THE WHOLE OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
Structure and function of the nervous system
CNS - Central nervous system
This is where information is processed.
It contains the brain and the spinal cord.
PNS - Peripheral nervous system
This is the body wide messenger (sensory and motor) and its neurone network.
ANS - Autonomic nervous system
Controls the actions of internal organs and glands.
Involuntary system.
Has two branches:
Sympathetic ANS
Increases bodily activity. Activates flight or fight response.
Increases heart rate
Increases breathing rate
Sweat increase
Inhibits digestion
Parasympathetic ANS
Decreases bodily activity. Activates in rest.
Decrease of heart rate
Decrease breathing rate
Sweat decrease
Stimulates digestion
SNS - Somatic nervous system
Controls skeletal muscles.
Voluntary system.
Fight or flight response: Sympathetic ANS
Threat
Brain detects a threat. Hypothalamus activates the sympathetic branch of the ANS.
Response
The hormone adrenaline and noradrenaline are released into the blood stream from the adrenal glands.
Biological changes
The heart beats faster, breathing rate increases, digestives and immune system slows, preparing the body to use all resources for immediate survival.
Psychological changes
There is an associated sensation of panic and alertness.
Homeostasis
Body returns to normal after the threat has passed
James-Lange theory of emotion
Suggests physiological arousal (activation) comes before and triggers our experience of emotions.
Event - Physiological response (biological) - Interpretation - Emotion
This theory suggests that, instead of feeling sad because of a negative event, and then crying because you are sad, you would cry first and then interpret this as sadness.
For you to actually feel emotion, you must first have the bodily responses. So increased heart-rate, sweating and shaking is interpreted as fear.
If you could remove the physiological changes that cause an emotion then you would remove the emotional experience.
Emotions each have a distinct pattern of physiological responses that is then interpreted by the brain as feeling particular emotion.
One strength is how emotions can seem to be controlled by controlling our physical responses. Evolutionarily the body responding to an event first may be an advantage allowing for a quick physical response to a threat rather than waiting for the event to being considered emotionally.
One weakness is that many different emotions have a similar pattern of bodily reactions. Fear and attraction may both have the response of a quick heart-rate and sweating but are very different emotions. The James-Lange theory struggles to explain how we decide on which emotions to feel.