Psychology revision

What is a neuron?

A neuron is a nerve cell that transmits electrical and chemical signals throughout the body and brain.

What are the functions of each part of the neuron?

• Dendrites: Receive messages from other neurons

• Cell Body (Soma): Processes information

• Axon: Transmits signals away from the cell body

• Myelin Sheath: Insulates axon and speeds up transmission

• Axon Terminals: Send messages to the next neuron

What is the role of each lobe in the brain?

• Frontal: Thinking, planning, decision-making, movement

• Parietal: Touch, spatial awareness

• Occipital: Vision

• Temporal: Hearing, memory, language

What is hemispherical specialisation?

Each hemisphere of the brain has specialised functions. Left: language, logic. Right: creativity, spatial tasks.

What is the split brain procedure?

A surgery that cuts the corpus callosum to treat epilepsy, preventing communication between the brain's hemispheres.

What is neuroplasticity?

The brain's ability to change and adapt in response to experience or damage.

What is Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area responsible for?

• Broca’s Area: Speech production

• Wernicke’s Area: Understanding language

Who was Phineas Gage and why is he important?

He survived a brain injury that changed his personality, providing early evidence of the link between brain areas and behavior.

What is neurodiversity? Give examples.

Neurodiversity refers to differences in brain function. Examples: autism, ADHD, dyslexia.

What are the stages of sleep?

• NREM 1: Light sleep

• NREM 2: Deeper sleep

• NREM 3: Deepest sleep

• REM: Dreaming, brain activity like awake

Describe each type of brain wave.

• Beta: Alert, active thinking

• Alpha: Relaxed, calm

• Theta: Light sleep

• Delta: Deep sleep

What do we use to measure sleep?

EEG (electroencephalogram) measures brain waves; also EOG (eye movement) and EMG (muscle tone).

Explain one sleep disorder.

Example: Insomnia – Difficulty falling or staying asleep, leads to tiredness and poor concentration.

What is mental health and mental illness?

• Mental Health: A state of wellbeing

• Mental Illness: A disorder affecting thoughts, feelings, or behavior

What is the mental health continuum?

A scale showing mental health as a spectrum from healthy → reacting → injured → ill.

What are the biological, psychological, and social contributing factors to mental illness?

• Biological: Genetics, brain chemistry

• Psychological: Trauma, thinking patterns

• Social: Stress, relationships, culture

What are the three categories of mental disorders?

• Mood Disorders: e.g. Depression

• Personality Disorders: e.g. Borderline

• Anxiety Disorders: e.g. PTSD, phobias

What is Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory?

Human behavior is driven by unconscious desires; includes id, ego, and superego, and stages like oral, anal, phallic.

What is Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development?

• Sensorimotor (0–2): Object permanence

• Preoperational (2–7): Symbolic thinking

• Concrete Operational (7–12): Logic, conservation

• Formal Operational (12+): Abstract thinking

What are the key ethical considerations?

Informed consent, voluntary participation, deception, debriefing, confidentiality, withdrawal rights, no harm.

How do you write a hypothesis?

A testable prediction that includes the IV and DV. Example: "People who sleep less will score lower on memory tests."

What is a population and a sample?

• Population: The whole group being studied

• Sample: A smaller group chosen to represent the population

What are the control and experimental groups?

• Control Group: No IV applied

• Experimental Group: Receives the IV

What are independent, dependent, and extraneous variables?

• Independent: Changed by researcher

• Dependent: Measured result

• Extraneous: Uncontrolled factors that affect the outcome

What does it mean to operationalise variables?

Define variables in measurable terms. E.g., "memory" as "number of words recalled from a list".

How do you write a conclusion in research?

State whether the hypothesis was supported, summarise findings, and generalise to the population if appropriate.