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AP Psych Prep 3
Biological Psychology
Part II: Brain Structureand Function
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Three Main
Sections of the
Brain
The brain can bedivided into three basic
sections.
The Forebrain,
Midbrain,
and Hindbrain.
We will start from the
hindbrain, and work
our way up from there.
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Hindbrain
The top part of the spinal cord, plus thecerebellum.
Includes life-support
systems, controls
important functions
that keep us alive.
Medulla, Pons, and
Cerebellum
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Hindbrain
Medulla / Medulla Oblongata - helps controlblood pressure, heart rate, breathing
Ponsconnects hindbrain and midbrain; helps
control facial expressions, eye movements,posture, etc.
Cerebellumlittle brain helps with musclemovements, (precision, coordination, timing),motor learning (e.g. learning how to ride a bike),and balance. Alcohol effects
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Midbrain
Between the hindbrain and forebrain.
Involved in coordinating sensory info. and musclemovements.
Reticular Formationcontrols our arousaland ability to payattention. Is a big
problem if it doesntfunction properly(coma or death possible)
Also sensory habituation
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Forebrain
Includes limbic system and cerebral cortex. Verylarge in comparison to hindbrain and midbrain.
Important and
interesting.
Connected to
emotion, thinking,
reason, memory,sensation, movement,
and many other
functions.
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Limbic System
Limbic system is
found deep inside
our brains. It is
strongly connected
to emotion and memory.
Important pieces: Thalamus, Hypothalamus,
Amygdala, and Hippocampus.
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Thalamus
Found at the top of the brain stem (= mid +hindbrain).
Receives sensorysignals and sends
them to the right
area.
(Lateral Geniculate
Nucleus)
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Hypothalamus
Small but very important structure.
Important in regulation
of body temperature,hunger, thirst, biological
rhythms (wake and sleep
cycles), sexual arousal,
and the endocrine
system.
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Hippocampus
Two arm-like structure Very important for storage of new memories.
Memories are STORED elsewhere, but need to
pass through and be processed here to be
stored properly. H.M. example
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Cerebral Cortex
Another part of the forebrain, along with thelimbic system.
Top surface layer of the brain. Very wrinkledand folded to make more surface area. More
area = more connections possible.
Our cells are not well connected when we are
very young, and as we learn and develop,
more and more connections are made.
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Cerebral Hemispheres
Cerebral cortex has 2 hemispheres , left andright.
These twoare mostly
separate,connected
by a bundleof nervescalled the
corpuscallosum
h l /
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Hemisphere Specialization /
Lateralization Some different functions between the two
sides of our cerebral cortex.
E.g. Contralateral Controleach hemisphere
gets sensory information and controls motorfunction of oppositeside of the body(generally)
Speechstrong evidence for hemispherespecialization (well see details soon)
Other specializ. possible, but less strongevidence.
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Lateralization Example: Split Brain
Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzinga developedsurgery to stop seizure from spreading from
one side of the brain to the other. Involves
cutting the corpus callosum.
People who have had this surgery are called
split brain patients. Their left and right
hemispheres can no longer communicate witheach other.
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Lateralization Example: Split Brain
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Lateralization Example: Split Brain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLzP1VCANo8/13/2019 AP Psych Prep 3 - Biological Psychology (Part II)
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Areas of the Cerebral Cortex
Four different lobesFrontal, Parietal,Occipital, Temporal lobes. (FPOT)
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Frontal Lobe
Some interesting Frontal Lobe pieces: Prefrontal areathe farthest front area. Is
important in foreseeing, predicting,
consequences, pursuing goals, controlling
emotions, abstract thought,
Remember Phineas Gage
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Frontal Lobe
Left frontal lobeBrocasarea (Paul Broca)controls muscles for producing speech
Also includes motorcortex (at the back
of the Frontal Cortex)
controls our
voluntary muscle
movements.
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Parietal Lobe
Includes sensory (or somato-
sensory) cortex.
Right behind the
motor cortex.
Receives incoming
sensory informationfrom the body
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Motor and Sensory Cortex Organiz.
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Occipital Lobe
Found at the back of the brain. Includes visual
cortex.
Left occipital lobe receives signals from right
half of both eyes retinas.
Visual cortex interprets
visual signals and thensends processed info to
other brain areas.
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Temporal Lobe
Includes auditory cortexprocesses soundinformation from our ears.
A language area
here too, forunderstanding /interpreting language.
Wernickesareadamage = problemsunderstanding orproducing speech
M t t l d
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Motor control and
speech motor
control areas are
close to eachother
Listening area and
speech
understandingareas are close to
each other
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Association Areas
Various areas all around the cerebral cortex.
These are involved in things other than
sensory processing or muscle control.
Often complex actions like judgment, humour,
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Brain Plasticity (flexibility)
The descriptions above are generalizations.
E.g. some left handed people have language
processing in right hemisphere
Sometimes the brain will grow connections
and adapt to make up for damage. Especiallypossible with younger people.
E.g. Phineas Gagesocial ability improved
over time.
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Other Biological Influences: Endocrine System
System of glands that secrete hormonesslow chemical messengers of our body; travelin our blood.
Can influence body
functions anddevelopment connectedto psychologicalbehaviour.
Controlled byhypothalamusmaster gland
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Endocrine System
Adrenal Glandson
top of kindneys; produceadrenaline, a hormonethat prepares us foremergency situations(fight or flight)
Ovaries and Testesproduce sex hormones,(testosterone and estrogen)
which are connected todifferences between menand women, sexualdevelopment, etc.
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Other Biological Influences: Genetics
Genes can be related to our psychological
functioning too. Including things like
personality (bothgenes and our life
experience affect our personality)
Human cells have 46 strands of DNA
(chromosomes); 23 pairs.
23 come from your mother, 23 from your
father.
Genes are distinct pieces of our DNA strands
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Other Biological Influences: Genetics
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Other Biological Influences: Genetics
Psychologists sometimes try to find out how
much of our behaviour comes from genes,
and how much comes from our environment.
Twin Studiescompare monozygotic twins
(identical twins, identical DNA, come from one
egg), and dizygotic twins (fraternal twins,
same shared DNA as normal siblings, come
from different eggs)
Also compare same environment vs. diff env.
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Twin Studies
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Genetics: Twin Studies
Results show genes and environment are both
important.
E.g. Intelligence (measured with IQ score):
Found Identical Twins raised apart intelligencescores correlated at .69
Identical Twins raised together correlate at .88
Correlations show intelligence is very similar ifonly genes are the same, and even more similar ifenvironment is the same.
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Genetics: Twin Studies
Possible confounding variable:
Maybe identical twins look similar, and maybe
people treat them in similar ways because
they look similar (even though they grow up
separately in different environments).
This could mean the twins environments are
actually more similar than we think. And we
need to be careful about our genetics
conclusions.
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Genetics: Chromosome Problems
Our 23 pairs of chromosomes are important.
If someone gets the wrong number ofchromosomes due to an accident it can causeproblems for health and psychology.
Turner Syndromeonly one X Chromosome
KlinefeltersSyndromeextra X Chr. (XXY)
Down Syndromeextra 21stChr. (Trisomy 21)
All of these include some degree of mentaldevelopment problems.