CHAPTER 5 BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY LECTURE NOTES Chapter 5 Biological Psychology o Nervous System Cells Neurons Cells that the brain uses to process information o These types of cells are also present in the rest of the nervous system Brain and spinal cord o Glia cells Cells that support the neurons Neuron o Has three parts Cell Body Soma Dendrites Axon Neuron o Cell Body Soma Contains the nucleus o Dendrites RECIEVE transmissions from other cells o Axon SENDS information to other cells o Myelin Insulating sheath layer that speeds up transmissions Axon 2 ways of responding Excitatory Impulses Respond excited or action responses Inhibitory Impulses The Action Potential o Electro Chemical Process o Efficient and does not diminish in strength All or None Law o It either happens or it doesn t happen How it works o Resting Potential At rest Role of Sodium NA and Potassium K ions o Both are positive ions o Sodium Potassium Pump o At resting potential this pump pushes Sodium out of the axon and pums Potassium in How it works action potential travels down the axon like a wave of energy o Action Potentials start in one of two ways Spontaneous activity They are excited by other neurons o Sodium enters into the cell Axon becomes more positive Threshold Action Potential o Sodium gates close o Potassium gates open Potassium leaves Resting Potential Why Should You Care o Helps you interpret pain o Helps block pain Synapse o Gap between Neurons o Chemical communication Terminal buttons o Triggers neurotransmitter release Post synapse o Post synaptic neuron The neuron on the the receiving end of the synapse Neurotransmitter fate after it has done its job o Reuptake o Metabolized o Reattach Neurotransmitters o Psychiatry any drug that increases or decreases the activity of a particular type of receptor produces specific effects on behavior o Parkinson s disease Too little Dopamine L Dopa drug Increases Dopamine levels o Depression Dopamine and Serotonin o Drugs Drugs also affect your behavior by way of the neurotransmitters Each drug acts on specific neurotransmitters to create a particular type of high Major Divisions of the Nervous System o Central nervous system Brain and spinal cord o Peripheral nervous system Bundles of axons between the spinal cord and the rest of the body o Somatic nervous system Skin and muscles o Autonomic nervous system involuntary or automatic we have little control over it Heart stomach other organs Sympathetic fight and flight Feed and sleep The Brain o Forebrain Most dominant part Consists of two hemispheres Cerebral Cortex o Gray matter o White matter Cerebral Cortex o 4 lobes Occipital Lobe At the rear of the brain o Vision Blindsight Parietal Lobe In front of the occipital lobe o Specialized for body senses Touch pain temperature awareness of location of body parts Primary somato sensory body sensory cortex o Part of the parietal lobe Responsible for touch perception Damage to these areas leads to loss of sensation difficulty estimating how far away objects are Temporal Lobe Located on the left and right sides of the head close to the ears o Responsible for hearing on the left and right sides of the head close to the ears Responsible for hearing and more complex aspects of vision Damage to certain areas may lead to very specific deficits Inability to recognize faces difficulty perceiving motion difficulty recognizing melodies Amygdala o Responds to emotional situations and facial expressions that convey emotions Damage leads to delay in processing information 4 Frontal Lobe Front of the brain o Primary motor cortex Planned control of fine movements o Prefrontal cortex Contributes to the organization and planning of movement and certain aspects of memory o Communication Smell ol factory comes straight in to the cerebral cortex Touch Thalamus Relay station to the cerebral cortex Cerebellum Movement Behaviors that require aim or timing Autonomic Nervous System o Controls the internal organs such as the heart o Autonomic Sympathetic Fight or flight response Parasympathetic at rest Measuring Brain Activity o Electoencephalograph EEG Uses electrodes on the scalp to record changes in brain electrical activity Used to measure people s reactions to certain stimuli o Positron emission tomography PET Record radioactivity of various brain areas emitted from injected chemicals First the brain is injected with a radioactivity labeled compound such as glucose Computers measure the amount of radioactivity emitted by the brain and create a computer image Functional Mganetic resonance image fMRI Uses magnetic detectors to compares the amounts of hemoglobin with and without oxygen in different brain areas Indicate which brain areas Experience o The nervous system is generally the same across people around the world o Changes do occur Exercising the brain Stem cells any type of neuron that they need to The Binding Problem o How do we experience a unified self o The question of how Binding problem separate brian areas combine forces to produce a unified perception of a single object o There is no central processor Role of the Parietal lobe helps locate things in space and time Gathering information Split Brain o Corpus callosum Set of axons connecting the right and left hemispheres Epilepsy Seizure disorder sometimes treated by severing the corpus callosum o Speech Split brain