Physiological Psychology

Prelims

Physiological Psychology

Is also known as behavioral neuroscience. It is the study of the human neurological functions as they relate to behavior and perception and the physical mechanisms within the human body that affect the mental processes.

Invasive Technique

1. Lesioning

   • Electrical

   • Chemical

   • Radiofrequency

2. Electrical Recording

3. Cannulations

4. Push-Pull

5. Invivo Autoradiography

Non-invasive technique

1. X-ray

2. Cerebral Angiography

3. Computerized Axial Tomography CT (CAT)

4. Positron Emission Tomography

5. Magnetic Resonance Imagery

6. Single-Photon Emission Computerized Tomography (SPECT)

X-ray

A non-invasive imaging technique that uses radiation to produce images of the body's internal structures, commonly used for diagnosing fractures and other medical conditions.

Cerebral Angiography

A non-invasive imaging technique that uses contrast dye and X-rays to visualize blood vessels in the brain, helping to diagnose conditions like aneurysms and blockages.

Computerized Axial Tomography CT or CAT

A non-invasive imaging technique that combines X-ray images taken from different angles and uses computer processing to create cross-sectional images of the body, allowing for detailed examination of internal structures.

Positron Emission Tomography

Is a non-invasive imaging technique that uses radioactive tracers to visualize metabolic processes in the body, particularly useful for detecting cancer and monitoring brain functions.

Magnetic Resonance Imagery

A non-invasive imaging technique that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of organs and tissues within the body, particularly effective for soft tissue evaluation.

Single-Photon Emission Computerized Tomography (SPECT)

Is a nuclear imaging technique that uses gamma rays to visualize blood flow and metabolic activity in tissues, helping in diagnosing conditions like heart disease and brain disorders.

Psychological Tests that Examine Brain Functioning

Often involves giving a battery of tests. Tests based on what is trying to examine: Motor function, Memory, Sensory-Perceptual Ability, Abstract Reasoning and Others.

Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery

A comprehensive assessment tool used to evaluate various cognitive functions and detect brain damage through a series of standardized tasks.

Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological test Battery

A set of standardized tests designed to assess cognitive, sensory, and motor functions, helping to identify brain dysfunction and evaluate neurological conditions.

Bender Gestalt Test

A psychological assessment tool used to evaluate visual-motor and other abilities. It's used to help diagnose developmental disorders, neurological impairments, and personality functioning. 

Nervous System

Physically connected network of cells, tissues, and organs that allow us to communicate with and react to the environment and perform life activities.

Central Nervous System

is the center of neural activity, integrating incoming information, organizing thought processes, making decisions, and issuing instructions to the body. It comprises the brain and spinal cord.

Brain

serves as the main control center

Spinal Cord

connects and relays nerve impulses to the brain. It consists of collections of axons running to or from the brain to various parts of the body. Pairs of major nerves emerge at specific points along the spine, to enervate the arms, the legs, and areas of the trunk. It does not always send information to the brain and wait for a reply; it has its quick system for simple tasks, known as the reflex arc.

Hindbrain

Includes the medulla oblongata, the pons, and the cerebellum, is responsible for some of the oldest and most primitive body functions.

Medulla Oblongata

Sits at the transition zone between the brain and the spinal cord. It is the first region that formally belongs to the brain (rather than the spinal cord). It is the control center for respiratory, cardiovascular, and digestive functions.

Pons

It connects the medulla oblongata with the midbrain region and relays signals from the forebrain to the cerebellum. It houses the control centers for respiration and inhibitory functions. The cerebellum is attached to its dorsal side.

Cerebellum

is a separate region of the brain located behind the medulla oblongata and pons. It is attached to the rest of the brain by three stalks (called pedunculi). It coordinates skeletal muscles to produce smooth, graceful motions. The cerebellum receives information from our eyes, ears, muscles, and joints about the body’s current positioning (referred to as proprioception). It also receives output from the cerebral cortex about where these body parts should be. After processing this information, it sends motor impulses from the brain stem to the skeletal muscles so that they can move. The primary function of this is muscle coordination, balance and posture, learning a new motor skill, and also has some role in emotional sensitivity.

Midbrain

is located between the hindbrain and forebrain, but it is part of the brain stem. It displays the same elemental functional composition found in the spinal cord and the hindbrain.

Diencephalon (interbrain)

is the region of the embryonic vertebrate neural tube that gives rise to posterior forebrain structures. It is home to the limbic system, which is considered the seat of emotion in the human brain. It is made up of four distinct components: the thalamus, the subthalamus, the hypothalamus, and the epithalamus.

Thalamus

It consists of two lobes of grey matter along the bottom of the cerebral cortex. Because nearly all sensory information passes through this, it is considered the sensory ‘way station’ of the brain, passing information on to the cerebral cortex (which is in the forebrain).

Hypothalamus

is a small part of the brain located just below the thalamus. Lesions of this component interfere with motivated behaviors like sexuality, combativeness, and hunger. It also plays a role in emotion: parts of this component seem to be involved in pleasure and rage, while the central part is linked to aversion, displeasure, and a tendency towards uncontrollable and loud laughing.

Cerebrum

serves as the primary thought and control center of the brain. It is the seat of higher-level thought like emotions and decision making

Gray matter

is the mass of all the cell bodies, dendrites, and synapses of neurons interlaced with one another.

White matter

consists of the long, myelin-coated axons of those neurons connecting masses of gray matter.

Corpus Callosum

is a broad, flat bundle of neural fibers beneath the cortex that connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres and facilitates interhemispheric communication.

Frontal Lobe

is associated with executive functions and motor performance. is considered the moral center of the brain because it is responsible for advanced decision-making processes. It also plays a vital role in retaining emotional memories derived from the limbic system and modifying those emotions to fit socially accepted norms.

Temporal Lobe

is associated with the retention of short- and long-term memories. It processes sensory input, including auditory information, language comprehension, and naming. It also creates emotional responses and controls biological drives, such as aggression and sexuality.

Hippocampus

Is the memory center of the brain. It plays a crucial role in the formation of emotion-laden, long-term memories based on emotional input from the amygdala. It is found deep in the temporal lobe and is shaped like a seahorse. It consists of two horns curving back from the amygdala.

Wernicke’s area

plays a crucial role in speech comprehension. Patients with damage to this area can speak clearly, but the words make no sense.

Broca’s area

Underlies the ability to produce (rather than understand) speech. Patients with damage to this area will fail to form words correctly, and speech will be halting and slurred.

Occipital Lobe

contains most of the visual cortex and is the visual processing center of the brain. Cells on the posterior side of the occipital lobe are arranged as a spatial map of the retinal field.

Parietal Lobe

Is associated with sensory skills. It integrates different types of sensory information and is particularly useful in spatial processing and navigation. This lobe plays an essential role in integrating sensory information from various parts of the body, understanding numbers and their relations, and manipulating objects. It also processes information related to the sense of touch.

Somatosensory Cortex

consists of a ’map’ of the body that processes sensory information from specific areas of the body.

Left parietal lobe

is involved in symbolic functions in language and mathematics,

Right parietal lobe

is specialized to process images and interpretation of maps (i.e., spatial relationships).

Limbic System

This system combines higher mental functions and primitive emotion into one system. It is a complex set of structures found on the central underside of the cerebrum, comprising inner sections of the temporal lobes and the bottom of the frontal lobe. It combines higher mental functions and primitive emotion into a single system, often referred to as the emotional, nervous system. It is not only responsible for our emotional lives but also our higher mental functions, such as learning and formation of memories. It is the reason that some physical things, such as eating seem so pleasurable to us, and the reason why some medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, are caused by mental stress.

Amygdala

Is a small almond-shaped structure; there is one located in each of the left and right temporal lobes. Known as the emotional center of the brain, it is involved in evaluating the emotional valence of situations (e.g., happy, sad, scary). It helps the brain recognize potential threats and helps prepare the body for fight-or-flight reactions by increasing heart and breathing rates. It is also responsible for learning based on reward or punishment.

Neurons

Also called nerve cells, are specialized cells that transmit and receive electrical signals in the body. Are composed of three main parts: dendrites, a cell body, and an axon. Signals receive through the dendrites, travel to the cell body, and continue down the axon until they reach the synapse (the communication point between two ____).

Dendrites

receives chemical signals from neighboring cells

Cell body

contains the nucleus and organelles

Axon

long extension that carries electrical messages away from the cell body to the terminal axon

Terminal axon

passes the signal to the next cell

Myelin sheath

serves as the protective covering of the axon

Sensory Neuron

The type of neurons that detects the changes in the external environment and sends information about these changes to the central nervous system. These neurons are found in the PNS (peripheral nervous system), which is the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord (which is the central nervous system. A sensory in an organ will receive a signal based on a stimulus (for example, light in the eyes) and send a signal to a sensory neuron.

Motor Neuron

Is a neuron located within the central nervous system that controls the contraction of a muscle or the secretion of a gland by passing messages from the brain to parts of the body for responses. These neurons carry information in the opposite direction to sensory neurons. These will send a signal to muscles attached to a bone and tell them to move.

Interneuron

Is a neuron located entirely within the nervous system. It relays sensory signals to the brain, then returns the message to the motor neuron. Are only found in the CNS and send signals from neuron to neuron - including to other interneurons - and exists solely to pass on the information.

Synapse

the area where an axon connects with the dendrite of another neuron

Glia (Glial cells)

These cells surround neurons and hold them in place, controlling their supply of nutrients and some chemical needed to exchange messages with other neurons. They insulate neurons from one another so that neural messages do not get scrambled. Moreover, act as housekeepers, destroying, and removing the carcasses of neurons.

Peripheral Nervous System

The cranial nerves, spinal nerves, and peripheral ganglia constitute in this system. This system is covered with two layers of meninges. The middle layer (arachnoid membrane), with its pool of CSF, covers only the brain and the spinal cord. Outside the central nervous system, the outer and inner layers (dura mater and pia mater) fuse and form a sheath that covers the spinal and cranial nerves and the peripheral ganglia.

Somatic PNS

responsible for the voluntary movement (balance and movement).

Autonomic PNS

responsible for involuntary movement (digestion, fight, or flight).

Neurotransmitters

are the chemicals released at the synapse. They are involved in the transmission of messages. Their action can be either excitatory (promoting action) or inhibitory (lessening activity), depending on the site where they are acting.

Acetylcholine

This is the transmitter substance that is found in the hippocampus, This location suggests that it is involved with memory and learning. The same transmitter is also found at the neuromuscular junction (that is, where axons from motor neurons connect with muscles) and is involved with the movement of the skeletal system.

Monoamines

These are a chemically similar group of neurotransmitters, all of which have specific actions so that they will be described individually. Three (dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine) form a related subgroup, called the catecholamines, dopamine being the precursor (or previous chemical step) of the other two.

Dopamine

Has been identified as a transmitter involved in the movement, especially the initiation of movements, attention, and learning. It is synthesized in the CNS in the neurons of the substantia nigra and circulates through the dopamine circuit.

Serotonin

(also called 5HT) is involved in the regulation of mood. Its action is inhibitory, which means that it tends to depress CNS activity. It is also involved in the regulation of pain, in the control of eating, sleeping and arousal, and in the control of dreams. At most synapses, its effects are inhibitory rather than excitatory, and its behavioral effects are mostly inhibitory. It is present in the midbrain, in a cluster of cells called the raphe nuclei, and in the medulla. These structures send nerve fibers to the forebrain, the cerebellum, and the spinal cord, which suggests a widespread method of influencing arousal, sensory perception, emotion, and thought processes.

Glycine

Also appears to be an inhibitory neurotransmitter, mainly in the spinal cord and lower brain. Not a great deal is known yet about glycine. The bacteria that produce tetanus (lockjaw) release a chemical that blocks the receptor sites of glycine. Because the inhibitory effect of glycine can no longer work, muscles contract continuously, which is the behavioral effect of tetanus.

Peptides

are amino acids linked by peptide bonds; neurons release many. Some serve as neurotransmitters; others appear to act as neuromodulators. Psychologists are particularly interested in the opiate- like peptides classed as endorphins, because of the effect they have on behavior.

Endorphins

acts as pain-reducing agents- the brain’s anesthetic. Functionally, it has been suggested that it is the endorphins that are mobilized during an activity such as fighting. They will then modify any pain suffered until the fight is over, and the individual can retire to care for the wounds sustained.