1
Q
What is the endocrine system?
A
Works alongside the nervous system and is a network of glands that secrete hormones
2
Q
What is the hypothalamus?
A
- master controller
- stimulates and controls the release of hormones from the pituitary gland
3
Q
What are the main hormones released by the Pituitary gland?
A
- Anterior - ATCH
- Posterior- oxytocin
4
Q
what does oxytocin do?
A
Responsible for uterus contractions during childbirth
5
Q
What does ACTH do?
A
Stimulates the adrenal cortex and the release of cortisol during the stress process
6
Q
What hormone does the Pineal Gland release?
A
Melatonin
7
Q
What does melatonin do?
A
Responsible for important biological rhythms, including sleep wake cycle
8
Q
What hormone does the Thyroid Gland?
A
Thyroxine
9
Q
What does thyroxine do?
A
Responsible for regulating metabolism
10
Q
What hormones does the adrenal gland release?
A
- Adrenal medulla, adrenaline and noradrenaline
- Adrenal cortex, cortisol
11
Q
What does adrenaline and noradrenaline do?
A
Key hormones in fight or flight
12
Q
What does cortisol do?
A
Stimulates the release of glucose to provide the body with energy, while suppressing the immune system
13
Q
What hormone does the ovaries release?
A
Oestrogen
14
Q
What does oestrogen do?
A
Controls the regulation of the female reproductive system
15
Q
What hormone does the testes release?
A
Testosterone
16
Q
What does testosterone do?
A
Development of male sec characteristics during puberty, also promoting muscle growth
17
Q
What are the three types of neurons?
A
- sensory
- relay
- motor
18
Q
What does the central nervous system consist of?
A
Brain and spinal cord
19
Q
What is the two main functions of the central nervous system?
A
- control behaviour
- regulate physiological processes
20
Q
What is the spinal cord’s main function?
A
- relay messages between the brain and rest of the body
- also contains nerve cells which allow for unconscious reflexes
21
Q
What are the 4 main regions of the brain?
A
- the cerebrum
- the cerebellum
- the hypothalamus
- the brain stem
22
Q
What are the 4 regions of the cerebrum?
A
- frontal lobe
- pariental lobe
- occipital lobe
- temporal lobe
23
Q
What does the frontal lobe do?
A
- associated with higher order functions, including planning and logic
24
Q
What does the occipital lobe do?
A
- Processes visual information
25
What does the pariental lobe do?
- Integrates info from the different senses and plays an important role in spatial navigation
26
What does the temporal lobe do?
- processes auditory information
27
What does the cerebellum do?
- back of the brain
- involved in controlling a person's motor skills, balance and coordination
28
What does the brain stem do?
- responsible for regulating the automatic functions that are essential for life e.g breathing, heart beat
- Regulates the CNS
29
What are the two components of the peripheral nervous system?
somatic and autonomic
30
What does the somatic nervous system do?
controls voluntary body movements and relays sensory information
connecting the central nervous system (brain/spinal cord) to muscles, skin, and sense organs
31
What is the autonomic nervous system?
- Transmits info to and from internal bodily organs
- Works automatically
- Controls vital functions such as breathing, heart rate and stress responses
32
What are the two divisions in the ANS?
- Parasympathetic and sympathetic
33
What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?
- restores the body back to equilibrium after fight or flight response
34
What does the sympathetic nervous system do?
- helps our body respond to an emergency (fight or flight)
- Uses neurotransmitters (noradrenaline) to increase heart rate and blood pressure
- Slows body processes that are less important in an emergency e.g digestion
35
Similarities between brain and spinal cord?
- Both control involuntary processes
- Brain , breathing
- Spinal cord, reflexes
36
Differences between brain and spinal cord?
- brain provides conscious awareness and allows for higher order thinking, while the spinal cord allows simple reflexes
- brain has multiple regions with multiple functions, spinal cord has one main function
37
Similarities between Somatic nervous system and Autonomic nervous system?
- both respond to external stimuli
38
What is the cell body of a neuron called?
- Soma
39
What are the branch like structures called on a neuron?
- dendrites
40
What is the function of a sensory neuron?
transmit electrical signals from sensory receptors to the central nervous system (CNS) to inform the brain about external and internal stimuli
41
What is the function of a relay neuron?
- Allow sensory and motor neurons to communicate with each other
- Located in the spinal cord and the brain and are by far the most common
42
What is the function of a motor neuron?
- use their axons to control muscles, glands or organs
- When stimulated they release neurotransmitters which bind to receptors on the muscle to trigger a response
43
What is hemispheric lateralisation?
the idea that the two halves of the brain are functionally different and that each hemisphere has functional specialisations
44
What are some of the left brain functions?
- logic and reasoning
- language
- written and number skills
- right hand control
45
What are some of the right brain functions?
- creativity and imagination
- intuition and insight
- right hand control
46
How are the two hemispheres connected?
- Nerve fibres called the corpus callosum
47
What was the aim of the Sperry and Gazzaniga (1967)?
- examine the extent to which the two hemispheres are specialised for certain fuctions
48
In the Sperry experiment, what was the describe what you see exercise?
Pictures were presented to each visual field (left or right) and they were asked to explain what was shown
49
What was the results of the Sperry, describe what you see test?
- If a picture was presented to the left visual field (right hemisphere) , patient could not explain what was shown.
- This is because language is dominant in the left hemisphere
- They were able to when it was shown to the right visual field (left hemisphere)
50
In the Sperry research, what was the tactile test?
- An object was placed in their hand and they had to explain what the object felt like and then choose an object similar to it
51
What were the findings of the Sperry tactile test?
- If an object was placed in the patients left hand (processed by the right hemisphere). Patient could not describe what they felt
- However the left hand could choose a similar object
- Right hand could verbally describe the object
52
In the Sperry research, what was the drawing task?
- picture presented to either the left or the right visual field and pps were asked to draw the image presented
53
What were the results of the Sperry drawing task? What does this demonstrate?
- When presented to the right visual field (processed by the left hemisphere) the drawing with the right hand was never as clear as the left
- When presented to the left visual field, the drawing was much clearer
- Demonstrates that the right hemisphere is much stronger for visual motor skills
54
What is brain plasticity?
- Refers to the brain's ability to change and adapt because of experience
55
What is meant by functional recovery?
- Transfer of functions from a damaged area of the brain after trauma to other non-damaged areas
56
What is neural unmasking?
- where dormant synapses open connections to compensate for a nearby damaged area
57
What was the aim of Maguire et al (2000) research?
- Examine whether structural changes could be detected in people with extensive experience of spatial navigation
58
What was the method of the Maguire et al (2000)?
- 16 right handed male London taxi drivers participate in an MRI, all had been driving for more than 1.5 years
- 50 healthy males also scanned, not taxi drivers (control group)
59
What were the results of the Maguire et al (2000)?
- Increased grey matter was found in the brains of the taxi drivers compared to the control, in two regions, the right and the left hippocampus
- Correlation between more years on the job and more grey matter
60
What is the conclusion of the Maguire et al research?
- Supports the idea of brain plasticity and suggests that experience can change the brain structure
61
Strengths of the Maguire et al research?
- MRI are an objective and non invasive method
- well matched control group, helped isolate the variable of interest
- ecological validity, real life experience (taxi drivers)
62
Weaknesses of the Maguire et al research?
- correlation not causation, how do we know their hippocampus size is why they became taxi drivers
- only male pps (beta bias)
- Factors such as lifestyle, education, or genetics that could also influence brain structure
63
What does fmri stand for?
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging
64
What do fmris measure?
- blood flow in the brain when a person performs a task
65
What is temporal resolution of an fmri?
1-4 seconds after it occurs
66
What is the spatial resolution of fmri?
- accurate within 1-2mm
67
What does EEG measure?
- measures electrical activity through electrodes
68
How does an EEG measure electrical activity?
- Info processed as electrical activity in the form of action potentials or nerve impulses
- small electrical charges are detected by electrodes
69
What are 4 types of EEG patterns?
- alpha
- beta
- theta
- delta
70
What is amplitude?
- intensity/ size of activity
71
What is frequency?
- speed or quantity of activity
72
What is synchronised patterns in EEGs?
- recognisable wave patterns, e.g , beta, alpha
73
Which wave forms are associated with light sleep?
- alpha
74
Which wave forms are associated with deep sleep?
- Theta / delta
75
What does ERP stand for?
- Event related potentials
76
What does ERP measure?
Brain activity in relation to stimulus
77
What is latency (ERP)?
The interval between the presentation of the stimulus and the response
78
What is the temporal resolution in the ERP?
- Shows every millisecond, nearly in actual time
79
What is the spatial navigation of an ERP?
- Only detects activity in superficial general areas of the brain
80
What are the 4 ways to evaluate ways of studying the brain?
- Spatial resolution
- invasive vs non invasive
- causation
- temporal resolution
81
What is the fMRI evaluation for causation?
- Do not provide a direct measure of neural activity
82
What are circadian rhythms?
Those which happen once in a 24 hour period - for example, the sleep-wake cycle
83
What are infradian rhythms?
Those that happen less frequently, perhaps once a month or once a year - for example the menstrual cycle
84
What are Ultradian rhythms?
Those that happen more than once in a 24 hour period - for example the cycle of stages of sleep.
85
What is the process involved in the sleep wake cycle?
- Darkness falls
- Optical chiasm
- stimulates SCN
- Stimulates Pineal Gland
- produces melatonin
- brain activity falls
- sleep
86
What was Michel Siffre's research?
- Spent 6 months in an underground cave, no natural light and no external cues as to what time it was
-
87
What does Michel Siffre's research of circadium rhythms suggest?
- Sleep wake cycle is endogenous (internal)
- the natural sleep wake cycle is just over 24 hours
88
What was Aschoff and Wever's study?
- Placed 42 pps in an underground ww2 bunker.
- Lived for a period of 1 week to 1 month
- No natural light, no time cues
89
What was the results of Aschoff and Wever's study? (ww2 bunker)
- Most people displayed a circadian rhythm of 24-25 hours, although some displayed a 29 hour rhythm
90
What was Folkard's 1985 research?
- tried to see what would happen if you alter the environmental cues
- Group of 12 lived in an isolation unit for 3 weeks, no natural light etc
- agreed to go to bed at 11:45 and wake up at 7:45
- gradually sped up the clock to 22 hour days
91
What was the result of Folkard's 1985 research?
- Only 2 people could keep up with the 22 hour rhythm
92
Evaluation of research into circadian rhythms?
- low ecological validity
- confounding variables, didn't take into account artificial light. Czeisler said artificial light can effect our circadian rhythms, altered rhythms by using different levels of artificial light, range was 22-28
- generalizability is an issue, samples are small and doesn't account for individual differences
93
What are endogenous pacemakers?
- internal factors that control circadian rhythms
94
What are exogenous zeitgebers?
- external factors that control circadian rhythms
95
What are the two main endogenous pacemakers?
- SCN
- Pineal gland
96
What is the SCN?
- Tiny cluster of cells located behind the eyes, detects changes in light levels. Then sends signals to other parts of the brain to control sleep - wake cycle.
- SCn sends a signal to the pineal gland which then begins producing melatonin, which regulates our sleep
97
What was the Morgan (1995)
98
What does the brain stem consist of?
What do these control?
midbrain
pons
medulla oblongata
- control vital functions like breathing and heart rate
99
Where is the cerebellum located?
- back of the brain
100
What does the cerebellum do?
- coordinating movement and maintaining balance
101
What is the hippocampus key function?
- memory formation
- Spatial navigation
102
What is the key function of the Amygdala?
- emotional processing especially fear and aggression
103
What is structural neuroplascicity?
- changes in brains physical structure (how many neurons or connections)
104
What is functional neuroplascicity?
- Changes in how brain activates during a task
105
What is the mentrual cycle controlled by?
- pituitary gland
psychology
flashcards
Decks in class (19)
# Cards
-
research methods127
-
memory58
-
Psycho dynamic theory20
-
cognitive approach12
-
Behaviourist Approach12
-
Social learning theory15
-
Humanistic approach15
-
Biological Approach24
-
Psychopathology20
-
psychopathology52
-
Social influence55
-
Attatchment40
-
Biopsych105
-
Issues And Debates50
-
Paper 1 exam questions4
-
Approaches (big sheet)29
-
Stress48
-
Forensic Psychology77
-
Gender60
