Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

Psychology – Brain Structure/Anatomy and Function
BRAIN FACTS
Composition of the brain: 78% water, 12% lipids, 8% protein, 1% carbs, 2% soluble organics, and 1% salt
10 seconds is the amount of time until unconsciousness after the loss of blood supply to the brain
...
The brain can stay alive
for 4-6 minutes without oxygen; after that, cells begin to die
...

How much does the human brain think? 70,000 is the number of thoughts that it is estimated the human brain
produces on an average day
...
06% is the percentage of people who report normally writing with their right hand, 10
...
34% with either hand
...
Male brains see most of their neuron activity
firing front-to-back within each hemisphere of the brain,
with little overlap
...
(This may explain why girls can
multitask better!)
➢ Men’s brains are, on average, 10% larger than women’s,
and consequentially weigh slightly more, 3 lbs to 2¾ lbs
...
These
differences partly reflect the fact that men are generally
bigger and taller than women, but they are not in any way
related to differences in intelligence
...
Male brains contain about 6½ times more
grey matter than women, while female brains have more
than 9½ times as much white matter
...

➢ The Amygdala is larger in males; the Hippocampus is activated on its right side in males yet on its left side in
females
...
In females, both short-term and long-term stress have been found to actually enhance
spatial memory while under duress
Why did the brain need sleep?
➢ To process the day’s events and exposure to knowledge
...
For instance, in a math concept you learned Monday was difficult
and you see uncertain, brain scans have revealed that while you sleep the area of the brain involved with math
is active, and in the morning what was difficult on Monday seems easier to understand on Tuesday
...
It removes inflammatory, toxins and protein
plaque buildup (associated with Alzheimer’s); the waste is flushed out into the bloodstream, through which it
is eventually carried to the liver for detoxification
➢ Discredited theory: It used to be thought that sleep helps animals conserve energy by forcing a period of rest
...


How do substances affect brain function?
Meth –
 Meth is highly addictive
...

 Some of the damage to the brain is irreversible
...

 Chronic meth users can display a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, visual and auditory
hallucinations, and delusions (for example, the sensation of insects crawling under the skin
...
This is due to brain
inflammation caused by the drug
...
Research suggests that 9% of users become addicted
...
In other words, marijuana (1) impairs a person’s ability to form new memories and (2) it
disrupts coordination and balance by binding receptors in the cerebellum and basal ganglia…parts of the brain
which regulate balance, posture, coordination and reaction time
...
(Studies show that those who start Marijuana in adulthood – after age 22 – did not show significant IQ declines
...
This is where decisions are made
...
High doses of marijuana can
produce a temporary psychotic reaction (involving hallucinations and paranoia) in some users, and using
marijuana can worsen the course of illness in patients with schizophrenia
...

 Marijuana use started in adolescence leads to a reduction of neuron connections
 Marijuana has an adverse impact on memory which persists even after the effects of the drug wear off
...

Consequentially, marijuana users have a 5% increased risk of heart attack in the first hour after smoking a joint
Alcohol
 Alcohol is addictive
 The effect of alcohol on the brain is clear…difficulty walking, blurred vision, slurred speech, slow reaction
times, impaired memory, and so on
...

 Using imaging with computerized tomography, several large studies compared brain shrinkage, a common
indicator of brain damage, in alcoholic men and women and reported that male and female alcoholics both
showed significantly greater brain shrinkage than the non-drinking control subjects
...
The difference
is that alcoholic women reported that they had been drinking excessively for only about half as long as the
alcoholic men in these studies
...

 Up to 80% of alcoholics have a deficiency in thiamine, and some of these people continue to develop serious
brain disorders, such a Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (which includes mental confusion, paralysis of the
nerves which move the eyes, difficulty with muscle coordination, and so on
...

 Alcohol use by adolescents is directly responsible to a reduction in the size of the hippocampus (by as much as
10%!) The pre-frontal area of the brain is also affected
...

 Chemicals (nicotine) inhaled while smoking enters the blood stream, which makes it way to the brain ten
seconds after smoke is inhaled and remains active 20-40 minutes later
...

 Smoking leads to thickening and clotting of the blood, which leads to high blood pressure
...

Vaping (E-cigarettes)
 Vaping is addictive (both in its nicotine products and in its non-nicotine products)
 Linked to higher risk of stroke, heart attack, diseased arteries and cancer
...

 “It is difficult to know exactly what chemicals are in e-cigarette because most products do not list all of the
harmful or potentially harmful substances contained in them
...
”
 Nicotine in e-cigarettes raise blood pressure
...

 Vaping (E-cigarettes) is a gateway substance
How does pollution affect the brain?
 Research suggests that fine particulate matter from cars, trucks and factories could have a long-term affect
on the brain
...
32% (the equivalent of about one year of aging)
...

 Living in smog-dense areas was also linked to a 46% increase in the risk for “silent strokes”, which are
associated with cognitive decline and dementia
...

 LSD increases blood flow in the brain, allowing parts of the brain which do not usually ‘talk’ to one another
to do so
...
The affect is
correlated to a disintegration of a sense of self (“ego dissolution” as the term is known in psychological
terms, the sense that a person if less of a singular entity and more melded with people and things)
...

 There is reduced communication between (1) the areas which store memory and (2) that which process
information input from the eyes
...
This may account of the ‘eyes closed’ imagery

Psychology – Brain Structure/Anatomy and Function

BROAD GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT
THE REGIONAL FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAIN
Hindbrain or Raptillian Brain – This controls human’s primitive instincts and most basic functions
...
This contains the
Spinal Cord, Medulla Oblongata, the Pons and Cerebellum
...
” This is where human emotions reside, where
memory begins and where these two functions combine together to make behaviors with positive or negative
feelings
...
Information going through the Limbic system
are filed under ‘agreeable’ or disagreeable’, and it also plays a role in attention, spontaneity and creativity
...

Neocortex – This term is used to describe two-thirds of the brain (overlapping numerous smaller regions)
...

Brain Pruning – Little-used areas of the brains white matter dissolve during three distinct periods, leaving the
brain more efficient and, with each pruning, opening up more abilities
...
For instance, the first pruning enables abstract philosophical thought
...

Right and Left Hemispheres of the Brain – The brain is divided in half, with the Corpus Callosum bridging the
two hemispheres
...
The right side of the brain is generally more concerned with the artistic, spatial
and musical inclinations while the left is more orientated toward the colder, linear, rational and verbal aspects
...
It helps
children acquire language, make the connection between sounds heard and things seen or otherwise
experienced, and seems to control speech in 96% of children
...
The left side of the brain
controls actual speech movements that generate sounds
...

➢ The right side is involved in interpreting and generating speech with meanings
...

People with Dyslexia have a slightly larger Right Hemisphere
...
It plays a significant role in
producing emotions, especially fear and jealousy
...

Broca’s Area – This part of the Neocortex controls speech, language recognition and facial nerves
...
Current
research in the field of stroke recovery and addiction has proved revealing
...

The Cerebellum contains half of all the neurons in the brain but comprises only 10% of the brain
Cerebral Cortex – This is the main area involving thinking, decision-making, emotions and the five senses
...
it is important for intelligence, consciousness and self-awareness
...

Frontal Lobe – The front part of the brain, involved in planning, judgment, reasoning, impulse control,
organizing, problem solving, selective attention, personality, personality and a variety of “higher cognitive
functions”, including behavior and emotions
...

➢ The posterior (back) of the Frontal Lobe serves to modify movements
Both lobes grow measurably between ages10 and 12 (with girls’ growth spurt generally coming a little earlier
than boys), and then shrink in the twenties as extraneous branches and pruned back into efficient, well-organized
circuitry
...

The brain can adapt to white matter damage
...

In terms of oxygen consumed, 6% will be used by the brains white matter and 94% by the gray matter
...
Leading
thought hypothesizes that this area also intuitively informs a person of their place within an environment
...
Furthermore, in Alzheimer’s Disease,
this area is among the first to suffer damage
...
It is located above the brain stem
...

Medulla Oblongata –This governs involuntary processes, such as breathing, swallowing, defecation (ie, need to use
toilet), digestion and heart rate
...


Occipital Lobe – A region in the back of the brain which processes visual sensations and information (images,
shapes, colors)
...

➢ How our brains process eyesight: “Each hemisphere of the brain interacts primarily with one half of the
body, but for reasons that are unclear, the connections are crossed: the left side of the brain interacts with
the right side of the body, and vice versa
...
Visual
input follows a more complex rule: the optic nerves from the two eyes come together at a point called the
optic chiasm, and half of the fibers from each nerve split off to join the other
...
Because each half of the
retina receives light coming from the opposite half of the visual field, the functional consequence is that
visual input from the left side of the world goes to the right side of the brain, and vice versa
...
”
Parietal Lobe – This is involved in processing pain and touch sensation, as well as being involved in emotion,
memory and speech
...
It maintains two slightly different functions,
depending on the right or left side of the area
...
Behind this is a large association area that controls fine sensation (judgment of texture, weight,
size, shape)
➢ Parietal Lobe, right: damage to this can cause visual-spatial difficulties (the patient may have difficulty
finding their way around new or even familiar places)
➢ Parietal Lobe, left: damage to this area may disrupt a patients ability to understand spoken and/or written
language
...
These areas are
immature until about the age 16
...
It controls temperature regulation, growth, blood
pressure, water regulation in the body, breast milk production and sex organ functions of both genders
...

The Pons – This maintains a role in sleep, particularly in terms of being conscious (awake) or not, regulate
consciousness and is associated with the sense of higher purpose
...

Temporal Lobe – It may be considered that there are two temporal lobes, as one is located about ear-level in each
hemisphere of the brain
...
They also help
with new information and are believed responsible for short-term memory
...

Thalamus – Think of this as the relay station of the brain
...

It also is suspected to play a function in muscle control
...

Wernicke’s Area – Responsible for language recognition, it is located in the Left Hemisphere of 90% of people
...

Studies suggest the brains ability to link letter combinations with sound may not be fully developed until age 11

---