Bernstein Psychology Book Brain and Behavior
Pg 59
Bio-Psychology Deals With:
 Brain Chemistry= RX Drugs to treat disorders
 Experience is rooted in Biological Processes
 Brain Cells, Hormones, genes
o Are related to everything you think feel and do
Chapter will describe Biological Factors related to behavior
Bio-Psychology = the study of cells and organs of the body and physical and chemical
changes involved in behavior and mental processes.
Shows the relationship between Body and Mind
Brain and Behavior
Everything- thoughts, actions, feeling= are related to nervous system
Experiences still play a role in biology
 Biological processes are influenced by the environment
 Experiences can change brain Chemistry + Brian Anatomy
Behavioral Genetics= new approach
 Includes heredity + Environment= intelligence, personality, and mental disorders are
impacted by both
To Understand behavior + Mental Processes
 Need to combine information from different sources
 Biological is a major source of information
Pg 60 Nervous System
 Billions of cells
 Brain + Spinal cord+ Nerve Fibers
 Detect info
 Executes responses
 Info is processedo It is combined with info about past experiences and current wants + needs
o Then info is used to make decisions about how to respond
Info Processing: (includes)
 Input
 Processing
 Output Capabilities
Brain can also Anticipate on it’s own or unconsciously
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Pg 61:
 Cells of the Nervous System:
Brian Tissue
 Inter connecting Fibers
 Research of Ramon and Cajal - Found neurons
 Neurons respond to and send signals
Missing Pages 61-67 (I’ll do it later)
Peripheral Nervous System:
Sensory and Motor Functions
Somatic (body) Nervous System
 From body to CNS
 From CNS to Muscles
 Sensory Neurons = messages from body to brain
 Motor Neurons = messages from brain to body
Autonomic Nervous System
 Relates to motivation
 Autonomous= outside conscious control
o Digestion, perspiration
 Carries messages back and forth between CNS and the heart, lungs, organs, and
glands
 Messages decrease or increase the activity of organs or glands
o Example liver burning fat or storage of fat
Pg 68
Sympathetic
Mobilizes body for action
Fight or Flight
Sugar + blood pressure
Parasympathetic
Regular- body energy conserving functions
Slows down body
Parasympathetic Rebound=
Heart slows down and heart attack
occurs after a sudden increase of the
Sympathetic system
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Nervous System
Peripheral Nervous
System
Central Nervous System
Brain
Spinal Cord
Somatic
Autonomic
Sympathetic
Parasympathetic
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Neuromuscular Junction:
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Pg. 69
Central Nervous System (Neural Network Theory= Pathways)
Brain and Spinal Cord
 Input-Processing-Output
Parallel Distributed Processing
 Sensation- Perception- Learning- Memory
o Input simultaneously activates several paths in the network
o Info is processed in various places at the same time
Spinal Cord
 Receives Signals- from senses including pain
 Sends signals to the brain
 Carries signals down the spinal cord
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Reflexes= Reflex Arc= Involuntary
 Impulse travels to spinal cord not to brain
 Then back to muscle
o Afferent Neurons (going toward)
 Sensory neurons sense the pain
o Efferent Neurons (going away)
 Motor neurons respond
 Acronym = SAME = Sensory + Afferent + Motor + Efferent
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Brain’s Three Main Subdivisions:
1. Hindbrain
2. Midbrain
3. Forebrain
I. Hind Brain: 1. Medulla Oblongata 2. Reticular Formation 3. Cerebellum
 Continuation of Spinal Cord
 Info from body reaches Hind Brain first
 Blood pressure, heart rate, breathing,
 Autonomic functions
 Reflexive actions: Vomiting, Sneezing,
Swallowing
1. Medulla Oblongata
 Autonomic functions
 Heart rate, breathing, Blood Pressure
2. Reticular Formation
 (Netlike)
 Network of cells
 Involved  Arousal, Attention
 Arouses the brain
 Heart rate + Blood Pressure
 Directing attention
 Linked to: depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sleep problems,
PTSD
3. Pons (Latin for Bridge) inferior to the Midbrain
 Carries sensory signals to the thalamus
 Inferior (below) to the mid brain
4. Cerebellum:
 Motor Control
 Coordination of fine movements
 Contains memory about movement
 Coordination of well rehearsed movements
o Dancing
o Playing Musical Instrument
o Athletics
 Associated (Memory, impulse control, Emotion, language, and higher order
cognitive processes)
 Problems with Cerebellum = problem with Equilibrium and posture
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II Mid-Brain: (part of the brain stem)
 Located above hindbrain
 Integrates  simple movements with Sensory input
 Seeing + holding eyes on a subject & moving head
III The Forebrain:
(Thalamus, Hypothalamus, Limbic System = Amygdala, Hippocampus
 Responsible for Complex Tasks
 Thalamus (Processes Sensory info)
o Relays signals from spinal cord
o Relays signals from eyes & other SENSE organs
 Hypothalamus (Hypo=under)
o Lies under the thalamus
o Regulating:
 Hunger
 Thirst
 Sex Drive
o Connection to the Autonomic Nervous System
o Destruction of one side of Hypothalamus
 -= overwhelming urge to eat
o Damage to the other area = urge to not eat
o Damage can also lead to Sex Organ degeneration/sex drive decreases
o Supra-chiasmatic Nuclei
 Part of the Hypothalamus
 24 hour clock= Bio Rhythm
 Lymbic System = Amygdala + Hippocampus
o Regulates Memory
o Regulates Emotion
 Amygdala:
 Associated with fear
 Emotion
 PTSD= Amygdala
 Hippocampus Formation of Memories
 Damage to hippocampus can result in Anterograde
Amnesia
 Aneterograde Amnesia
o Not able to remember new events (50 First Dates)
 Memory Ability is associated with size of the
hippocampus
o Small hippocampus = memory problems
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Cerebral Cortex:





Includes 2 halves = Cerebral Hemispheres = Left and Right
Located on the outer most part of the Brain
Associate with functions
o Analysis of Sensory Info
o Control of Voluntary Movements
o Higher order thought
Cortex is folded
o Ridges are called Gyri = Ji-rye
o Valleys are called Sulci = Sulk-eye
Sulci divide the cortex into 4 Lobes
o Frontal Lobe
o Parietal Lobe
o Occipital Lobe
o Temporal Lobe
P83 Sensory Cortex, Motor Cortex, and Association
Cortex
Sensory Cortex: located Parietal, Occipital, Temporal
 Part of Cerebral Cortex that receives information from senses
 Different senses affect different locations of cortex
 Visual info= Visual Cortex found in Occipital Lobe

Auditory Cortex found in Temporal Lobe
o Receives auditory info
Somato-Sensory Cortex found in Parietal Lobe
 Info from Skin-touch, Pain, Temperature
(P85) Sensory Homunculus- “The Little Man”
 Tells us places on the Cortex where sensory information is identified
o This can change by experience
o The Amount of Sensory Cortex that responds to a particular sensory input
can be changed by experience
o Example:
 Even practicing the violin can increase the number of neurons in
Somatosensory Cortex that respond to finger touch
Motor Cortex found in Frontal Lobe
 Voluntary movements in specific part of body, hand, foot, knee
 Motor Homunculus
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Association Cortex
 Parts of Cerebral Cortex not directly involved with either receiving specific sensory
information or creating movement
 Cognitive Tasks
o Associating words + images
 Combining sensory and motor information
Aphasia (Found in Auditory Cortex (processing spoken language)
 Difficulty in understanding speech
 Difficulty in producing speech (Motor Cortex produces speech)
Visual Cortex includes processing written language
Association Cortex and Language
Broca’s Area 1861 (Left Frontal)
 Found damage to association cortex on left side of brain
 Frontal Lobe near Motor Area controls facial muscles
 Broca’s Area Damage = speech production is difficult
 Victims have difficulty speaking
 Paused speech
Wernicke’s Area (left Temporal)
 Asspcoation cortex
 Temporal Lobe
 Area receives information from ears + eyes
 Interpretation of both speech and written words
 Damage to Wernicke’s the Person is able to speak but disrupts ability to
understand meaning of words or speak understandably
 Speech is fluent without meaning
Prefrontal Cortex
 Front of Brain
 Conscious controls of thought and actions that help us understand the world
The Divided Brain in a Unified Self
Each hemisphere may have special functions independent of the other.
Lateralization= tasks that is specialized to one hemisphere
Right Hemisphere:
Left Side Left Hemisphere:
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