Unit 4 Psychology

The Nervous System

• It starts with an individual nerve cell called a Neuron.

How does a Neuron Fire?

• Resting Potential: Slightly negative charge; reaches the threshold when there enough of a transmitter reaches. 

• Dendrites: Go to Action Firing. 

The All or None Response: The idea that either the neuron fires or it does not- no part way firing.

• Like a gun

Steps of Action Potential

• Neurotransmitters: Chemical messengers that are released by terminal buttons through the synapse

4 Types:

Acetylcholine (ACH)

- Deals with motor movement and memory

- Lack of ACH has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease

Dopamine

- Deals with motor movement and alertness

- Lack of Dopamine has been linked to Parkinson’s disease

- Too much has been linked to Schizophrenia 

Serotonin

- Involved in mood control

- Lack of Serotonin  has been linked to clinical depression 

Endorphins

- Involved in pain control 

- Many of our addictive drugs deals with Endorphins. 

Drugs can be:

• Agonist- Make Neuron Fire

• Antagonist- Stop Neural Firing 

• Reuptake Inhibitors- Block neurotransmitters from entering the Neuron

Norepinephrine

- Helps control alertness and arousal

- An undersupply can lead to depression

- An oversupply can lead to manic symptoms 

GABA (Gamma- Aminobutytic Acid)

- Major inhibitory neurotransmitter

- An undersupply can lead to tremors, seizures, and insomnia

Glutamate

- Major excitatory neurotransmitter

- Involved in memory

- An oversupply can overstimulate the brain, leading to migraines (this is why people avoid food with MSG in it)

Types of Neurons 

Afferent Neurons

Sensory Neurons: Take information from the senses to the brain

Inter Neurons: Take messages form Sensory Neurons to other parts of the brain or to Motor Neurons

Efferent Neurons

Motor Neurons: Take information from brain to the rest of the body

Neuro Anatomy

• Synapse: Apace in between; Neurons do not touch each other 

• Neurotransmitters: Chemicals held in the terminal buttons that travel through synaptic gap

• Dendrites: Receive messages from other cells

• Axon: Passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons or muscles

• Neural Impulse: Electrical signal traveling down the axon 

• Myelin Sheath: Covers the axon, where neural impulse travels

• Terminal branches of Axon: form junctions with other cells

• Cell body: the cell’s life, support center

The Nervous System

Central Nervous System

• Consists of Brain and Spinal Cord

Peripheral Nervous System 

• All nerves that are not encase in bone

• Everything but the Brain and Spinal Cord

• Divided into two: Somatic and Autonomic

Somatic:

- Controls voluntary muscle movements

- Uses motor (Efferent) Neuron

Autonomic:

- Controls the automatic functions of the body

- Divided into two categories: Sympathetic or Parasympathetic 

• Sympathetic:

- Fight or Flight Response

- Automatically accelerate heart rate, breathing, dilates pupils, slow down digestion 

• Parasympathetic:

- Automatically slows the body down after a stressful events

- Heart rate and breathing slow down, pupils constrict and digestion speeds up

Reflexes

• Normally, sensory (Afferent) neurons take information up through the spine to the brain

• Some reactions occur when sensory neurons reach just the spinal chord

The Endocrine System: The Major Endocrine Glands

• A system of glands that secrete hormones

• Similar to nervous system, except hormones work a lot slower than neurotransmitters

Way We Study the Brain

Accidents

• Phineas Gage Story

• Personality changed after the accident

Lesions

• Removal of destruction of some part pf the brain

• Frontal Lobotomy

Electro Encephalogram

• EEG

• Detects brain waves through their electrical output

• Used mainly in sleep research

Computerized Axial Tomography 

• CAT scan 

• 3D x-ray of the brain

• Tumor locating, but nothing about the function

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

• MRI

• More detailed picture of brain using magnetic field to knock electrons off axis

• Like a movie production

Position Emission Tomography

• PET scan

• Measures how much of a chemical the brain is using (usually glucose consumption)

Brain Structures:

1. Hindbrain

2. Midbrain

3. Forebrain

Hindbrain

• Structures on top of our spinal chord

• Control basic biological structure

Medulla Oblongata

- Located just above the spinal chord

- Controls:

• Heart rate

• Blood pressure

• Breathing

Pons

- Located just above the Medulla 

- Connects Hindbrain with Midbrain and Forebrain

- Involved in expressions

Cerebellum

- Bottom rear of the brain

- Means “Little Brain”

- Coordinates fine muscle movements

Midbrain

• Coordinates simple movements with sensory information

• Most important structures in Midbrain is the Reticular Formation (Reticular Activating System) controls arousal and ability to focus our attention

• If broken… sleep

Forebrain

• Makes us human

• Largest part of the brain

• Made up of the Thalamus, Limbic System and Cerebral Cortex

Thalamus

- Switchboard of the brain 

- Receives sensory signals from the spinal cord and sends them to other parts of the Forebrain 

- Every sense except smell

Limbic System 

- Hypothalamus, Hippocampus, Amygdala

• Hypothalamus

- Maybe most important structure in the brain 

- Controls: 

Body Temperature

Sexual Arousal

Hunger

Thirst

Endocrine System

• Hippocampus

-  Involved in the processing and storage of memories 

• Amygdala

- Involved in how we process memory

- More involved in volatile emotions like anger

The Cerebral Cortex is made up of four lobes

·         Frontal Lobes

-          Abstract thought and emotional control.

-          Contains the Motor Cortex: Sends signals to our body controlling muscle movements.

-          Contains Broca’s Area: Responsible for controlling muscles that produce speech.

-          Damage to Broca’s Area is called Broca’s Aphasia: Unable to make movements to talk.

·         Motor and Sensory Cortexes

·         Parietal Lobes

-          Contains Sensory Cortex: Receives incoming touch sensations from the rest of the body.

-          Most of the Parietal Lobes are made up of Association Areas.

-          Association Area: Any area not associated with receiving sensory information or coordinating muscle movements.

·         Occipital Lobe

-          Deals with vision

-          Contains Vision Cortex: Interprets messages from our eyes into images we can understand.

·         Temporal Lobes

-          Process sound sensed by our ears.

-          Interpreted in Auditory Cortex.

-          NOT LATERALIZED

-          Contains Wernicke’s Area: Interprets written and spoken speech.

-          Wernicke’s Aphasia: Unable to understand language; the syntax and grammar is jumbled.

-          Specialization and integration in language

·         Corpus Callosum: Connects right and left hemispheres. 





Developmental Psychology

• The study of you from womb to the tomb 
• How we change physically, socially, cognitively and morally

Nature vs. Nurture

• Nurture: the way you were raised
• Nature: the way you were born

Prenatal Development

• Conception begins with the drop of an egg and the release of about 200 million sperm
• The sperm seeks out the egg and attempts to penetrate the eggs surface

Zygote

• The first stage of prenatal development, last about two weeks and consists of rapid cell division
• Sperm penetrates egg, it is now fertilized
• Less than half of all zygotes survive first two weeks
• About 10 days after conception, the zygote will attach itself to the uterine wall 
• The outer part of the zygote becomes the placenta (nutrients)

Embryo

• Two weeks later 
• Last about 6 weeks
• Heart begins to beat and the organs begin to develop

Fetus

• By nine weeks we have a fetus
• The fetus by about the 6th month, the stomach and other organs have formed enough to survive outside of mother
• At this time the baby can hear (and recognize) sounds and respond to light

Teratogens

• Chemical agents that can harm the prenatal environment
• Alcohol
• Other STD's can have the baby
• HIV
• Herpes

Healthy Newborns

• Turn head towards voices
• See 8 to 12 inches from their faces 
• Gaze longer at human like objects right from birth

Reflexes

• Inborn automatic responses
• Rooting reflexes: babies tendency when touched on the cheek to open mouth and search for nipple
• Sucking 
• Grasping 
• Moro
• Babinski

Maturation

• Physical growth, regardless of the environment
• Although the timing

Puberty

• The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing

Primary Sexual Characteristics

• Body structures that make reproduction possible

Secondary Sexual Characteristics

• Non-reproductive sexual characteristics

Landmarks for Puberty

• Menarche for girls
• First ejaculation for boys (spermarche)

Physical Milestones

• Menopause: when a woman stops menstruation

Death

• Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
• Stages of Death/Grief

1. Denial
2. Anger 
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

Social Development 

• Stranger anxiety: when an infant encounters a stranger and exhibit anxiety
• Separation anxiety: when a child is separated from their parents

Attachment

• Harry Harlow and his monkeys
• Harry showed that monkeys needed touch to form attachment 
• Critical periods: the optimal period shortly after birth when organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produce proper development
• Those who are deprived of touch have trouble forming attachment when they are older

Mary Ainsworth's strange situation
Types of Attachment

1. Secure
2. Avoidant
3. Ancious/Ambivalent

Parenting Styles

1. Authoritarian (parent in control)
2. Permissive Parents (child in control)
3. Authoritative Parents (both child and parent)

Erik Erikson-Social Development

• A neon-Freudin
• Worked with Anna Freud
• Thought our personality was influenced by our experiences with others

Trust vs. Mistrust

• Can a baby trust you 
• The trust or mistrust they develop can carry on with the child

Autonomy vs. Shame&Doubt

• Babies control bodies (toilet)
• Control temper tantrums
• Big word is "No"

Initiative vs. Guilt 

• Word "No" turns to "Why?"
• Are they good or bad
• Ages 3-6
• Want to understand the world and ask questions

Industry vs. Inferiority

• Ages 6-12
• School begins
• Can lead  to us feeling bad about ourselves for the rest of our lives (Inferiority Complex)
• Feel good or bad about accomplishments

Identity vs. Role Confusion

• Ages 13-15
• Who am I
• Try different things

Intimacy vs. Isolation

• Have to balance work and relationships
• Prioritize

Generality vs. Stagnation

• Middle adult 
• Will I succeed in life 
• Mid-life crisis

Integrity vs. Despair 

• Look back on life 
• Senior
• Was my life meaningful or do I regret it?

Jean Piaget

Cognitive Development

• It was thought that kids were just stupid versions of adults
• Kids learn differently from adults 

Schema

• Children view the world through schemes (as do adults for the most part)
• Schemes are ways we interpret the world around us
• It is basically what you picture in your head when you think of anything

Assimilation 

• Incorporating new experiences into existing schemas

Accommodation

• Changing an existing schema to adopt to new information

Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Sensorimotor Stage

• Experience the world through our senses
• Do not have object permanence
• Ages 0-2

2. Preoperational Stage

• Ages 2-7
• Have object permanence
• Begin to use language to represent objects and ideas
• Egocentric: cannot look at the world through anyone's eyes but their own 
• Conservation: refers to the idea that a quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance and is part of logical thinking

3. Concrete Operational Stage

• Can demonstrate concept of conservation 
• Learn to think logically 

4. Formal Operational Stage

• Abstract reasoning 
• Manipulate objects in our minds without seeing them
• Hypothesis testing
• Trial and error 
• Meta cognition
• Not every adult gets to this stage

Types of Intelligence

Crystallized

• Accumilated knowledge
• Increases with age

Fluid

• Ability to solve problems and quickly think abstractly 
• Peaks in 20's and then decreases over time