Biopsychology Pinel 2018 A GUARANTEED

Pinel's Biopsychology Study Guide for the 2026 | A+ Graded Solutions How much does the human brain weigh? - answer - 1.3 kilograms What are neurons? - answer - Cells that receive and transmit electrochemical signals How many neurons in the brain? - answer - 90 billion How many estimated connections are there between neurons? - answer - 100 trillion How many paths are there that neural signals can follow? - answer - Infinite What is neuroscience? - answer - scientific study of the nervous system, bio psychology is one of several disciplines What is neuroplasticity? - answer - Brain is a changeable (plastic), continuously grows/ changes in response to individual's genes and experiences, from 1990s research, most influential discovery in modern neuroscience What is biopsychology? - answer - scientific study of the biology of behaviour, also called psychobiology, behavioural biology, behavioural neuroscience, 'infant' compared to physics/ chemistry, biology, one of many disciplines in neuroscience but broad/ diverse Three major dimensions/ approaches of bio psychological research - answer - Human/ non human, formal experiments/ non experimental studies, pure/ applied What is psychology? - answer - scientific study of behaviour, all overt activities as well as internal processes that underlie them eg. learning, memory, emotion Who played a key role in emergence of biopsychology - answer - Hebb (1949) 'the organisation of behaviour', first theory of how psychological phenomena, such as perceptions, emotions, thoughts, memories, produced by brain activity, discredited view that psychological functioning too complex to be physiology and chemistry of brain, eclectic approach (experiments, clinical cases, daily observations, etc) became hallmark of psychological inquiry What is neuroanatomy? - answer - The study of the structure of the nervous system What is neurochemistry? - answer - The study of the chemical bases of neural activity What is neuroendocrinology? - answer - The study of interactions between the nervous system and the endocrine system What is neuropathology? - answer - The study of nervous system disorders What is neuropharmacology? - answer - The study of the effects of drugs on neural activity What is neurophysiology? - answer - The study of the functions and activities of the nervous system What are the advantages of using human subjects in biopsychological research? - answer - - Can follow instructions - can report subjective experiences - cheaper (only highest level of animal care is acceptable) - can actually apply the findings to human brains What are the advantages of using nonhuman subjects in biopsychological research? - answer - - brain and behaviour simpler - more likely to reveal fundamental brain-behaviour interactions - comparative approach - gives insights about functions of differing areas eg. compare with species with no cerebral cortex clues about cortical function - possible to conduct research that would not be ethical with human participants - main difference with mammals is overall size and cortical development (more quantitative than qualitative) hence human brain function can be clarified by study of non humans What is the comparative approach? - answer - Study of biological processes by comparing species What are confounded variables? - answer - More than one difference affecting the dependent variable, unknown which one is causing the observed effect, simple concept but difficult, readers constantly on alert, eg. Coolidge effect ? P.31 What is the coolidge effect? - answer - Copulating male who becomes incapable of continuing to copulate with one sex partner can often recommence copulating with a new sex partner (experiment used hamsters) What is lordosis? - answer - The arched-back, rump-up, tail-diverted posture of female rodent sexual receptivity What are quasiexperimental studies? - answer - Studies of groups of subjects who have been exposed to the conditions of int