Physiological Psychology Eppp Terms

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The reticular activating system (RAS) is

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vital to consciousness and arousal. It screens sensory input, especially during sleep, and arouses higher centers of the brain when important information must be processed

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The hypothalamus

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mediates a wide range of functions including (1) maintaining the body's homeostasis (for instance, regulating body temperature, hunger and thirst, metabolic processes); (2) translating strong emotions such as rage, fear, and excitement into shallow breathing, increased blood flow, a racing heart, and so on (as in the fight-or-flight response); and (3) regulating the release of hormones from the pituitary and other endocrine glands. The hypothalamus contains the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is involved in controlling the body's circadian rhythms.

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the suprachiasmatic nucleus

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is in the hypothalamus and is involved in controlling circadian rhythms.

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In Alzheimer's disease, degeneration of neurons is greatest in

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the hippocampus, amygdala, and entorhinal cortex, which collectively make up the medial temporal lobe.

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The hippocampus

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is associated with memory consolidation (the transfer of information from short- to long-term memory). It appears to be most directly involved in mediating spatial memory (the location of objects) and explicit memory (memory requiring conscious recollection).

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The frontal lobe

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contains the primary motor cortex, the prefrontal cortex, and, in the dominant hemisphere, Broca's area, which is responsible for the production of speech

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damage to the frontal lobe depend on its location but may include

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impaired motor control, deficits in higher-order cognitive functions, changes in personality and emotion, and Broca's aphasia, which is characterized by deficits in the production of written and spoken language while comprehension remains intact.

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The parietal lobe contains

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the somatosensory cortex, which processes somatosensory input (touch, temperature, pain, and kinesthesia) and integrates tactile, visual, and auditory stimuli

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Damage to the parietal lobe

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can produce a number of unusual symptoms including impaired visual-spatial ability, contralateral neglect, apraxia, tactile agnosia, and Gerstmann's syndrome

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The temporal lobe contains

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the auditory cortex and, in the dominant hemisphere, Wernicke's area

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Damage to the temporal lobe

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can cause disturbances in auditory sensation and perception (for example, auditory agnosia), memory loss, and Wernicke's aphasia. Memory loss is both anterograde and retrograde but is limited to declarative memories - that is, memories for facts and experiences that must be consciously recollected. Wernicke's aphasia involves deficits in both comprehending and producing speech. The speech of people with this disorder sounds fluent but is devoid of meaning ("word salad") and often contains paraphasias, which are word substitutions that can be actual words or made-up words

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conduction aphasia

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is caused by damage to the fibers that connect Wernicke's area to Broca's area. It causes fluent, meaningless speech but does not affect comprehension. It also shares several characteristics with both Wernicke's and Broca's aphasia - i.e., all three involve an inability to repeat words spoken by someone else and problems in naming objects.)

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The occipital lobe

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contains the visual cortex

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Damage to the visual cortex

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can cause deficits in visual sensation, perception, and memory (for example, visual agnosia, loss of depth perception, persistent after images) and, when damage is extensive and bilateral, cortical blindness. Bilateral or right hemisphere damage to the occipitotemporal area can cause Prosopagnosia.

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Prosopagnosia

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is a type of visual agnosia involving an inability to recognize familiar faces. It is caused by bilateral or right hemisphere damage to the occipitotemporal area (although there is evidence that some forms of prosopagnosia may also involve damage to certain areas in the right parietal lobe

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The James-Lange theory

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emotions represent perceptions of bodily reactions to stimuli "I must be afraid because my heart is pounding and my knees are shaking"

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According to Selye

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reaction to stress involves three stages, which he referred to as the general adaptation syndrome (GAS): (1) Alarm, the first stage, refers to the "fight or flight" reaction, which is mediated by hypothalamic stimulation of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. (2) Alarm is followed by resistance, in which hypothalamic stimulation of the endocrine glands results in the release of cortisol and other "stress hormones." This allows the body to continue fighting a stressor after the effects of the alarm stage dissipate. (3) Finally, if the stress becomes chronic so that the body cannot return to a normal state, exhaustion occurs. As the result of excessive secretion of the cortisol and other factors, the individual may develop a psychosomatic disorder and/or suffer permanent damage to the brain and immune system

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What are the differences between CAT, CT, PET, SPECT, MRI, and fMRI?

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CT (also known as CAT) and MRI provide information on the structure of the brain, while PET and SPECT provide data on its functional activities including cerebral blood flow, glucose metabolism, and oxygen consumption (which are presumed to correlate with neuronal activity

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What are the differences between Broca's, conduction, global, and Wernicke's aphasias?

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Individuals with conduction aphasia or Broca's aphasia have relatively intact language comprehension but have trouble repeating words, phrases, and sentences uttered by others. In contrast, Wernicke's aphasia and global aphasia are characterized by profound deficits in comprehension