Summary MCAT Prep - Psych/Soc Section

Psych

Brain
●​ Forebrain: executive function, impulse control, speech, motor
○​ Thalamus
■​ Relay sensory info
○​ Hypothalamus
■​ Regulates homeostasis
■​ Fight, flight, feed, fuck
■​ Initiates signals to endocrine system in response to stress
●​ Regulates activity of pituitary and adrenal glands
○​ Limbic system
■​ Emotions, memories, arousal
■​ Hippocampus: emotions
■​ Amygdala: fear and aggression
■​ HAT Hippo
●​ Hypothalamus, amygdala, thalamus, hippocampus
○​ Basal ganglia
○​ Cerebral cortex
■​ Outer layer of cerebrum
■​ Cerebrum for voluntary movement
●​ Midbrain
○​ Colliculi
○​ Tegmentum
○​ Cerebral peduncles
●​ Hindbrain
○​ Cerebellum
■​ For balance, proprioception
○​ Medulla oblongata
○​ Reticular formation
●​ Temporal lobe
○​ Perception, memory, sound, speech, emotion
●​ Parietal lobe
○​ Touch, pressure, pain, temperature, spatial processing
●​ Brain Scans
○​ PET measures localized neural activity
■​ Localizes brain areas
○​ EEG for brainwaves
○​ MRI for neuroanatomy
○​ CT for neuroanatomy


Neurotransmitters
●​ Serotonin for mood, sleep, eating, dreaming

, ●​ Dopamine for focus, motivation, smooth movements




Hormones
●​ Tropic Hormones (FLAT)
○​ Act on glands
○​ Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) & luteinizing hormone (LH)
■​ Sperm production
■​ Secreted by anterior pituitary gland
○​ Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
■​ Stimulates adrenal cortex
○​ Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)
●​ Direct Hormones (PEG)
○​ Act on cells and tissues
○​ Prolactin
■​ Stimulates milk production in mammary glands
○​ Endorphins/Enkephalins
○​ Growth hormone
■​ Somatotropin/HGH
■​ Stimulates growth and cell production
●​ Posterior pituitary
○​ ADH/Vasopressin
○​ Oxytocin
●​ Sex Hormones
○​ Produced in gonads
○​ Steroids
○​ All people need all 3 sex hormones


Language
●​ Components
○​ Phoneme: smallest unit of sound
■​ 40 phonemes in English
○​ Morpheme: smallest unit of meaning (prefix/base/suffix)
■​ Lexicon is entire set of morphemes in a language
○​ Pragmatic: cultural connotation of word
○​ Semantics are meaning of a word
○​ Prosody is rhythm, cadence, and inflection of voices
●​ Ebbinghaus Experiment
○​ Memorize and recall nonsense syllables over intervals
○​ Memory and forgetting
○​ Forgetting curve - forget most at first then gradually rest
●​ Broca’s area in frontal lobe

, ○​ Wernicke’s area in temporal lobe
○​ Global aphasia has damage in Broca and Wernicke
○​ Arcuate fasciculus connect Broca and Wernicke
○​ Conduction aphasia is when ability to conduct between listening and speaking is
disrupted
○​ Agraphia inability to write
○​ Anomia inability to name things
●​ Theories of Language
○​ Relativism
■​ Language influences thought
■​ English speakers think left to right typically
■​ Linguistic determinism
○​ Sapir-Whorfian
■​ Language completely determines thought
■​ What languages we know affects how we see the world
■​ Linguistic relativity
○​ Nativisit
■​ Noam Chomsky
■​ Says children are born with ability to learn language
■​ Similarities of universal grammar
■​ Critical period 0-8 years when it's easiest to learn language
■​ Eysenck also says biological, but for personality
●​ Studied diff personalities in identical twins
○​ Behaviorist/Learning
■​ BF Skinner
■​ Children acquire through operant conditioning
■​ Mama = mom reinforces child to say syllable “ma”
○​ Interactionist
■​ Vygotsky
■​ Vygotsky says language and thought converge through development
■​ Use at same time via socialization with adults
■​ Adults teach children language


Emotion
●​ Limbic system
○​ Hypothalamus, amygdala, thalamus, hippocampus (HAT Hippo)
○​ Hypothalamus regulates autonomic nervous system
■​ Epi/Norepi
○​ Osmoreceptors in hypothalamus
■​ Monitor changes in osmotic pressure
■​ Regulate water and electrolyte balance
■​ Also in kidney to regulate amt of water reabsorbed/excreted
○​ Kluver-Bucy syndrome is destruction of amygdala