Mat's Psychology Revision

BRAIN PLASTICITY AND RECOVERY AFTER TRAUMA BRAIN PLASTICITY: Brains ability to change and adapt mentally and functionally as a result of experience and new learning. EXPERIENCE EXPECTANT PLASTICITY: Changes in the brain taking place in infancy We have 15,000 synaptic connections by 2-3yrs through synaptogenesis which is double what we have as an adult. Not all synaptic connections are used so some are deleted by cognitive pruning which strengthens the frequently used synapses. EXPERIENCE DEPENDENT PLASTICITY: When the brain continues to create new neural pathways and alter existing ones as a result of learning and life experiences. Through...  Synaptogenesis - New synapses form through life but mostly in infancy Neurogenesis - New neurones form. Occurs in infancy and adulthood. Synaptic Pruning - Synapse elimination which occurs in early childhood and the onset of puberty - occurs less in adulthood.  COMPUTER GAMING - KUHN et al  ...

SPLIT BRAIN RESEARCH BACKGROUND In cases of severe epilepsy, surgery can be done to remove the CORPUS COLLUSUM which connects the left and right HEMISPHERES. CORPUS CALLOSUM is responsible for hemispheric communication through nerve fibres called commission fibres In split brain pts, hemispheric communication does not occur  PROCESSES INVOLVED IN SPLIT BRAIN RESEARCH Split brain pts have a split visual field. Pts sat in front of a screen and were asked to gaze at a fixed point in the centre.  Visual stimuli projected to the right visual field (RVF) or left visual field (LVF) at a high speed, so there's no chance for them to move their head ~~> They're only able to process the image in the visual field it was placed in. FINDINGS OF SPERRY RESEARCH When words were projected to LVF (goes to the Right hemisphere) the words did not register as the left hemisphere is for language so words need to be presented to the RVF to be registered. EVAL...

RESEARCHING THE BRAIN POST MORTEM  A person's body + brain is examined after death. Done to see where the damage had occurred in the brain and to see if behaviour done by individual prior to death can be explained. The brain can be sliced into thin sections and studied under a microscope to detect abnormalities. DETAILED EXAMINATION You can see anatomical aspects which can't be seen w/ non-invasive techniques, we can look at deeper regions of the brain RESEARCH SUPPORT - Harrison 2000 This method was important for our understanding of schiz. He suggested structural and neurochemical abnormalities linked to schiz were first identified using post-mortem  METHOD IS RETROSPECTIVE The problem with comparing function to before death is that there is little info about how the individual functioned before they died. Researchers cannot follow up on potential brain abnormalities and cog function BRAIN CHANGES after death Because of this, the fi...

DIVISIONS of NERVOUS SYSTEM THE CNS The Brain Monitors and regulates primitive bodily processes such as breathing, digestion, heartbeat Involved in higher order thinking such as planning and problem-solving w/ the pre-frontal cortex The Spine Relays info between the brain and body using neurones Connects from spinal nerves (which govern reflex actions) to muscles, effectors and glands Co-ordinates bodily movement, damage to this area affects mobility and speech THE PNS Somatic Nervous System Involved w/ involuntary movement of skeletal muscles, orchestrates via brain Has 12 Cranial nerves (on underside of brain) and 31 Spinal nerves Has both sensory and motor neurones Transmits and receives sensory info Autonomic Nervous System  Both sub-branches are usually in balance but under relaxed/stressed circumstances the balance shifts and one become more dominant in the "Flight or Fight" response. Sub-branches keep the body in a state of homoeost...