Hemispheric Lateralisation and Split-
Biopsychology AO1 Brain Research
Hemispheric Lateralisation
Nervous and Endocrine System - Cerebrum divided into hemispheres
connected by corpus callosum
Nervous System
- Hemisphere controls opposite side of
- CNS – brain and spinal cord body – lateralisation - motor control is
- PNS – autonomic and somatic contralateral
- SNS - movement - Language areas in left hemisphere
- ANS – sympathetic (fight/flight) and - Vison is contralateral and ipsilateral –
parasympathetic (rest/digest) both eyes receive information from both
visual fields but RH processes LVF and LH
Endocrine System processes RVF
- Glands secrete hormones into Sperry’s Split-Brain Research
bloodstream
- Pituitary gland – master gland - 11 participants – cut corpus callosum to
- Fight/flight – pituitary gland -> adrenal treat epilepsy
gland -> adrenaline - Could describe objects in RVF (LH) but
not LVF (RH) but could select object
- LVF could give an emotional response to
a pinup picture but report seeing nothing
Neurons and Synapses
- LH is verbal, RH is silent but emotional
Neurons
- Sensory -> relay -> motor
- Cell body contains nucleus Plasticity and Functional Recovery
- Myelin sheath separated by nodes of
Plasticity
Ranvier
- Positive charge leads to action potential - Neural connections can change, and new
connections can form in response to
Synapses
damage
- Action potential reaches presynaptic - Hippocampus in taxi drivers change in
terminal and neurotransmitters released size after learning “the knowledge”
from presynaptic vesicles - Hippocampus and parietal cortex bigger
- Neurotransmitter diffuses across synapse in med students after exams
and binds to postsynaptic receptor sites
Functional Recovery of the Brain After Trauma
- Adrenaline = excitatory
- Serotonin = inhibitory - Healthy brain areas take over role of
- SSRIs prevent reuptake of serotonin by damaged areas
the presynaptic bulb, increasing the - New synaptic connections – secondary
serotonin in the synapse pathways
- Axonal sprouting -> denervation super
sensitivity -> recruitment of homologous
Localisation of Brain Function brain areas
- Frontal lobe = motor area Ways of Studying the Brain
- Parietal lobe = somatosensory - fMRI – blood flow
- Occipital lobe = visual area - EEG – brainwaves from neurons via
- Temporal lobe = auditory area electrodes
- Broca’s – production - left frontal - ERP – filtering of EEG recordings
- Wernicke’s – understanding – left - Post-mortem analysis
temporal
Biopsychology AO1 Brain Research
Hemispheric Lateralisation
Nervous and Endocrine System - Cerebrum divided into hemispheres
connected by corpus callosum
Nervous System
- Hemisphere controls opposite side of
- CNS – brain and spinal cord body – lateralisation - motor control is
- PNS – autonomic and somatic contralateral
- SNS - movement - Language areas in left hemisphere
- ANS – sympathetic (fight/flight) and - Vison is contralateral and ipsilateral –
parasympathetic (rest/digest) both eyes receive information from both
visual fields but RH processes LVF and LH
Endocrine System processes RVF
- Glands secrete hormones into Sperry’s Split-Brain Research
bloodstream
- Pituitary gland – master gland - 11 participants – cut corpus callosum to
- Fight/flight – pituitary gland -> adrenal treat epilepsy
gland -> adrenaline - Could describe objects in RVF (LH) but
not LVF (RH) but could select object
- LVF could give an emotional response to
a pinup picture but report seeing nothing
Neurons and Synapses
- LH is verbal, RH is silent but emotional
Neurons
- Sensory -> relay -> motor
- Cell body contains nucleus Plasticity and Functional Recovery
- Myelin sheath separated by nodes of
Plasticity
Ranvier
- Positive charge leads to action potential - Neural connections can change, and new
connections can form in response to
Synapses
damage
- Action potential reaches presynaptic - Hippocampus in taxi drivers change in
terminal and neurotransmitters released size after learning “the knowledge”
from presynaptic vesicles - Hippocampus and parietal cortex bigger
- Neurotransmitter diffuses across synapse in med students after exams
and binds to postsynaptic receptor sites
Functional Recovery of the Brain After Trauma
- Adrenaline = excitatory
- Serotonin = inhibitory - Healthy brain areas take over role of
- SSRIs prevent reuptake of serotonin by damaged areas
the presynaptic bulb, increasing the - New synaptic connections – secondary
serotonin in the synapse pathways
- Axonal sprouting -> denervation super
sensitivity -> recruitment of homologous
Localisation of Brain Function brain areas
- Frontal lobe = motor area Ways of Studying the Brain
- Parietal lobe = somatosensory - fMRI – blood flow
- Occipital lobe = visual area - EEG – brainwaves from neurons via
- Temporal lobe = auditory area electrodes
- Broca’s – production - left frontal - ERP – filtering of EEG recordings
- Wernicke’s – understanding – left - Post-mortem analysis
temporal
