BIOPSYCH

Which divisions of the nervous system is divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic branches

The autonomic nervous system

The master endocrine gland is the:

Pituitary gland

What neurone carries messages from the PNS to the CNS

Sensory neuron

What is action potential

When a neuron is activated by a stimulus, the inside of a cell becomes positively charged for a split second. This creates an electrical impulse that travels down the axon towards the end of the neuron

What is hollistic theory

The theory that all parts of the brain are involved in the processing of thought and action

Where is Broca’s area located

Left frontal lobe

Damage to what area may lead to a loss of control of fine movements

Motor area

If an object was shown to the left visual field of one of sperry’s participants they would report

That there was nothing there

What is synaptic pruning

The deleting of rarely used connections in the brain

What is unmasking

The activation of secondary neural pathways to carry out new functions

A method of detecting changes in blood oxygenation and flow that occur as a result of neural activity best describes what?

fMRI

Which of the following is an example of the circadian rhythm

The sleep wake cycle

The stern and McClintock study investigated the influence of which chemicals

Pheromones

REM occurs in which phase of the sleep cycle

Stage 5

Melatonin is secreted by the:

Pineal gland

The SCN is located within which parts of the brain

Hypothalamus

What is the function of the sensory neurone

Found mostly under the skin, and carry messages and detect stimuli from the environment

What neurone carries electrical impulses towards the brain

Sensory neuron

Measuring electrical activity of neurons by recording changes in blood flow is a feature of what

fMRI

What is the difference between Infradian rhythms and Ultradian rhythms

Infradian rhythms last over 24 hours whereas Ultradian rhythms last less than 24 hours

What is the difference between endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers

Endogenous pacemakers are internal and exogenous zeitgebers are external

What is fight or flight stimulated by

The sympathetic nervous system which is part of the autonomic nervous system

What is the sympathetic nervous system stimulated by in fight or flight

The hypothalamus

What does the sympathetic nervous system stimulate in fight or flight

The adrenal medulla to release adrenaline into the blood stream

What dampens the effects (stress response) of fight or flight

The parasympathetic nervous system

What two pieces of research can be used to contradict localisation of brain function

lashley and Case study of EB

What research can be used to support localisation of brain function

Case study of tan by Broca

What is the case study of EB

Left hemisphere removed at 2 which removed all language ability however by 4 it was regained which shows other areas can take over and compensate for damage

What is the case study of TAN

After a stroke he could only say his name due to limited speech production. FMRIs showed damage to left frontal lobe now known as Broca’s area showing that TAN suffered from Broca’s aphasia

What research was conducted by lashley

Studied rats and removed 10-50% of rats cortex and found that no single area is responsible for spatial navigation it was dependent on how much tissue was removed. This shows processes like spatial recognition are hollistic

What two pieces of research can be used to support lateralisation of brain function

Sperry split Braun research and Rodger’s

What piece of research can be used to contradict lateralisation of brain

Case study of EB

What research was conducted by sperry

Studied patient who had had their corpus callosum cut. When a picture was shown to a patients right visual field the patient could easily describe what was seen. However if the same image was shown to the left visual field the patient could not describe what was seen. this is because messages from the right hemisphere are usually relayed to the language centres in the left hemisphere but the corpus callosum which connects both hemispheres was cut

What is hemispheric lateralisation

The idea that the two hemispheres of the brain are functionally different and that certain mental processes are mainly controlled by one hemisphere

What research was conducted by Rodgers

Found that domesticated chickens have split brains and this improves their survival as they can look for predators and eat at the same time

What are two pieces of research that support plasticity

Maguire and Kuhn

What research was conducted by maguire

London taxi drivers are required to take a test called the knowledge which is the knowledge of street names and routes. It was found that they had more grey matter in their posterior hippocampus than a control group. Which shows that the brain is in a constant state if change. A positive correlation was also found between the length of time as a taxi driver and the size increase

What research was conducted by Kuhn

Compared control group with a video game training group and found a significant increase in grey matter in various brain areas. The video games had resulted in new synaptic connections in the brain

What two pieces of research can be used to support functional recovery

Tajiri and the case study of EB

What researcher can be used as a criticism of functional recovery

Schneider

What research was conducted by Tajiri

Randomly assigned rats with brain injury into 2 groups. 1 had stem cell transplants other a placebo injection and after 3 months the stem cell group showed development in the area of brain injury

What does Schneider say about functional recovery

Individual differences such effect the extent a person can functionally recover after trauma. For example age and educational attainment. If you complete university you are x7 more likely to disability free 1 year after trauma

What two pieces of research can be used to support endogenous pacemakers

Morgan and Ralph

What piece of research supports exogenous zeitgebers

Campbell and Murphy

What piece of research support Ultradian rhythms

Dement and kleitman

What piece of research supports Infradian rhythms

McClintock and stern

What research was conducted by Morgan

Morgan bred hamsters so that they'd have abnormal circadian rhythms of 20 hrs instead of 24 hrs. SCN neurons from these abnormal hamsters were then transplanted into the brains of normal hamsters. The normal hamsters then displayed the same abnormal circadian rhythms of 20 hrs, showing that the SCN that was transplanted had imposed its pattern onto the recipients' brains. Furthermore, in the reverse experiment, when implanting SCN neurons from a normal hamster into the brain of an abnormal hamster, the recipient hamster's circadian rhythms changed to 24 hrs.

What research was conducted by Ralph

What research was conducted by Campbell and Murphy

Light can be detected by skin receptors when the eyes can not detect the information. Researchers shone lights on the back of ppts knees. Found that their usual sleep wake cycle changed by up to 3 hours

What research was conducted by dement and kleitman

Participants brain and eye activity was measured during sleep and they were randomly woken up a number of times per night by the sound of a doorbell ringing. Participants were unaware of whether they had been awoken during nREM or REM sleep and were asked to record the content of their dreams, if they had any. Found that on average REM sleep lasts 20 minutes and is experienced every 92 minutes on average. For all awakenings 80% of those who woke during REM sleep reported a clear dream but only 7% who woke during nREM sleep recalled having a dream.

What research was conducted by McClintock and stern

Samples of pheromones were gathered from nine of the women at different stages of their menstrual cycles and were then rubbed onto the upper lip of the other participants. Found that 68% of women experienced changes to their cycle which brought them closer to the cycle of their odour donor

What are the 8 components of synaptic transmission

Presynaptic neurone

Postsynaptic neurone

Presynaptic vesicles containing neurotransmitters

Reuptake channel

Enzyme

Neurotransmitters

Synaptic cleft

Receptor site

What was the nervous system divided into

Peripheral nervous system and central nervous system

What is the central nervous system divided into

Brain and spinal cord

What is the peripheral nervous system divided into?

Somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system

What is the autonomic nervous system divided into?

Sympathetic branch and parasympathetic branch

What is the role of the autonomic nervous system?

Involuntary system responsible for all involuntary behaviour such as breathing, heart rate and digestion

What is a somatic nervous system?

A voluntary system responsible for voluntary behaviour

What is the process of fight or flight? (7 steps)

• 1. Sensory information is detected from environment to identify threat (e.g sight)

• 2. Sensory signal via somatic nervous system

• 3. The hypothalamus (cluster of nerves in brain) It process the sensory information.

• 4. Once the hypothalamus has determined there is danger it activates the sympathetic nervous system. Fight or flight has been activated.

• 5. The pituitary gland release a hormone called ACTH which travels in the blood stream.

• 6. ACTH now reaches the adrenal glands and stimulates the adrenal medulla to release adrenaline.

• 7. Adrenaline then travels in the blood to bind to receptors on key organs.

How is the fight or flight response neglecting the freeze response a criticism?

When faced with a dangerous situation our reaction is not limited to the fight or flight response; some psychologists suggest that humans engage in an initial freeze response. Gray suggests that the first response to danger is to avoid confrontation altogether, which is demonstrated by a freeze response. During the freeze response animals and humans are hyper-vigilant, while they appraise the situation to decide the best course of action for that threat.

Why is the fight of flight response neglecting female responses a criticism?

The fight or flight response is typically a male response to danger and more recent research suggest that females adopt a ‘tend and befriend’ response in stressful/dangerous situations. According to Taylor et al women befriend rather than fight or flee. Furthermore the fight or flight response was typically conducted on males (androcentrism) and consequently researchers assumed that the findings could be generalised to females. This highlights a beta bias within this area of psychology.

Why is the flight or flight response being outdated a criticism?

While fight or flight response may have been a useful survival mechanism for our ancestors who faced genuinely life threatening situations, modern life rarely requires such an intense biological response. Furthermore, the stressors of modern day life can repeatedly activate fight or flight response which can negatively impact our health. For example humans who face a lot of stress and continually activate the sympathetic nervous system continually increase their blood pressure which can cause damage to their blood vessels and heart disease. This suggest that the fight or flight response is a maladaptive response In modern day life.