!
!
"#$!%&%!#'()*!+(,)-!
Unit 2: Biological Psychology
Learning Objective 1 (pp. 47-49): Biological Psychology
1.
Define biological psychology and be able to recognize examples of how biological
processes affect behavior.
2.
What is the nervous system, and what does it consist of?
3.
How is the nervous system like an information processing system?
Learning Objective 2 (pp. 49-50): The Nervous System, Cells of the Nervous System,
Common Features of Neurons, Special Features of Neurons
1.
What are neurons? What do they do?
2.
What are glial cells? And what do they do?
3.
What are axons and what role do they play in neuronal communication?
4.
What are dendrites and what role do they play in neuronal communication?
5.
What are synapses?
Learning Objective 3 (pp. 50-51): Action Potentials
1.
What is the resting potential, and what causes it?
2.
What is the sequence of events in the firing of an action potential?
3.
What is the all-or-none law?
4.
Which factors determine the speed of an action potential?
5.
What is myelin and what does it do? What can occur if myelin is destroyed?
6.
What is the refractory period?
Learning Objective 4 (pp. 52-54): Synapses and Communication Between Neurons,
Neurotransmitters, Excitatory and Inhibitory Signals
1.
What is the specific site of communication between one neuron and another?
2.
What is the typical sequence of structures through which a signal is transmitted from
neuron to neuron?
3.
What are neurotransmitters?
4.
What is the sequence of steps that triggers neurotransmitters to be released and carry a
message from one neuron to another?
5.
What are receptors and what role do they play in this process?
6.
What is an excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) and what does it do?
7.
What is an inhibitory postsynaptic potential (IPSP) and what does it do?
8.
What are the effects of combining multiple EPSPs and ISPSs?
./,'!01!2,3435,674!"8*693435*!
Learning Objective 5 (pp. 54-56): Organization and Functions of the Nervous System, The
Peripheral Nervous System:, Keeping in Touch with the World, The Somatic Nervous
System, The Autonomic Nervous System
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
What are neural networks and where are they found?
What is the peripheral nervous system, and what does it do?
What is the central nervous system, and what structures is it comprised of?
What are the two components of the peripheral nervous system?
What does the somatic nervous system do?
What is the autonomic nervous system, and what kinds of functions is it responsible for?
Why is “autonomic” an appropriate term for this system?
What are the two divisions of the autonomic nervous system?
What does the sympathetic nervous system do? What is the fight-or-flight reaction?
What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?
Learning Objective 6 (pp. 56-57): The Central Nervous System: Making Sense of the
World, The Spinal Cord
1.
What are neural network models, and what is their relationship to the brain?
2.
What is parallel distributed processing, and what does it help to explain?
3.
What are nuclei? What are fiber tracts or pathways?
4.
What does the spinal cord do?
5.
What are reflexes and how do they work?
Learning Objective 7 (pp. 58-61): The Brain, What Can fMRI Tell Us About Behavior
and Mental Processes?
1.
What does an electroencephalograph (EEG) measure? What can and can’t an EEG tell us
about brain activity?
2.
How does a PET scan work? What can a PET scan tell us about brain functioning, and
what are its limitations?
3.
How does MRI work? What are the strengths of MRI relative to PET scans?
4.
What is fMRI, and what information does it provide?
5.
What does TMS do?
6.
Why do the results of fMRI scans need to be interpreted with caution?
Learning Objective 8 (pp. 61-63): Subdivisions of the Brain,
Midbrain
1.
Where is the hindbrain located?
2.
What functions does the hindbrain control?
3.
What is the medulla oblongata and what does it do?
4.
What is the reticular formation and what does it do?
5.
What is the locus coeruleus and what does it do?
6.
What is the cerebellum and what does it do?
The Hindbrain,
The
!
!
7.
8.
"#$!%&%!#'()*!+(,)-!
Where is the midbrain located?
What types of functions does the midbrain control?
Learning Objective 9 (pp. 63-64): The Forebrain
1.
What is the function of the thalamus?
2.
What types of functions does the hypothalamus regulate?
3.
What are the suprachiasmatic nuclei and what do they do?
4.
What structures make up the limbic system, and what does the limbic system regulate?
5.
What does the amygdala do?
6.
What does the hippocampus do?
Learning Objective 10 (pp. 64-67): The Cerebral Cortex, Sensory Cortex, Motor Cortex
1.
What are the two halves of the brain called?
2.
Describe the anatomical features of the cerebral cortex.
3.
What are the four lobes of the cerebral cortex?
4.
Where are the three regions of the sensory cortex and what do they do?
5.
How is the homunculus used to understand how the brain processes sensory information?
6.
Where is the motor cortex, and what does it do?
Learning Objective 11 (pp. 67-70): Association Cortex, Where Are the Brain’s Language
Centers?
1.
What types of tasks do areas of the association cortex do?
2.
Define aphasia.
3.
What is Broca’s Area? Describe Broca’s aphasia.
4.
What is Wernicke’s area? Describe Wernicke’s aphasia.
5.
What special functions do association areas control in language processes?
Learning Objective 12 (pp. 70-73): The Divided Brain in a Unified Self, Split-Brain
Studies, Lateralization of Normal Brains
1.
What is lateralization and how was it discovered?
2.
What are split-brain patients, and why was their surgery performed?
3.
What does the corpus callosum do?
4.
What part of the body does the left hemisphere control (and sense), and what part of the
body does the right hemisphere control (and sense)?
5.
Which hemisphere of the brain primarily controls language functions?
6.
Describe tasks done with split-brain patients, and what the results have been.
7.
What are the strengths of the left hemisphere? And the right?
8.
Describe sex differences in tasks that tend to be lateralized. How large are these
differences?
./,'!01!2,3435,674!"8*693435*!
Learning Objective 13 (pp. 73-76): Plasticity in the Central Nervous System, Repairing
Brain Damage, Human Development and the Changing Brain
1.
What is neural plasticity? Be able to recognize examples of neural plasticity.
2.
What role does neural plasticity play in repairing brain damage, and what are the limits of
this kind of plasticity?
3.
What are neural stem cells, and why are they important?
4.
Which areas of the brain tend to develop earlier, and which develop later? How does this
affect thoughts and actions?
5.
Describe the growth of synaptic connections over development.
6.
What role does environmental stimulation play in brain development and neural plasticity?
Learning Objective 14 (pp. 77-78): The Chemistry of Psychology
1.
What does acetylcholine affect?
2.
What does norepinephrine affect?
3.
What does serotonin affect?
4.
What does dopamine affect? How is it related to Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and
addiction?
5.
What effect does GABA have on postsynaptic neurons, and how does this differ from the
neurotransmitters discussed so far?
6.
What do endorphins affect?
Learning Objective 15 (pp. 78-80): The Endocrine System: Coordinating the Internal
World
What are the endocrine organs called, and what are the endocrine chemicals called?
1.
2.
How are hormones both similar to and different from neurotransmitters?
3.
What are target organs?
4.
What is estrogen, where is it released, and how does it affect the female body?
5.
What are androgens, where are they released, and how do they affect the male body?
6.
What are stress hormone systems, including cortisol and the fight-or-flight reaction?
7.
How do feedback systems regulate hormone secretion? What is the role of the pituitary
gland in this process?
Learning Objective 16 (pp. 80-83): Sleeping and Dreaming, Stages of Sleep, Non-REM
Sleep, REM Sleep, A Night’s Sleep
1.
How do brain waves recorded by EEG reflect changes in states of consciousness?
2.
What is slow wave sleep? What is non-REM sleep?
3.
What is REM sleep, and why is it called “paradoxical sleep”?
4.
What are sleep cycles and how do they change over the course of a night’s sleep?
5.
How do sleep patterns change over the lifespan?
!
!
"#$!%&%!#'()*!+(,)-!
Learning Objective 17 (pp. 84-85): Why Do People Sleep?, Sleep as a Circadian Rhythm
1.
What are circadian rhythms and what are examples of bodily functions that follow them?
2.
What causes jet lag, and what are the symptoms of it? Why is it easier to fly west than east?
3.
What other situations cause sleep disturbances similar to jet lag, and why?
4.
Where in the brain are circadian rhythms regulated, and how does this regulation take
place?
5.
What is melatonin?
Learning Objective 18 (pp. 85-86): The Value of Sleep
1.
What are the cognitive consequences of sleep deprivation?
2.
How are hospital workers, drivers, children, and adolescents affected by sleep deprivation?
3.
What function is associated with non-REM sleep? What are the functions of REM sleep?
4.
What happens when people are deprived of only REM sleep?
5.
How is REM sleep related to the functioning of the locus coeruleus and norepinephrine?
6.
How might REM sleep be related to learning?
Learning Objective 19 (pp. 87-89): Sleep Disorders
1.
What is insomnia?
2.
What problems can be associated with prescription sleeping pills as a treatment for
insomnia?
3.
What is narcolepsy?
4.
What is sleep apnea, and how is it treated?
5.
What are nightmares?
6.
What is sleep terror disorder or night terrors, and how is it different from nightmares?
7.
What is sleepwalking?
8.
What is REM behavior disorder?
Learning Objective 20 (pp. 90-91): Dreams and Dreaming,
1.
When does most dreaming occur?
2.
What is lucid dreaming?
3.
Does everyone dream?
4.
What is Freud’s wish-fulfillment theory of dreaming?
5.
What is the activation-synthesis theory of dreaming?
6.
What is the problem-solving view of dreaming?
Why Do We Dream?