Biopsychology Exam 1

biospychology

scientific study for the biology of behavior

The Organization of Behavior (1949)

Hebb’s book, a key factor in the development of neuroscientific discipline

Ultimate challenge for the human brain

Does our brain have the capacity to understand something as complex as itself?

Three dimensions of biopsychological research

• human vs. non-human subjects

• experimental vs. non-experimental studies

• applied vs. pure research

Advantages of human subjects

• they can follow directions

• they can report subjective experiences

• they are often less expensive

• they have a human brian

advantages of nonhuman subjects

• they have simpler nervous systems

• studying various species makes it possible to use the comparative approach

• they are fewer ethical constraints

experiments

cause-effect relationships

between-subject design

a different group of subjects tested under each treatment condition of an experiment

within-subject design

same group of subjects can be tested under multiple treatment conditions

independent variable

set or manipulated by the experimenter, produce different treatment conditions in an experiment

dependent variables

reflect the subject’s behavior, what the experimenter measures

confounded variables

unintended differences between conditions that can influence the depended variable 

quasiexperimental design

researchers examine subjects in real-world situations who have self-selected in specific conditions, cannot control potential confounding variables

case studies

single subject, the extent to which their results tell us something about the general population is unknown

pure research

motivated primarily by the curiosity of the researcher to find out how things work, building blocks or basic concepts that may provide information salient in many problems

applied research

motivated by an attempt to directly use the building blocks of basic research to answer specific questions

physiological psychology

direct manipulation of the nervous system in controlled lab settings

typically lab animals

pure research

psychopharmacology

nervous system manipulated pharmacologically

drug effects on behavior and how changes are mediated by changes in neural activities

neuropsychology

behavioral effects of brain damage in humans, typically cortical damage

focus on case studies and quasiexperimental studies 

psychophysiology

relationship between physiological and psychological processes in human subjects

EEG

cognitive neuroscience

newest division of biopsychology

focuses on neural bases of cognitive processes like learning/memory, atteniton and perceptual focus

comparative psychology

biology of behavior

comparative and functional approaches 

evoluutionary psyching and behavioral genetics

converging operations

compensating for the shortcomings of other fields and used to solve the same problems

empirical method

answering questions by direct observation

nature-nurture

debate on whether behavior is inherited through genetics or learned through experience

based on the premise that genetic factors and environmental factors combine in an additive fashion

psychological or physiological thinking

over simplistic and false

model of the biology of behavior

behaviors are best viewed as the product of genetic potential interacting with past experience and current situational factors

heritability estimates

a statistical value that represents the proportion of variation in a trait within a specific population that is due to inherited genetic factors, ranges from 40-80 percent

cns/central nervous system

bony skull and vertebral column, brain and spinal cord

pns/peripheral nervous system

somatic and autonomic nerves

somatic

interacts with external environment

autonomic

interacts with the internal environment

efferent

escape/exit, away motor commands away from the CNS

afferent

bring sensory information into the CNS

sympathetic nerves

PNS, activates an organism, indicates arousal in target organ

parasympathetic nerves

PNS, acts to conserve energy, activates relaxation in target organ

cranial nerves

leave the CNS from the brain through the skull rather than the spinal cord. specific sensor and/or motor functions

meninges

membranes that protect the brain and spinal cord.

dura mater

tough mother, outside layer of meninges

arachnoid layer

spidery mother, middle layer of meninges

pia mater

gentle mother, inside layer of meninges

cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)

manufactured by the choroid plexus,

circulates through the ventricular system of the brain, the central canal of the spinal cord, and the subarachnoid space, and absorbed into large channels called sinuses 

when the flow of CSF is blocked, hydrocephalus results

choroid plexuses

capillary networks that protrude into the ventricles

ventricles

A fluid-filled cavity in the heart or brain

blood-brain barrier

A network of blood vessels and tissue that is made up of closely spaced cells and helps keep harmful substances from reaching the brain

dendrite

shorters processes that emanate from the cell body and receive input from synaptic contacts with other neurons

axon

projects away from the cell body

axon hillock

the junction between cell body and axon, conveyance of electrical signals of the neuron

myelin sheaths

formed by oligodendroglia in the CNS and Schwann cells in the PNS

insulate the axon and assist in the conduction of electrical signals

nodes of ranvier

small spaces between adjacent myelin sheaths

buttons

branched endings of the axon that release chemicals that allow the neuron to communicate with other cells

synapses

points of communication between the neuron and other cells

multipolar neuron

multiple dendrites and an axon extending from the soma, more than two processes extending from its cell body

bipolar neuron

single axon and single dendrite, two processes extending from its cell body

unipolar neuron

one process that combines both axon and dendrites

nuclei

clusters of cell bodies in the central nervous system

ganglia

clusters of cell bodies in the peripheral nervous system

glia

cells that provide physical and functional support to neurons

microglia

responsibilities in the brain and play a role in the regulation of cell death, synapse formation, and synapse elimination

astroglia

largest of glail cells

support and provide nourishment for neurons and form part of the blood brain barrier

help send chemical signals between neurons and establish and maintain connections between neurons

golgi stain

permitted individual neurons to be studied for the first time

nissl stain

highlights cell bodies of all neurons, allowed estimation of cell density in tissue

electron microscopy

allows visualization of neuronal ultrastructure

neuroanatomical tracing techniques

highlights individual axons

may be retrograde (trace back from terminal fields) or anterograde 9trace from soma and terminal fields)

anterior/posterior

toward the nose or front/toward the tail or back

dorsal/ventral

toward the surface of the back or top of the head/indicates the surface of the chest or bottom of the head

medial/lateral

toward the midline of the body/outside or away from the midline

gray matter

cell bodies

white matter

myelinated axons

dorsal horns

upper (dorsal; posterior) wings of the butterfly spinal cord

ventral horns

lower (ventral; anterior) wings of the butterfly spinal cord

dorsal roots

sensory axons, cell bodies lie just outside the the spinal cord in the dorsal root ganglia

ventral roots

motor axons, cell bodies lie inside the ventral horns

medulla

composed of major ascending and descending tracts and network of small nuclei involved in sleep, attention, muscle tone, cardiac function, and respiration

hindbrain subcortical structure

reticular formation/reticular activating system

core network of nuclei

composes the core of the hindbrain and midbrain

thought to be an arousal system

cerebellum (little brain) and pons (bridge)

sensorimotor and cognitive functions. pons is visible as swelling on the inferior surface and also contains the reticular formation

midbrain

tectum and tegmentum

tectum

superior colliculi (visual relay)

inferior colliculi (auditory relay)

in lower vertebrates, simple one optic tectum

tegmentum

relays reticular formation

red nucleus (sensorimotor)

substantia nigra (sensorimotor cell bodies die here in patients with parkinson’s)

periaqueductal grey (mediates analgesia)

forebrain subcortical structures

thalamus and hypothalamus

thalamus

top of the brain stem, comprised of many different nuclei

sensory relay nuclei (lateral geniculate nuclei, vision; medial geniculate nuclei, audition; ventral posterior nuclei, touch)

hypothalamus

below the thalamus and pituitary gland (snot gland) is suspended from the hypothalamus

key roles in endocrine function and motivated behaviors

mammillary bodies are two small bumps visible on the inferior surface

optic chaism is the X-shaped part of the optic nerve that lies in front of pituitary

cerebral cortex/cerebral hemispheres

characterized by the cortex with many convolutions, like gyri and fissures.

large division of the brain

90% is the neocortex, comprised of six layers of pyramidal cells and stellate cells

four lobes

gyri

like hills

fissures

like valleys

commissures

large tracts that connect two hemispheres

corpus callosum is the largest

telencephalon

in cerebral cortex, mediates most complex cognitive functions

four lobes

frontal lobe

temporal lobe

parietal lobe 

occipital lobe

frontal lobe

superior to lateral fissure and anterior to central fissure

cognitive, motor, and emotional functions

temporal lobe

inferior to lateral fissure

interpreting sounds from the ears and plays a significant role in recognizing and using language

parietal lobe

posterior to central fissure

processes sensory information like touch, pain, and temperature

occipital lobe

posterior to temporal love and to parietal lobe

processing visual information

longitudinal fissure

between hemispheres

postcentral gyri

in parietal lobe; primary somatosensory cortex

superior temporal gyri

auditory cortex

prefrontal cortex

nonmotor portion of the frontal lobe

limbic system

regulation of motivated behaviors (four Fs)
mammillary bodies, hippocampus, amygdala, fornix, cingulate, cortex, and septum

hippocampus

responsible for your memory and learning

amygdala

processing emotions, particularly fear and anxiety

basal ganglia

involved in movement

amygdala, caudate and putamen, globus pallidus