This document contains all Biopsychology notes- Biological rhythms, EP and EZs, Human Nervous System, Localisation of Function, Lateralisation, Plasticity, Functional recovery, Brain-scanning techniques
Biopsychology #1
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1. What are biolog- Biological rhythms are repetitive processes that occur nat-
ical rhythms and urally in organisms. There are circadian rhythms, infradian
what are the 3 rhythms and ultradian rhythms.
types?
2. What are cir- Circadian rhythms are often referred to as the body clock,
cadian rhythms? they have cycles that occur once every 24h. They optimize
(and an example) an organism's physiology and behaviour to best meet
What is the gap? the varying demand of the day/night cycle. For example
the sleep-wake cycle or excretion. The gap in a circadian
rhythm is 24h.
3. What are in- Infradian rhythms have cycles that occur less than once
fradian rhythms? a day. For example the human female menstrual cycle
(and an example) (takes place every 28 days) and SAD (Seasonal Affective
What is the gap? Disorder). The gap in an infradian rhythm is more than 24
hours.
4. What are ul- Ultradian rhythms have cycles that occur more than once
tradian rhythms? every day. Ultra means a lot. For example stages of sleep
(and an example) (REM- dreaming sleep, NREM- non dreaming) and meal
What is the gap? times. The gap in an ultradian rhythm is less than 24 hours.
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5. What controls Endogenous pacemakers (EP- nature), which are our in-
these biological ternal biological clocks we are born with & Exogenous
rhythms? Give zeitgebers (EZ- nurture), which are the external cues from
examples. the environment. An example of EPs are melatonin levels
& the SCN, and EZs would be friends staying awake
together.
6. What is the key The key biological clock is the suprachiasmatic nucleus
biological clock (SCN). It is a small cluster of neurons buried deep in the
(EP) and where is brain that coordinate all rhythms in our body. Its exact
it located? location is where the optic nerves from both eyes cross
over.
7. How do the SCN The SCN and pineal gland work together to regulate
and pineal gland our sleep and wakefulness. First- information about the
function jointly amount of light available falls on the retina. Then this
as endogenous information is transmitted via the optic nerve to the SCN.
pacemakers? The SCN stimulates the pineal gland to release or inhibit
the release of melatonin (the hormone of sleep) into the
circulatory system. Therefore when there is a lot of light
melatonin is inhibited and when there is less light mela-
tonin is released.
8. What is Ralph et al (1990) bred "mutant" hamsters with 20-hour
some support- sleep/wake cycle. When the SCN cells from the mutant
ing evidence hamsters were transplanted into the brains of normal ham-
that demon- sters their cycles defaulted to 20 hours also. This animal
strates that the study increases the realibility of the theory, but it has low
SCN controls temporal validity, is unethical as it is mutating hamsters &
your sleep/wake has low generalisability to humans as it was performed on
cycle? (include animals (reductionist).
A03)
9. What are the 2 Light and social cues. Light is the dominant zeitgeber in
main exogenous humans as it maintains our sleep-wale circandian cycle.
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zeitgebers in cir- For example Campbell & Murphy (1998) shining light in
cadian rhythms? the back of participants' knees. Social cues is another
main exogenous zeitgeber of circadian rhythms as it can
control our meals, bed and wake up times... For example
Davidson (2006) found that zeitgebers for cells in the liver
& heart is likley to be mealtimes because those cells reset
by eating.
10. What is it called The interactionist system. It means isolation studies like
when EP and EZs Siffre's are criticised for having extremely low ecological
work together to validity.
regulate our cir-
cadian rhythms?
11. What case study Michel Siffre's (2002) isolation case study. He spent 179
was carried out days in an underground cave in Texas. There was no
to investigate natrural light & in the absence of this EZ his biological
the effect of rhythms became "free-running". Results: his sleep-wake
the removal of cycle was extended to 25-32h. Therefore Siffre conclud-
EZs on circdian ed that in the absence of EZ our EPs can still regu-
rhythms? late biological rhythms, however not perfectly for a 24h
day. Strengths: real-life applications (we know EZs are
needed). Weaknesses: case study lacks generalisability &
unethical as Siffre reported experiencing long-lasting psy-
chological concequences but wasn't offered councelling or
support.
12. What is the Strengths: practical applications- knowledge of circadian
overall evalua- rhythms has given researchers a better understanding of
tion of circadian the neg concequences that occur if rhythms are disrupted
rhythms? eg: shift workers & peak times when people should take
tablets to increase effectivity. Weaknesses: studies inves-
tigating the sleep-wake cycle tend to be case studies &
cannot be generalised. There is a poor control in isolation
studies (EV).
13. What are the 2 ex- The female menstrual cycle & SAD. During each menstru-
amples of infradi- al cycle rising levels of eastrogen cause ovulation, and
an rhythms? then progesterone help the womb lining to grow thicker for
pregnancy. SAD is a depressive disorder which has a sea-
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