Unit IV

Biological School 
The Nervous System

• Starts with the neuron; a cell

Neuroanatomy 

• Neutransmitters: chemicals held in terminal buttons that travel through synaptic gap
• Cell Body: the cells life-support center
• Dendrites: receives messages from other cells
• Axon: passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands
• Neural Impulse: electrical signal traveling the axon
• Terminal Branches of Axon: form junctions with other cells
• Myelin Sheath: covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural impulses
• Synapse: structure that permits a neuron to pass a chemical or electrical signal to another cell

Neuron Fire

• Resting Potential: slightly negative charge
• Reach the threshold when enough neurotransmitters reach dendrites
• It is an electrochemical process

- It is an electrical inside the neuron
-Chemical outside the neuron (in the synapse in the form of a neurotransmitter)
-The firing is called action potential

The All or None Response

• The idea that either the neuron fires or it does not (partway firing)

1. Acetylcholine (ACH)

• Deals with motor movement and memory 
• Lack of ACH has been linked to Alzheimer's disease

2. Dopamine

• Deals with motor movement and alertness
• Lack of dopamine has been linked to Parkinson's disease
• Too much has been linked to schizophrenia

3. Serotonin

• Involved in mood control
• Lack of serotonin has been linked to clinical depression

4. Endorphins

• Involved in pain control 
• Many of our most addictive drugs deal with endorphins

Drugs Can Be 

• Agonist: make neuron fire
• Antagonists: stop neural firing

Neurons

1. Sensory Neurons (Afferent Neurons): tale information from the senses to the brain
2. Inter Neurons: take messages from sensory neurons to other parts of the brain or to motor neurons
3. Motor Neurons (Efferent Neurons): take information from the brain to the rest of the body 

Central Nervous System

• The brain and the spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System

• All nerves that are not encased in bones
• Everything but the brain and spinal cord
• Is divided in two categories, somatic and autonomic

Somatic Nervous System

• Controls voluntary muscle movement
• Uses motor (efferent) neurons

Autonomic Nervous System

• Controls the automatic functions of the body
• Divided into two categories, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic 

Sympathetic Nervous System

• Fight or flight response
• Automatically accelerates heart rate, breathing, dilated pupils, slows down digestion

Parasympathetic Nervous System

• Automatically slows the body down after a stressful event
• Heart rate and breathing slows down, pupils constrict and digestion speeds up 

Reflexes

• Normally, sensory (afferent) neurons take into up through spine to the brain 
• Some reactions occur when sensory neurons reach just the spinal cord

Lesions

• Cutting into the brain and looking for changes
• Less invasive ways to study the brain

Brain Structures

• Some scientist divide the brain up into three parts
• Hindbrain, Forbrain, Midbrain

Hindbrain 
1. Medulla Oblangata

• Heart rate, breathing, blood pressure

2. Pons

• Connects kindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain together
• Involved in facial expressions

3. Cerebellum

• Located in the back of our head (little brain)
• Coordinates muscle movement 
• Like tracking a target 

Midbrain 

• Coordinates simple movements with sensory information
• Contains the reticular formation: arousal and ability to focus attention

Thalamus 

• In forebrain 
• Receives sensory information and sends them to appropriate areas of forebrain 
• Like a switchboard
• Everything but smell

Limbic System 

• Emotional control center of the brain 
• Made up of hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus 

Hypthalamus 

• Pea sized in brain, but plays a not so pea sized role
• Body temperature
• Hunger
• Thirst
• Sexual arousal

Hippocampus and Amygdala

• Hippocampus is involved in memory processing 
• Amygdala is vital for our basic emotion

Cerebal Cortex 

• Top layer of our brain 
• Control wrinkles called fissures
• The fissures increase surface area of our brain
• Laif out it would be about the size of a large pizza

Hemisphere

• Divided into a left and right hemisphere 
• Controalateral controlled: left controls right side of body and vice versa
• Brain lateralization 
• Lefties are better at spatial and creative tasks 
• Righties are better at logic

Split-Brain Patients 

• Corpus Collosum attaches the two hemispheres of cerebral cortex
• When removed you have a split-brain patient

Cerebal Cortex

• Made up of four lobes

1. Frontal Lobe

• Abstract and emotional control
• Contains 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\

2. Parietal Lobe

• Contain sensory cortex: receives incoming touch sensations from rest of the body
• Most of the parietal lobes are made of association areas
• Association Areas: any area not associated with receiving sensory information or coordinating muscle movements

3. Occipital Lobes

• Deals with vision
• Contains visual cortex: interprets messages from out eyes into images we can understand

4. Temporal Lobes

• Process sound sensed by our ears
• Interpreted in auditory cortex
• Not lateralized
• Contains Wernicke's are: interprets written and spoken speech
• Wernicke's Aphasia: unable to understand language, the syntax grammar jumbled

The Endocrine System

• A system of glands that secrete hormones
• Similar to nervous system, except hormones work a lot slower than neurotransmitters 
• Thyroid gland: affects metabolism, among other things
• Pituitary gland: secretes many different hormones, some of which affect other glands 
• Parathyroid: helps regulate the level of calcium in the blood
• Adrenal glands: inner part called the medulla, helps trigger the "fight or flight" response
• Pancreas: regulates the level of sugar in the blood

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

Moral Development

1. Pre-conventional Morality

• Morality based on rewards and punishment
• If you are rewarded them it's okay
• If your are punishes, the act must be wrong

2. Conventional Morality 

• Looked at morality based on how others see you
• If your peers, or society, thinks it is wrong, then so do you

3. Post-conventional Morality

• Based on self-defines ethical principles
• Your own personal set of ethics