate gyrus

Anterior Cingulate Cortex

conscious emotional experience

The anterior cingulate cortex combines emotional attentional and bodily information to bring about _____

decision making

The prefrontal cortex is involved in

blunts emotional responding and impairs ability to anticipate consequences of behavior

damage to the prefrontal cortex...

structural asymmetry and functional asymmetry

The left and right cerebral hemisphere can differ in____

linguistic functions

The left hemisphere is more involved in ___ than the right hemisphere

emotional expression and perception

The right hemisphere is more involved in ...

in recognizing emotions in others

following brain damage to the right hemisphere, you will have difficulty

left side of the body

damage to the right hemisphere can lead to the ____ being paralyzed.

Stress

condition in the environment that makes unusual demands on the organism (i.e., threat, failure, etc)

sympathetic branch of the PNS

Activation of the ___________ helps the organism cope with stress as an adaptive response

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortex axis (HPA)

group of structures that increase activation and energy levels

converts proteins to glucose, increases fat availability, and increases metabolism

What are the three things that cortisol does?

increase heart rate and glucose availability

Epinephrine and Norepinephrine do what?

short term stress

increase immune system activity

memory impairment, appetite changes, decreased sex drive and mood disruptions

What are some negative side effects of long term stress (4)?

Macrophages

ingest invaders; display antigens, which attract T cells

t cells

multiply and attack invaders

b cells

make antibodies which destroy intruders

natural killer cells

attack cells containing viruses; certain kinds of tumor cells

Macrophages, t cells, b cells, and Natural Killer Cells

What at the major types of Immune Cells ? (4)

heart goes into fibrillation--sudden cardiac arrest

What happens when hyperactivation of the sympathetic nervous system occurs?

adaptive

Pain is _____

repeated injuries and death

Congenital insensitivity to pain leads to

limbic system

The pain pathway is heavily connected with the____

Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)

emotional aspect of pain focused here

prefrontal cortex

Long lasting pain activates the ____

1) Acquiring info on the outside world through the senses, 2) processing sensory info, 3) acting upon the world (communication, movement).

Windows on the outside world

Sensory system

A set of components of the PNS and CNS involved in acquiring & processing of specific sensory info (i.e., auditory info)

sensation

acquisition of sensory info

perception

interpretation of sensory info

receptor

a cell that is suited by its structure and function to respond to a specific form of energy (i.e., sound).

receptor

a specialized neuron

transducer

a device that converts energy from one form to another

stimulus

specific energy form for which the receptor is specialized

stimulus

vibration in a conducting medium (normally air)

sound source

alternating pressure changes

pure tones

single frequency sounds

frequency

# of waves of compression and decompression cycles that occur per unit time

complex sounds

combination of 2+ frequencies; more than one pure tone

pitch

experience of the frequency of a sound

Loudness

experience of the intensity (i.e., physical energy) of a sound