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Psychology313Updated 26 Sept 202612 pages

AQA A-Level Biopsychology Study Flashcards

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Your brain is basically mission control for everything you do - from breathing to solving maths problems. Understanding how different parts of your nervous system work together helps explain why certain injuries affect people in specific ways, and it's crucial knowledge for psychology exams.
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Central Nervous System

Think of the central nervous system (CNS) as your body's main computer - it's made up of your brain and spinal cord. The brain acts like the CEO, making all the big decisions about behaviour and keeping your body's systems running smoothly.

Your spinal cord is basically the body's superhighway, carrying messages back and forth between your brain and the rest of your body. It handles everything from voluntary movements like waving your hand to simple reflexes that don't even need your brain's input.

When the spinal cord gets damaged, it's like cutting a phone line - everything below the injury loses contact with the brain. This explains why spinal injuries can be so devastating.

Remember: The CNS is your control centre - brain gives orders, spinal cord delivers them!

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Peripheral Nervous System

The peripheral nervous system (PNS) includes all the nerves outside your brain and spinal cord. It's like having messenger services running throughout your entire body, constantly updating your brain about what's happening.

The somatic nervous system handles the stuff you're aware of - it uses sensory neurons to tell your brain what you're seeing, hearing, or feeling, then uses motor neurons to control your voluntary movements. It's also responsible for those lightning-fast reflexes that happen before you even think about them.

This system is made up of 12 pairs of cranial nerves and 31 pairs of spinal nerves. Each pair contains both sensory and motor neurons, creating a two-way communication system between your CNS and your body.

Key Point: Somatic = voluntary actions you control, like typing or walking!

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Autonomic Nervous System

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) runs all the background apps your body needs to survive - heartbeat, digestion, breathing. You don't have to think about these processes because they're completely involuntary.

This system has two divisions that work like opposing teams. The sympathetic division uses noradrenaline to amp everything up, whilst the parasympathetic division uses acetylcholine to calm things down. They regulate the same organs but have completely opposite effects.

The main differences between autonomic and somatic systems are pretty straightforward. Both respond to external stimuli, but the ANS is involuntary whilst somatic is under conscious control. The somatic system has both sensory and motor pathways, but the ANS only has motor pathways.

Think of it as: Sympathetic = stress mode, Parasympathetic = chill mode!

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Sympathetic vs Parasympathetic

The sympathetic nervous system is your body's emergency response team. When you're stressed or threatened, it kicks into gear - increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and redirecting energy away from less important processes like digestion. It's preparing your body for "fight or flight."

The parasympathetic nervous system is the complete opposite - it's your "rest and digest" system. Once danger passes, it slows your heart rate, reduces blood pressure, and gets your digestion working again. Think of it as your body's way of returning to normal.

These two systems work together like a perfectly balanced see-saw. When one is active, the other backs off, ensuring your body responds appropriately to different situations throughout the day.

Remember: Sympathetic = emergency mode, Parasympathetic = recovery mode!

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Brain Localisation and Lateralisation

Localisation means specific brain areas handle specific jobs - like having different departments in a company. Your brain isn't just one big blob doing everything; different regions specialise in particular functions.

Lateralisation refers to how your brain's two hemispheres divide the workload. The left hemisphere controls the right side of your body, whilst the right hemisphere controls the left side. It's like having two managers each responsible for their own side of operations.

Your brain is organised into different lobes (frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital) and specialised areas like the motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, and language areas such as Broca's and Wernicke's areas.

Key insight: Your brain is incredibly organised - everything has its place and purpose!

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Brain Cortices

The motor cortex in your frontal lobe is like your movement control centre - it sends signals to muscles when you want to move voluntarily. The somatosensory cortex in your parietal lobe does the opposite, receiving and processing all the sensory information coming into your body.

Your visual cortex in the occipital lobe handles everything you see. Interestingly, the right side of your visual field gets processed by the left hemisphere, and vice versa. The auditory cortex in your temporal lobe works similarly for hearing.

Each cortex specialises in processing specific types of information, then sends the processed data to other brain areas for decision-making. This division of labour makes your brain incredibly efficient.

Remember: Each cortex is a specialist - they're really good at their specific job!

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Language Areas and Brain Damage

Broca's area in the left frontal lobe controls speech production - it's what lets you actually form words and sentences. When damaged, people develop Broca's aphasia, making speech slow and laboured but leaving comprehension intact.

Wernicke's area in the left temporal lobe handles language comprehension and processing. Damage here causes Wernicke's aphasia - people can speak fluently but their sentences become meaningless jumbles of words.

The fact that both language areas are typically in the left hemisphere shows lateralisation in action. Most people's language abilities are concentrated on one side of the brain rather than being evenly distributed.

Clinical insight: Different types of language problems point to damage in specific brain areas!

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Case Study Evidence

Tan was a famous patient who could understand everything but could only say one word - "tan." After his death, Broca found damage to the left frontal lobe, leading to the discovery of Broca's area.

Phineas Gage survived a horrific accident where an iron rod shot through his skull. His dramatic personality change afterwards supported localisation theory, suggesting the frontal lobe controls personality traits.

However, case studies have limitations. These unique cases support localisation but can't be generalised to everyone. The conclusions drawn might also be subjective, making it difficult to draw firm scientific conclusions.

Critical thinking: Individual cases provide valuable insights but aren't enough on their own!

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Modern Research Support

Dougherty et al found that 30% of OCD patients improved after cingulotomy surgery, suggesting this brain area plays a role in OCD. This provides evidence for localisation of psychological disorders.

Brain scan studies by Peterson et al showed Wernicke's area becoming active during listening tasks and Broca's area during reading tasks, proving they have different functions. Tulving et al discovered that semantic and episodic memories are stored in different sides of the prefrontal cortex.

Modern neuroimaging technology allows researchers to observe brain activity in real-time, providing much stronger evidence for localisation than historical case studies could offer.

Tech advantage: Brain scans give us live footage of how different areas specialise!

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Challenges to Localisation

Lashley challenged localisation by removing 10-50% of rats' cortex during maze learning. He found no single area was more important than others, suggesting complex cognitive processes might be distributed throughout the brain rather than localised.

Modern researchers increasingly question whether language is truly localised to specific areas. It's so complex that it likely involves networks of brain regions working together rather than just Broca's and Wernicke's areas.

fMRI studies suggest language functions are more distributed than originally thought. This doesn't completely disprove localisation but shows it's more nuanced than early researchers believed.

Current thinking: The truth probably lies somewhere between strict localisation and complete distribution!

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