Biopsychology

AO1

Fast communication system

Central NS - Brain and spinal cord

Peripheral NS - Autonomic (Sympathetic & Parasympathetic NS) & Somatic NS

Autonomic NS - Not under conscious control, unmyelinated neurons, motor pathways only

Somatic NS - Consciously directed movement, myelinated neurons, motor & sensory pathways

Parasympathetic NS - slows down the NS back to rest and digest

Sympathetic NS - prepares the body for fight or flight

AO1

Slower communication system

Glands released hormones which travel in the bloodstream towards target organs

Hypothalamus controls the endocrine system

Examples:

Testes - Testosterone - Regulate males sex characteristics

Ovaries - Oestrogen - Regulates menstrual cycle

Adrenal medulla - Adrenaline - Prepares body for fight or flight

Pituitary gland - melatonin - sleep

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AO1

Specific areas of the brain are responsible for specific actions

Opposite is a holistic theory

Contralteral organisation / control

Motor cortex - posterior frontal lobe, motor movement (sends messages to somatic NS), has contralateral control

Auditory area - temporal lobe, processes auditory info

Visual info - Occipital lobe, processes visual info

Somatosensory area - anterior parietal lobe, processes info from touch, somatotopic organisation

Language centres (in left hemisphere for 90% of people)

Broca's area - posterior frontal lobe, speech production

Broca's aphasia - speech slow, laborious and lacks fluency

Wernicke's area - posterior temporal lobe, language comprehension

Wernicke's aphasia - can produce speech but meaningless e.g. word salad

AO3

- Lashley - holistic theory of equipotentiality (10-50% rats cortex)

- Individual differences: Harasty - women larger Broca's areas

+ HM - hippocampus responsible for transferring STM to LTM

+ Brain scan evidence - episodic memories right / semantic memories left pre frontal cortex

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AO1

All neurons have:

Cell bodies (with a nucleus) - control centre

Dendrites - receive messages from nearby neurons

Axon - transmits the action potential to the axon terminal

Motor - carry info from CNS to effectors, long axons, short dendrites

Relay - carry info between neurons, short axons & dendrites

Sensory - carry info from receptors to CNS, short axons, long dendrites

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AO1 fMRI: detects changes in blood deoxygenation, 3D images

AO3 + High spatial res

- low temporal res & costly

AO1 EEG: Measures electrical activity using nodes, brain wave patterns

AO3 + High temporal res

- Low spatial resolution

AO1 ERP: Like EEG but statistical analysis to just leave the response to the stimulus

AO3 + High temporal res & more specific info

- Lack of standardisation

AO1 Post mortem: Study brain after death, compare to a neuro typical brain

AO3 + Medical research, historically useful e.g. Broca, Wernicke

+ Correlational data & ethics

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AO1

Each hemisphere dominant for specific functions e.g.. left = lang.

Contralateral control

Sperry (1968) - 11 split brain patients,, epilepsy, corpus callosum severed, divided field method

If info presented to RVF ppts could say it as language centres in LH

If info presented to the LVF cannot say it but can select item with left hand

When shown a nude to RH - giggled but said they did not see anything

Conclusion: LH - language centres RH - emotional & spatial tasks

AO3

+ High control

- Low external validity

- Age differences (Szaflarski)

- Modern research disconfirms earlier findings - Case study JW

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AO1

The action potential travels down the axon of pre-synaptic neuron

The vesicles migrate and bind to the membrane

Neurotransmitters are released and diffuse across the synapse

They bind to receptors like a lock and key and have inhibitory (IPSP) or excitatory (EPSP) effects

Neurotransmitters are released and are reabsorbed (reuptake) or metabolised (broken down)

Summation - the process of adding together the IPSPs & EPSPs

AO1

NS & endocrine system working together

The amygdala alerts the hypothalamus

This triggers the sympathetic branch of NS (sympathomedullary pathway)

This activates the adrenal medulla to release adrenaline

This prepares the body for fight or flight

When the threat has passed the parasympathetic NS is activated (takes time to return) 

Adrenaline: released from adrenal medualla into blood, faster heart rate, faster respiration, skin sweats, pupils dilate, muscles contract, digestion slows, saliva production inhibited

AO3

- Beta bias. Taylor suggested females tend & befriend​​​​​​​​​​​​​

- Not always helpful in today's modern society

AO1

Plasticity: the brain adapts due to experience

During infancy neural connections grow rapidly

Neural pathways strengthen

Synaptic pruning if not used

e.g. Maguire (taxi)

and learning e.g. Draganski

Functional recovery: recovery after trauma

Neural reorganisation - healthy areas take over damaged areas

Recruitment of homologous areas

Neural regeneration - new neurons/ connections formed

Structural changes e.g. blood vessels & axonal sprouting

AO3

+ Golf training 40-60yrs (Bezzola)

+ Maguire - strong evidence +ve correlation: time & size

- Individual differences - more likely recover with more education

- Maladaptive changes e.g. phantom limb syndrome