PSYCH 1315 1st Edition Lecture 5 Outline of Last Lecture I The Brain A Chemistry of the Synapse B Autonomic System II The Cortex A Sensory Areas B Language Areas C Left Right Side of Brain Outline of Current Lecture I Pituitary Gland Amygdala II Hypothalamus A James Old s Discovery B Wanting and Liking C Hunger Motivation III Stress and Health A Cortisol IV Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation A Testosterone B Prenatal Effects Current Lecture l The Pituitary Gland is located adjacent from the hypothalamus This gland controls and releases hormones to the rest of the body This gland controls what hormones are released and when The amygdala is located on each side of the brain connected to the hippocampus It is involved in fear and the discrimination of objects necessary for survival like food mates and rivals ll A The hypothalamus is located beneath the cortex and it enables you to end a meal before feeling the caloric impact If this is destroyed there is incredible weight gain and food consumption James Olds accidentally discovered reward and pleasure These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute areas in the brain After shocking rats electrically in the hypothalamus he saw that the rats would go to great lengths to get another shock He realized that the shocks were creating a pleasure in the brain and the rats became addicted to it B Later it was discovered that there are different parts in the hypothalamus One felt pleasure and the other felt the want for pleasure Research has shown that there s different neural systems for wanting and liking In drug addicts they like the pleasure the drug gives them but once they are an addict it no longer gives them that pleasure so they keep using it because they want to feel it not because it still gives them pleasure C Hunger motivation is caused by many things One is the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus which manages our feedings We have multiple chemicals in us that process food intake The NPY and the Ghrelin promote food intake while Leptin inhibits food intake by inhibiting NPY lll A Cortisol is a chemical released when we are put in stressful situations It controls the coping mechanism of stress However the prolonged elevation of cortisol when we are stressed for long periods of time will begin suppressing our immune system leaving us open to sickness viral attacks and leaves us extra vulnerable to psychological stress lV A When we are fetuses we are all exposed to small amounts of testosterone in both males and females This testosterone masculinizes the brain and the behavior in rats and monkeys It was also observed that one nucleus was larger in male rats compared to female rats This predicts masculine behavior in males and females exposed to high testosterone The sexually dimorphic nucleus is INAH3 in humans and around this time at the age of four when INAH3 emerges children gain their sense of gender INAH3 is not related to sexual orientation but it is related in gender identity Recent findings indicate that differences in the cortex and the connections between several brain areas are related to sexual orientation B Human females exposed to androgens during the prenatal period tend to be masculinized in terms of behaviors but they had little effect on sexual orientation It was also discovered that if you were the youngest brother of multiple older brothers there is a higher probability of homosexuality in genetically related male siblings However there is not a high probability of homosexuality in non genetically related male siblings