Biological Perspective of psychology

• Central Nervous system

• Brain (nodes, lobes, hemispheres)

  • Frontal: Controls thinking, planning, personality, complex decision making, movement, higher functions of the brain, emotional control (connects to the limbic system), and behavior.

    • Mirror neurons- Brain cells that fire both when you do something and when you see someone else do it, social cues.

    • pre-frontal cortex: front of frontal lobe. executive functioning. (like time management, organization.

    • Association areas:

      • Broca’s Area: in the left frontal lobe. allows you to speak fluently. production of speech.

      • Wernicke’s area: in the left temporal lobe. helps you comprehend language. use the wrong words thinking they’re the correct words.

  • Parietal: Processes touch, temperature, and body position.

    • Contains somatosensory cortex: Part of the brain that processes touch, pain, temperature, and body position.

  • Occipital: Vision, at the back of the brain.

  • Temporal: Controls hearing, memory, and understanding language, auditory association.

    • Works with amygdala and hippocampus around learning and memory

• corpus callosum

  • band of neurons that connects the right and left hemisphere; a bridge

  • left hemisphere of brain: controls right side of the body

    right hemisphere of brain: controls left side of the body

• Neurons/neurotransmitters

  • dendrite: receive neurotransmitters

  • receptacles: part of dendrite where neurotransmitters fit

  • Reuptake: Where leftover neurotransmitters are taken back into the sending neuron, cleans up synapse.

  • axon: transmits the message, passes it along the neuron

  • axon terminal: spits out the neurotransmitter to next neuron

  • synapse: space in between two nerve cells where messages are passed from one cell to another.

  • myelin sheath: covers and protects the neuron, makes messages go faster

  • neurotransmitters: chemical messages that the brain uses to communicate with the rest of the body

  • cell body: holds the nucleus

  • neuroplasticity: the brains ability to heal itself

• Serotonin (excitatory neurotransmitter)

  • low serotonin, can lead to depression, bad mood, appetite and anxiety.

• Dopamine (reward system. can be excitatory or inhibitory)

  • has to do with feelings of excitement, sensations of pleasure

  • released after exercise, win a game.

• endorphines (pain reliever)

• gaba (major inhibitor) during sleep

Pons: gets messages from cerebellum & cortex. Has to do with balance & coordination

Medulla: heartbeat, breathing, swallowing

Thalamus: sleep, consciousness, alertness. takes info from sensory organs.

Hypothalamus: body temp, hungry, fatigue, sleep, fear, thirst, sexual drive, aggression

Pituitary gland: regulates endocrine glands. “master gland”

pineal gland: produces melatonin, regulates sleep-wake cycles and circadian rhythm

amygdala: memory, emotional responses

reticular formation: part of hind brain to mid-brain and cerebral cortex, Arousal and attention regulation. Filers out info you don’t need, sends rest of info to right part of brain

Hippocampus: new memories, expectations

Limbic system: emotional regulation system. thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala,

Central Nervous system: Brain, spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous system: autonomic & somatic

• Autonomic (automatic) nervous system: involuntary body functions like heart beat, organ functions, pupil dilation, digestion

  • sympathetic nervous system: Flight or flight or freeze

  • parasympathetic nervous system: brings Sympathetic nervous system back to homeostasis

• Somatic Nervous System: movement, skeletal muscles. voluntary .

Endocrine system:

• Hormones: chemical messages released directly into the bloodstream

  • estrogen, melatonin, testosterone, growth hormones

  • growth hormones: tells reproductive system what to turn on (puberty)

• Glands: mechanisms that release the hormones

  • thymus, pineal, pituitary, pancreas, thyroid, adrenal

    • Pituitary: master glands, helps regulate all other glands. In hypothalamus.

    • pineal gland: secretes melatonin, which regulates sleep-wake cycles and circadian rhythms.

    • thyroid: secretes thyroxin, metabolism/energy

    • pancreas: insulin

    • Gonads: reproductive glands. testis in males, ovaries in females. Testosterone & estrogen

    • kidneys: adrenal glands secrete stress hormones, cortisol, epinephrin, norepinephrine, salt intake. 30+ stress hormones