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Biopsychology, Localisation of Function, Ways of Studying the Brain,…

- - - - Responsible for reflex actions e.g: pulling your hand away from a hot plate
  - - - Cerebral cortex is highly developed in humans which distinguishes use from other animals
- - - - receives information from sensory receptors
  - - - Self-regulated and is involuntary
        
        Governs vital functions in the bodye.g: stress response, heart rate, breathing, digestion & sexual arousal (SHBDS)
        
        Sympathetic Nervous System
        
        ⚡️Speeds⚡️ up body
        
        Good for responding to emergency situations
        
        Vital signs speed up:
        
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        Parasympathetic Nervous System
        
        Slllooowwwwwwssss down body (Parasympathetic - Parachute)
        
        Restores bodily function to homeostasis
        
        Vitals slow down:
        
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- - - - SomNS
      - ParaNS
- - - - Glands:
        
        Hypothalamus:
        
        Pituitary gland:
        
        Thyroid gland:
        
        Adrenal glands:
        
        Adrenaline, Cortisol
        
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        Thyroxine
        
        Thy: Affects metabolism & controls cells in the heart
        
        ACTH, FSH, LH (and others...)
        
        The 'master gland' that releases a variety of hormones. Stimulates other glands to work
        
        Brain region controlling the pituitary gland
  - - - PNS
    - - Slower Response
        
        Post-Crisis Response
        
        Prolonged exposure to 'ForF' response can be damaging physically & psychologically
        
        Parasympathetic nervous system
        
        PNS returns body to homeostasis
        
        ⬇️ Heart rate & respiration slow down ⬇️
        
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        Takes 40 seconds to have physiological effect on body
        
        Endocrine system
        
        Hypothalamus stimulates pituitary gland to release stress hormone ACTH
        
        ACTH stimulates cortex of adrenal gland to release cortisol
        
        Cortisol begins production of glucose to provide muscles with energy to sustain 'ForF' over a longer period of time
      - Hypothalamus stimulates sympathetic nervous system & medulla of the adrenal gland
        
        Sympathetic nervous system
        
        👁️ Pupils dilate 👁️
        
        ⬆️ Heart rate and respiration increase ⬆️
        
        💦 Sweating - try cool down the body 💦
        
        ❌ Salivation, digestion and other unhelpful processes stopped to deal with immediate threat ❌
        
        Endocrine system
        
        Medulla - Inner part of adrenal glands
        
        Medulla (adrenal gland) releases adrenalin - Heightens state of awareness
        
        SNS triggered
- - - - Carry electro-chemical nerve signals from the outer parts of the body e.g: skin, eyes, ears etc. to the central nervous system
        
        Signal only travels in one direction ➡️
    - - Connect sensory & motor neurons within the CNS
        
        Signal travels in both directions ⬅️ ➡️
    - - Carry electro-chemical nerve signals from the CNS to muscles, organs & glands
        
        Signal only travels in one direction ➡️
  - - - Neuron is negatively charged inside the cell when at resting state compared the outside
        
        When a neuron is activated by a stimulus, the inside of the cell becomes positively charged for a split second
        
        This causes an action potential to occur
        
        The electrical impulse travels down the axon to the end of the neuron
  - - - Neurons communicate with each other within groups called neural networks
        
        Synapse: A specialised gap that allows electrical messages to transfer chemically from one neuron to another
        
        Synaptic transmission process
        
        Electrical nerve impulses travels along the axon of a nerve cell to the presynaptic end of the neuron
        
        When the electrical impulse gets closer to the presynaptic membrane, it stimulates the release of neurotransmitters which are stored in sacs called vesicles
        
        Vesicles merge with the presynaptic membrane and release the neurotransmitter into the synaptic cleft
        
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        Neurotransmitters
        
        Chemicals that diffuse across the synapse to the next neuron in the chain
        
        Once a neuron is taken up by the postsynaptic receptor i.e: dendrites of the next neuron, the chemical message is converted back into electrical impulses
        
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- - - - Visual processing starts in the retina
        
        Nerve impulses from retina travel along the optic nerve
        
        Optic nerve leads to the Thalamus
        
        Visual information passed on to the visual cortex
      - There are different areas in the visual field that process colour, shape or movement
  - - - Right hemisphere receives visual information from the left visual field, i.e: left eye. Vice versa
- - - - Different parts of the motor cortex control different parts of the body. e.g: region that controls the arms is next to the region that controls the feet
  - - - Right hemisphere controls muscles on left side of the body. Vice Versa
- - - - One end is language production, the other end is language processing (spoken language)
- - - - Process
        
        Sound is first detected at the cochlea. Sound waves are converted into nerve impulses
        
        Brain stem & the Thalamus help to decode the duration & intensity of the sound along the way
        
        Nerve impulses arrive at the auditory cortex
- - - - One end is language production, the other end is language processing (spoken language)
- - - - Right hemisphere receives information from left side of the body
  - - - Uses messages from the skin to measure touch, pressure, pain & temperature
- - - - Procedure
        
        MRIs track changes in blood flow to a particular area of the brain.
        
        Strong magnets tracks iron content in the blood
        
        MORE bloodflow = ⬆️ Neural activity
        
        fMRI then creates a map showing which area of the brain is involved in a particular mental activity
        
        e.g: Ptts were asked to look at a visual stimulus for 30 seconds (task) then close their eyes for 30 seconds (control) --> fMRI data revealed the area of the brain used to see the visual stimulus by matching pattern of change in bloodflow
        
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- - - - Differences in brain shape/structure compared to a normal brain can give clues as to why the individual might have behaved abnormally when they were alive
        
        E.g: Broca's work in analysing brains of individuals who had speech problems led him to discover the 'Brocas Area,' which is responsible for speech production. Broca's Aphasia
        
        E.g: Post-mortem research has led us to identifying areas of the brain important for memory --> Research on HM (couldn't make new memories) suggests that there were lesions (organ damage) on his hippocampus --> Shows us that this is the area responsbile for memory
        
        AO3
        
        Strength
        
        Detailed examination: Post-mortems allow for more detailed examinations of anatomy and neurochemical aspects of the brain compared to the sole use of other techniques
        
        Easier to reach deeper layers of the brain to examine deeper regions e.g: hippocampus & hypothalamus
        
        Supporting evidence: Harrison (2000) suggests that postmortems have played a key role in our undestanding of Schizophrenia's origins
        
        Weakness
        
        Externous variables: People die at various stages of their disease & in various circumstances. Can influence state of the post mortem brain
        
        Length of time between death and examination, drugs treatments previously used & age of death can also be confounding variables
        
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        Retrospectve: Examining a dead person means the researcher is unable to ask follow-up questions if any interesting discovery arises.
- - - - Left brain handles language function
      - Corpus Collosum: 2 hemispheres are connected by a bundle of nerve fibres, the Corpus Collusum
        
        Allows the 2 hemispheres to communicate with each other e.g: person using language (left) to talk about how to draw a leaf (right)
      - Right brain handles visual-motor tasks
- - - - Sperry & Gazzaniga
        
        Procedure
        
        Patients were sent visual information to just 1 hemisphere at a time. Tests hemispheric lateralisation
        
        Patients flashed with the word 'face' to the right visual field i.e: right eye
        
        Patient was asked what they saw
        
        Patient responded saying the saw the word 'face'
        
        However, when word was flashed to left visual field...
        
        Patients responded saying they did not see anything
        
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- - - - Sample sizes from the original studies were very small (only 3 ptts)
        
        Some of the patients had confounding physical disorders that made them become 'split-brain,' others had less complete corpus collosum sectioning than previously thought
        
        Must be cautious when extrapolating findings to other people.
        
        Findings into effects of lateralisation lack validity. More research needs to be done in this area
  - - - People who are mathematically gifted are found to have superior right hemispheric skills
        
        However, they are also more likely to be left handed and suffer from high rates of allergies & immune system problems.
        
        Morfit & Weekes (2001) found that left handers had a higher incidence of immune disorders in their immediate families than right handers
    - - Lateralisation does not remain constant with age
        
        Lateralised patterns in young people can turn into bi-lateral (both hemispheres) patterns in healthy older adults
        
        After 25 years old, lateralisation can decrease with each decade of life e.g: language ability
        
        Because brain needs extra processing resources from the other hemisphere to compensate for age-related decrease in function
    - - Advantage: Increased neural processing capacity
        
        Left side is just used for language. Right side is free to complete other tasks e.g: maths - allows for multi-tasking
      - Disadvantage: Little evidence to show that hemispheric lateralisation causes extra advantages in brain function
        
        Chicken research shows they are able to perform tasks simultaneously e.g: find food & look out for predators
        
        However, difficult to generalise findings to more complex brain processes in humans
- - - - These 'body clocks' help animals meet varying demands of day/night cycle
        
        Suprachiasmatic Nuclei (SCN)
        
        SCN: Made up of a tiny cluster of nerve cells
        
        SCN is the master circadian pacemaker
        
        Located in hypothalamus
        
        Photoentrainment
        
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