General Psychology Chapter 4

Biological Psycology

examines how the psychological experiences we have are caused by an interaction with various physical processes (physical functions affect our behavior)

Phrenology

practice of measuring bumps on the skull to infer personality traits and mental abilities (how they relate to human behavior)

Examining Autopsy Tissue

Examines structural damage to the brain and correlate it to behavior during life (Study Brain Damage)

Electroencephalograms

Record Brain Activity from the surface of the scalp - use a cap on the head to record continuous electrical activity

Neuroimaging

• Position Emission Tomography (PET)

• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Prostration Emission Tomography (PET)

injects harmless radioactive sugar into the bloodstream. Moniters which brain region uses the sugar

Funcational Magnetic Reasoning Imaging (fMRI)

powerful magnet that detects changed in blood flow and oxygen levels across brain structure

Neuron

Make up the brain - born with almost all the neurons that we will have - 100 billion

Gilia

cells that help support neurons (clean up, build myelin)

Astroglia

Create blood and brain barrier, regulate blood flow, influence neural activity (your filter)

Oligodendroglia

form myelin shealth (help our brain work more efficiently

Microgolia

clean up dead cells and prevent infection in the brain

Cell Body or Soma

Contains nucleus that provide energy for the neuron (houses dna)

Dendrites

Receives messages from other neurons (branches off of cell body)

Axon

Carries Information away from call body (the arm of the neuron)

Axon Terminals

transmits signals to the dendrites (branches at the end of an axon)

Myelin Sheath

a substance that speeds up the firing neuron (on the axon - sheath over it)

Nodes of Ranvier

Gaps on the axon with no myelin (signal jumps from node to node)

Resting Potential

when neuron is at rest (negatively charged inside and positively charged outside)

Action Potential

Sudden change in electrical charge inside the axon - neurons open to allow positive charge in and negative charge out (release neurotransmitters)

Absolute Refractory Period

After firing, a neuron can’t fire

Relative Refractory Period

slightly later, the cell can fire but has higher threshold than normal (slightly more negative making it slightly harder to fire again)

Communications between Neurons

• Chemicals that help neighboring neurons communicate 

• These chemicals float from the synaptic vessel of one neuron and are taken up by neurotransmitter receptors in the neighboring neurons 

• Neurotransmitter get released into synapse then the dendrites of the cell pick up the neurotransmitters and it get passed on, the microglia comes in a cleans the synapse 

Synapse

small space between the axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrite of another neuron 

Neurotransmitter types

• Acetylcholine (Ach)

• Epinephrine (Adrenaline)

• Norepinephrine (Noadrealine)

• Dopamine

• Serotonin

• Glutamate

• GABA

• Endorphins

Acetycholine (Ach)

Movement, memory, autonomic system functions

Epinephrine (Adreniline)

Arousal (shocks brain awake)

Norepinephrine (Noradrenaline)

Arousal vigilance (helo focus - sleep)

Dopamine

movement, planning, reward (feel good neurotransmitter)

Serotonin

mood, appetite, sleep (getting you going, affect happy or sad, sleep or not)

Glutamate

Excitation of brain activity (neurons firing, impulses comes in)

GABA

Inhibition of brain activity (opposite of glutamate - when you start to go to sleep)

Endorphins

coping with pain

Neural Networks

Interconnected clusters of neurons that communicate with each other

Central Nervous System

Neurons in the brain and spinal cord - central functioning of the body

Peripheral Nervous system

Neurons in the rest of the body

• Somatic Nervous System

• Autonomic Nervous System

Somatic Nervous System

 all the neurons that take in sensory information (touch and pain) from all over the body and deliver it to the spinal cord and brain

Autonomic Nervous System

• Sympathetic Nervous systems

• Parasympathetic Nervous system

Sympathetic Nervous System

Control flight or fight

Parasympathetic Nervous System

control digestive and other organ functions

Brain Stem

Function: Regulates basic life functions

Location: Connects Brain to the rest of the body via the spinal cord

Parts:

• medulla

• Pons

• Reticular Formation

Medulla

regulates heartbeat, breathing, swallowing, and coughing

Pons

regulates attention and arousal

Reticular Formation

regulates sleep/wake cycle

Cerebellum

Function: controls motor coordination - helpful in learning things that involve movement

Location: sits at the back of the brain and is connected to the brain stem

Midbrain

Function: variety of functions

Location: on top of brainstem

Parts:

• thalamus

• hypothalamus

• Pituitary Gland

• Amygdala

• Hippocampus

• Striatum

• Nucleus Accumbens

Thalamus

direct incoming sensory information

Hypothalamus

Helps direct eating, drinking, sex, body temperature, and blood chemistry 

Pituitary Gland

along with hypothalamus, regulates hormones

Amygdala

fear and aggression

Hippocampus

memory

Striatum

Fluid movement, unconscious learning

Nucleus Accumbens

motivation, rewards, and addiction

Neocortex

Location: Outer parts of the brain

Parts:

• Frontal Lobe

• Occipital Lobe

• Partial Lobe

• Terminal Lobe

Frontal Lobe

higher intellectual thinking

Prefrontal Cortex: working memory, morality, mood

Occipital lobe

vision

Partial Lobe

Perception of touch

Terminal Lobe

hearing, language, learning, memory

Corpus Callosum

Function: Communicates information from one side of the brain to the other

Location: connects the two hemispheres

Building the Brain

During the third week of prenatal development, the outer layer of the embryo (called the ectoderm) folds in on itself to form the neural tube 

Neural Tube (Primitive Brain)

the neural tube is beginning of the brain

• Neurogenesis

• Synaptogenesis

Neurogenesis

 new neurons are created in the middle tube and then travel to form all parts of the brain (neural migration)

Synaptpgenesis

formation of new synapses

Brain Laterization

• Differs between individuals 

• The “left brain” can accomplish whatever the “right brain” can 

• It's just less efficient at some tasks and more efficient at others 

Little Relationship between brain functions

• Gender differences in brain structure are very small and do not predict much 

• Brain size is not a good predictor of intelligence 

  • Except at extremes: people with abnormally large or small brains are more likely to have mental deficiencies