Advanced Placement Psychology

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Advanced Placement Psychology

• Module 4
• The Brain

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Genetic Instructions

• Your brain develops from the instructions that
  are received at conception.
• At fertilization, the egg and sperm each contain
  23 chromosomes
• Zygote A cell that results when the egg is
  fertilized. It contains 46 chromosomes arranged
  in 23 pairs.

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Genetic Instructions

• Chromosomes A hairlike strand that contains
  tightly coiled strands of the chemical DNA
  (Deoxyribonucleic) acid. Each contain 46
  chromosomes, except the sperm and egg.
• Chemical Alphabet Each chromosome is made up of
  long strands of DNA, which resembles a twisted
  ladder. Each rung of the DNA is made up of 4
  chemicals.

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Genetic Instructions

• Genes and Proteins A specific segment on the
  long strand of DNA that contains instructions for
  making proteins. Proteins are chemical building
  blocks from which all the parts of the brain and
  body are constructed.

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Genetic Instructions

• Fragile X syndrome A defect in the X chromosome.
  It can result in physical changes, such as a
  relatively large head with protruding ears, as
  well as mild to profound retardation.

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The Brain

• Lesion
• tissue destruction
• a brain lesion is a naturally or experimentally
  caused destruction of brain tissue

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The Brain

• Looking at the gray area of the brain, imagine
  that the person the brain belongs to is still in
  there.
• Without electrochemical activity, there could be
  nothing of the human there.
• What if someone removed the brain right before
  death and kept it alive. Would the person still
  be there?
• Further, if it was transplanted in a person with
  severe brain damage, whose home does the
  recovered patient return?

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The Brain

• Because we can imagine this, it illustrates how
  we live in our heads.
• The brain enables the mind seeing, hearing,
  remembering, thinking, feeling, speaking,
  dreaming.
• It is the brain that self-reflectively analyzes
  the brain.
• When were thinking about our brain, were
  thinking with our brainby firing millions of
  synapses and releasing billions of
  neurotransmitter molecules.
• The mind is what the brain does.

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The Brain

• How do we explore where and how the minds
  functions are tied to the brain?

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Electroencephalogram (EEG)

• an amplified recording of the waves of electrical
  activity that sweep across the brains surface
• these waves are measured by electrodes placed on
  the scalp

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Electroencephalogram (EEG)
An electroencephalograph providing amplified
tracings of waves of electrical activity in the
brain. Here it is detecting brain response to
sound, making possible an early evaluation of
what may be a hearing impairment.
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PET Scan
To obtain a PET scan, researchers inject
volunteers with a low and harmless dose of a
short-lived radioactive sugar. Detectors around
the subjects head pick up the release of gamma
rays from the sugar, which has concentrated in
active brain areas. A computer then processes
and translates these signals into a map of the
brain at work.
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MRI Scan
MRI scan of a healthy individual (left) and a
person with schizophrenia (right). Note the
enlarged fluid filled brain region in the image
on the right
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The Brain

• CT (computed tomography) Scan
• a series of x-ray photographs taken from
  different angles and combined by computer into a
  composite representation of a slice through the
  body also called CAT scan

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The Brain
PET (positron emission tomography) Scan a visual
display of brain activity that detects where a
radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain
performs a given task
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The Brain
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) a technique
that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to
produce computer-generated images that
distinguish among different types of soft tissue
allows us to see structures within the brain
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The Brain

• Brainstem
• the oldest part and central core of the brain,
  beginning where the spinal cord swells as it
  enters the skull
• responsible for automatic survival functions
• Medulla muh-DUL-uh
• base of the brainstem
• controls heartbeat and breathing

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The Brain
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The Brain(Midbrain)

• Reticular Formation
• a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an
  important role in controlling arousal
• Thalamus THAL-uh-muss
• the brains sensory switchboard, located on top
  of the brainstem
• it directs messages to the sensory receiving
  areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the
  cerebellum and medulla

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The Brain (Hindbrain)

• Cerebellum sehr-uh-BELL-um
• the little brain attached to the rear of the
  brainstem
• it helps coordinate voluntary movement and balance

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The Medulla (Hindbrain)
Located at the top of the spinal chord, includes
a group of cells that control vital reflexes,
such as respiration, heart rate, and blood
pressure.
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The Hindbrain

• Pons
• Functions as a bridge to interconnect messages
  between the spinal cord and brain. The pons also
  makes chemicals involved in sleep.

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The Brain(Midbrain)

• Limbic System
• a doughnut-shaped system of neural structures at
  the border of the brainstem and cerebral
  hemispheres
• associated with emotions such as fear and
  aggression and drives such as those for food and
  sex
• includes the hippocampus, amygdala, and
  hypothalamus.

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The Brain(Midbrain)
Amygdala ah-MIG-dah-la two almond-shaped
neural clusters that are components of the limbic
system and are linked to emotion
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The Brain

• Hippocampus
• Functions
• Learning
• Memory

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The Brain(MidBrain)

• Hypothalamus
• neural structure lying below (hypo) the thalamus
  directs several maintenance activities
• eating
• drinking
• body temperature
• helps govern the endocrine system via the
  pituitary gland
• is linked to emotion

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• Thalamus
• Located in the middle of the forebrain, is
  involved in receiving sensory information, doing
  some initial processing, and then relaying the
  sensory information to areas of the cortex,
  including the somatosensory cortex, primary
  auditory cortex, primary visual cortex.

The Brain(MidBrain)
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The Limbic System
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The Limbic System

• Limbic structures form a doughnut-shaped neural
  system between the brains older parts and its
  cerebral hemispheres. Although part of the
  hormonal (endocrine) system, not the brain, the
  pituitary gland is controlled by the limbic
  systems hypothalamus, just above it.

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The Cerebral Cortex (Forebrain)
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The Cerebral Cortex

• Cerebral Cortex
• the intricate fabric of interconnected neural
  cells that covers the cerebral hemispheres
• the bodys ultimate control and information
  processing center

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The Cerebral Cortex

• Frontal Lobes
• involved in speaking and muscle movements and in
  making plans and judgments
• Parietal Lobes
• include the sensory cortex

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The Cerebral Cortex(Forebrain)
Occipital Lobes include the visual areas, which
receive visual information from the opposite
visual field Temporal Lobes include the auditory
areas
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The Cerebral Cortex

• Motor Cortex
• area at the rear of the frontal lobes that
  controls voluntary movements
• Sensory Cortex
• area at the front of the parietal lobes that
  registers and processes body sensations

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The Cerebral Cortex
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The Cerebral Cortex

• Functional MRI scan shows the visual cortex
  activated as the subject looks at faces

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Visual and Auditory Cortex
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The Cerebral Cortex

• Aphasia
• impairment of language, usually caused by left
  hemisphere damage either to Brocas area
  (impairing speaking) or to Wernickes area
  (impairing understanding)
• Brocas Area
• an area of the left frontal lobe that directs the
  muscle movements involved in speech

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The Cerebral Cortex
Wernickes Area an area of the left temporal
lobe involved in language comprehension and
expression
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Specialization and Integration in Language
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Specialization and Integration
When hearing a word, Auditory cortex and
Wernickes area
When seeing a word visual cortex and angular
gyrus
When speaking a word Brocas area and the motor
Cortex
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Brain Structures and their Functions
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Brain Reorganization

• Plasticity
• the brains capacity for modification, as evident
  in brain reorganization following damage
  (especially in children) and in experiments on
  the effects of experience on brain development

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The Endocrine System

• Endocrine System
• the bodys slow chemical communication system
• a set of glands that secrete hormones into the
  bloodstream

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Neural and Hormonal Systems

• Hormones
• chemical messengers, mostly those manufactured by
  the endocrine glands, that are produced in one
  tissue and affect another
• Adrenal ah-DREEN-el Glands
• a pair of endocrine glands just above the kidneys
• secrete the hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and
  norepinephrine (noradrenaline), which help to
  arouse the body in times of stress
• Pituitary Gland
• under the influence of the hypothalamus, the
  pituitary regulates growth and controls other
  endocrine glands

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Our Divided Brain

• Corpus Callosum
• large band of neural fibers
• connects the two brain hemispheres
• carries messages between the hemispheres

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Our Divided Brain

• The information highway from the eye to the brain

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Our Divided Brain

• Right Brained
• Nonverbal It has a childlike ability to read,
  write, spell and understand speech.
• Spatial Very good at solving spatial problems,
  such as arranging blocks to match a geometric
  design. The left hand (right hemisphere) is best
  at arranging blocks, a spatial task.
• Holistic Processes information by combining
  parts into a meaningful whole. It is better at
  recognizing whole faces, emotions, etc.

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Our Divided Brain

• Left Brained
• Verbal Very good at all language related
  abilities speaking, understanding, language,
  carrying on a conversation, reading, writing,
  spelling.
• Mathematical Very good at mathematical skills
  adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing,
  solving complex problems in calculus, physics,
  and so on.
• Analytic Can process information by analyzing
  each separate piece that makes up a whole.

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Split Brain

• a condition in which the two hemispheres of the
  brain are isolated by cutting the connecting
  fibers (mainly those of the corpus callosum)
  between them

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Split Brain