Physiological Psychology Final Study Guide Topics are in alphabetical order so they are easier to find Anxiety Issues Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD o Some form of trauma causes anxiety flashbacks nightmares etc o Some drugs that affect the amygdala which deals with emotion can help make fear decline and make it harder to recall the traumatic event Panic Disorder Panic Attacks o Have multiple panic attacks o Extreme sympathetic arousal o May make you feel as though you are experiencing a heart attack o Orexin may play a role in panic attacks since it is associated with arousal Responses to anxiety o Fight or Flight Response Experience sympathetic arousal like heavier breathing increased heart rate release of epinephrine norepinephrine dopamine etc Epinephrine and norepinephrine activate brain areas like those associated with memory but turns off areas like the prefrontal cortex Voodoo can cause anxiety because if someone believes they have been cursed they will experience sympathetic arousal o As a result the parasympathetic system kicks in enough to where it slows down the heart rate too much and the person dies Polygraphs measure sympathetic arousal so they do not accurately judge whether or not someone is being honest since that person might just be anxious and that is what the machine records Women tend to express stress to others while men tend to handle it by themselves Brain Hemispheres The left and right hemispheres have contralateral control They mainly communicate through the corpus callosum Neither hemisphere looks exactly like the other Left hemisphere o More responsible for analysis logic sequence words and numbers o The lateral sulcus is longer in the left hemisphere in most people o The planum temporale is larger in the left hemisphere Right hemisphere o Good with complex visual stimuli rhythm dimension and the emotional aspect of o If there is a stroke involving this hemisphere the person will not be able to express o Split Brain patients have the connection cut between the two hemispheres to speech an emotion like anger Epilepsy make seizures stop Alzheimer s Disease o Confusion forgetfulness and memory loss o Better implicit versus explicit memory o After being diagnosed with Amnesia of Alzheimer s Type people tend to live o A person is not actually diagnosed with Alzheimer s until after they die and have around ten more years an autopsy performed Dementia Emotion James Lange Theory o Physiological responses occur first and cause us to experience certain emotions o Example When you see a car coming straight at you you run out of the way first and then experience fear Fear is only a temporary emotion unlike anxiety before you are actually aware of it Urbach Wiethe Disease o The amygdala plays a role in anxiety because it can detect the triggering stimuli o The amygdala slowly withers away so people have difficulty recognizing emotions especially fear in others Neurotransmitters involved in emotion include CCK and GABA o To decrease anxiety it is best to increase GABA since it works to inhibit that emotion whereas CCK would increase it The right hemisphere is associated with having more control over emotions and expressing emotions like fear and disgust The left hemisphere is associated with emotions like anger and happiness Disgust is an emotion that can be attributed to the insular cortex primary taste cortex Hunger Food preferences are both inherent and learned Once the stomach has stretched we know to stop eating o The vagus nerve informs us about how much the stomach has stretched The hormone CCK makes us stop eating Orexin can cause a person to continue eating despite being full Calories are important and help maintain metabolism Food is mainly used as glucose in the blood Insulin helps direct glucose where to go whether into cells or storage glycogen o Insulin also signals satiety Glucagon breaks down glycogen so that it can be ready for use Diabetes o Type 1 Immune system attacks cells that produce insulin Rarer than type 2 o Type 2 Your body makes insulin but your cells cannot use it More likely to have an adult onset and be linked to obesity Eating related disorders conditons o Obesity Medical condition where a person is severely overweight Exercise does not actually help you lose weight o Anorexia Failure to keep a minimally healthy body weight More damaging to the body and harder to treat than bulimia Higher serotonin levels than average people Psychological issue due to a distorted body image and need for control Two types of anorexia One is where they restrict food consumption and starve themselves The other subtype involves binge eating and purging o Bulimia Binging and purging Easier to treat than anorexia Lower serotonin and norepinephrine levels Person is typically of average weight or a little heavier Damage to areas such as the esophagus and teeth Immune System The immune system can get rid of a sickness faster if it has already been exposed to it before Immune cells o B cells Make antibodies o T cells Cytotoxic T cells Kills damaged or dangerous cells Helper T cells Help B and T cells function and do their jobs Suppressor T cells Help slow down the immune system Cortisol in high amounts suppresses the immune system Autoimmune Disease o Immune system attacks the body Language Language is believed to either be due to our level of intelligence or it evolved when the part of our brain that deals with linguistics grew o The latter explanation is more supported o There is believed to be a language acquisition device in our brains It is best to learn language early on otherwise it becomes more unlikely that you will become fluent People in bilingual homes use both brain hemispheres Music o You use Broca s Area when dealing with music o People prefer music that is similar to their own language o People who are better with music tend to have an easier time learning a new language Anomia Aphasia o The inability to speak o Difficulty recalling words names of objects Although they may not be able to produce speech they are better at comprehending language o Depending on the severity it may be temporary or permanent o Can be attributed to Broca s Area being damaged o Difficulty with phonetics Dyslexia o Person often has trouble reading o Males are diagnosed with this disorder more often o The complexity of the English language makes this disorder more common in places that speak English versus other languages Wernicke s Area William s Syndrome o