Year 2/A2 AQA A-Level Psychology Exam Revision Notes, Biopsychology option
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Biopsychology
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AQA
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AQA Psychology for A Level Year 2
Year 2/A2 AQA A-Level Psychology exam revision notes for the option Biopsychology. This is on an A3 sized paper digital paper. This has been simplified to make it easier to pick out important information and revise key notes.
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6.1 Influence of biological structures on behaviour:
Divisions of the nervous system 6.3 Influence of neurochemistry on behaviour: Function of the 6.6 Ways of studying the brain
• Divided into central nervous system and endocrine system Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) 6.7 B
peripheral nervous system. • Series of glands which release chemicals throughout • Operates same as MRI scan – also shows activity as it occurs. CIRC
• CNS – brain and spinal cord. body via blood and other bodily fluids. • MRIs record energy produced by molecules of water, after magnetic
• PNS – nerves outside brain and spinal • Communicates messages to organs of the body. field removed.
cord. • Specialist glands in body . • fMRI uses same principle - measure the energy released by
CNS • Pituitary Gland: some of hormones released haemoglobin .
• Brain involved in psychological are important for regulating endocrine • When haemoglobin has oxygen it reacts differently – when are of
processes – main job is to ensure life system, brain is active and therefore using more oxygen.
maintained. • Adrenal: important part of fight-or-flight • Amount of energy released by haemoglobin is detected by scanner
• Some parts of brain more primitive and response as it facilitates the release of and change measured.
concerned with vital functioning – adrenaline. • Gives moving picture.
others involved in higher thinking, • Testes: facilitate release of testosterone. EVALUATION: Endo
planning and problem solving. • Ovaries: facilitates release of oestrogen • Provides moving picture of brain activity – patterns of activity can be
• Spinal cord helps transfer messages to and progesterone. compared rather than just the physiology of the brain.
and from brain to PNS. • Behaviour thought to be influenced by hormones – • Complexity of brain activity means interpreting an fMRI is
• Involved in reflex actions. each hormone is thought to affect behaviour in problematic.
PNS different way. • Machines expensive to buy and maintain and require trained
• Extends beyond CNS – transmits operators. Research expensive and difficult to organise.
messages to whole body from brain. • Sample size in studies often small due to availability and funding –
Two divisions: results different to generalise. Exog
6.4 Fight-or-flight response, including role of adrenaline
• Somatic system – transmits and receives EEGs and ERP
• Generated from autonomic nervous system – specifically
messages from senses (e.g. visual info • EEG – electrodes placed on scalp and they record the electrical
sympathetic.
form eyes). Directs muscles to react and activity of the brain. Measure activity of cells immediately under
• Reflex response – designed to help individual manage
move. electrode – using more gives fuller picture.
physically under threat.
• Autonomic system – transmits and • ERP – use same apparatus, but record when there is activity in
• Also activated in times of stress – body perceives stress and
receives info from organs. Further response to a stimulus introduced by researcher. Greater accuracy
threat.
divided. than self-report.
• Helps individuals react quicker than normal and facilitates
• Sympathetic system – EVALUATION:
optimal functioning so they can fight threat or run from it.
increases activity. • Both only reasonably accurate for activity measure close to
• Hypothalamus recognises threat – sends message to adrenal
• Parasympathetic system – electrodes – finer detail is missed. Evalu
gland (specifically adrenal medulla) – triggers release of
conserves the body’s natural • Cheaper methods of scanning – widely available to researchers.
adrenaline to endocrine system and noradrenaline in brain.
activity levels by decreasing • Output from equipment needs to be interpreted so there is a level of
• Prompts physical changes:
or maintaining it. expertise required.
• Increased hr – speed up blood flow to vital organs
• Useful method to test reliability of self-report answers.
and improve speed of adrenaline around body.
Post-mortem examinations
6.2 Structure and function of sensory, relay and motor neurons • Faster breathing rate – increase oxygen intake.
• Persons body, including brain, is examined after they have died.
• Neurons receive and transmit info to other cells. • Muscle tension – improve reaction time and
• Used to see where damage had occurred in brain and how that
• 100 billion in brain, 1 billion in spinal cord. speed.
might explain behaviour exhibited by individual. INFRA
Sensory Neuron • Production of sweat – temperature regulation.
EVALUATION:
• Tell rest off brain about external and internal • Physical changes help individual to fight or run away from
• No brain activity measured – dead person.
environment, processes info from senses. potentially threatening situation.
• Issues with comparison of functioning prior to death. May have been
Relay Neuron • EVALUATION:
little info about person.
• Carry messages from one part of CNS to another, • Assessing extent to which biological structures affect
• Some brains may have been effected by the reason for death.
connect motor and sensory neurons. behaviour is very difficult. Argued that they are just tools to
• No discomfort experience by person.
Motor Neurons make behaviour happen rather than being cause. Cause
• Carry signals from CNS which helps organs and and effect cannot be established – only the relationship
muscles function. between biological influence and behaviour can be Evaluation:
investigated. Split-brain research •
• Sensory neuron only transmit messages (unipolar). • Corpus callosum – link between the hemisphere.
• Motor and relay send and receive messages • Biological structures that underpin behaviour can be seen as
reductionist. Attempts to reduce behaviour and cognitive • People who suffered from epilepsy that was not helped by drug treatment had
(multipolar). brain surgery.
• Dendrite/receptor cell receive the signal and it processes down to biological processes e.g. level of •
hormones. Too simplistic. • Cut corpus callosum so epilepsy contained in one hemisphere – reduce number ULTRADIAN
travels through neuron to pre-synaptic terminal. of fits.
• Scientific research – measures totally objective – opinion or •
judgement do not play a part. Increases reliability. • Affects on behaviour and perception.
• Patients can tell us about roles of each hemisphere.
Sperry 1968:
• Presented with visual stimuli to far side of each visual field – to one hemisphere at
6.5 Localisation of the brain a time. Flashed image for 1/10 second.
Hemispheric Lateralisation • Tactile stimuli –screen so subject could not see what he was holding – info from
Synaptic Transmission: • Brain is contralateral – left hemisphere deal with right one hand received by contralateral hemisphere alone.
• Process of transmitting messages from neuron to side etc. • Image/object only recognised when presented to same eye/hand again. Dement et al.
neuron. • What you see in right visual field is processed in left • Can only say what they saw or felt when presented to right eye/hand – left • Pa
• Synapse – specialised gap between neurons hemisphere. hemisphere. • Too
through which electrical impulse from neuron is • Same with auditory info, taste and smell. • Objects/images presented to left eye/hand can be identified by pointing to • Eve
transmitted chemically. • LEFT – most people language processing is done in left. pictures, feeling for it in array of objects or drawing it with left hand.
• Electrical nerve impulse travels down the neuron • Hig
• RIGHT – dominant for recognising emotions in others and • Each hemisphere has its own memory that’s not accessible to the other.
and prompts release of neurotransmitters at pre- oth
at spatial relationships. • Only the left hemisphere able to produce language (speech and writing).
synaptic terminal. • Right recall and identify stimuli even though it cant verbalise it. • REM
• Left focuses on detail – right processes overall patterns.
• Neurotransmitters then released into synapse. • Two hemispheres have independent perception, awareness and memory. co
MOTOR CORTEX
• Other neuron then must quickly take up EVALUATION: • Sta
• Movement centred on primary motor cortex of brain –
neurotransmitters and convert them into electrical sends messages to muscles via brain stem and spinal • Useful in understanding role of each hemisphere and extent to which their • Ma
impulse to travel down neuron to next pre-synaptic cord. lateralised. • Wa
terminal. • Particularly important for complex movement. • Possible that there were other effects during surgery in addition to procedure of o
• Within motor cortex there are areas which control itself – evidence may be flawed. • Dre
specific parts of body. • EEG
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