Detailed essay plans covering all topics in Biopsychology (AQA A-Level Psychology)
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Course
Biopsychology
Institution
AQA
Book
Psychology A Level Year 1 and AS: The Complete Companion Student Book for AQA
This document covers every possible essay that may come up for Biopsychology (AQA A-Level Psychology). They are simplified and easy to learn yet still have lots of detail to ensure you achieve the highest grade possible. There are abbreviations throughout that you should understand as a psychology ...
Jeremy feels the spade hit a rock and stops digging immediately
Explain how sensory, relay and motor neurons would function in this situation (6)
1. Sensory neurons send info from senses to the brain
2. Receptors in Jeremy’s hand would sense heat and send info via the peripheral
nervous system to his brain/CNS
3. Relay neurons connect with other neurons
4. They would be involved in analysis of the sensation, what it means, deciding how to
respond to it, thus acting between the sensory and motor neurons
5. Motor neurons send messages via long axons from the brain to muscles / effectors
6. Here the message from the brain instructs Jeremy’s arm muscles to stop working
and stop the digging action
Outline the structures and processes involved in synaptic transmission (6) or (4)
● An electrical impulse travels down the axon, it reaches the end of the pre synaptic
neuron and triggers the releases of NT from synaptic vesicles
● These diffuse across the synapse and bind with specialised receptor molecules on
the postsynaptic membrane of the next neuron
● This stimulates the second neuron to transmit the electrical impulse (may have an
excitatory/inhibitory effect)
● Reuptake: the neurotransmitter is reabsorbed in the vesicles of the presynaptic
neuron after it has performed its function of transmitting a neural impulse
,Fight or Flight
Describe and evaluate the fight or flight response (16)
Para 1 → Outline: process of fight or flight (AO1)
● Autonomic NS + endocrine S work together to produce the F or F response
● Activity triggered when body prepares to defending (fight) or run (flight)
● When amygdala perceives dangers, it sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus
● Then triggers the sympathetic branch of the ANS
● Adrenaline released from adrenal medulla in response to activation of the
sympathetic pathway
● Once the stressor is removed the parasympathetic branch of the ANS can then take
over to return the body to normal
Para 2 → Outline: effects of adrenaline: sympathetic / parasympathetic response (AO1)
● Sympathetic: increased HR/BR, pupils dilate, inhibits digestion/saliva production
● Parasympathetic: decreased HR/BE, pupils construct, stimulates digestion, saliva
Para 3 → Weakness: human behaviour is not limited to just two responses (AO3)
● Gray suggests the first response to danger is to avoid confrontation (‘freeze’)
● Humans hyper-ventilate / decide the best course of action for that particular threat
● The adaptive advantages of ‘freezing’ is that it focuses attention and makes
humans look for new info to help make the best response
● Suggests the fight or flight explanation is limited
● It doesn’t fully explain complex cognitive / biological factors that underpin human
response to stress/danger
Para 4 → Weakness: doesn’t fully explain the stress response in females (AO3)
● Taylor suggests females adopt a ‘tend and befriend’ response to danger
● Women more likely to protect their offspring (tending) / form alliances with other
● Women befriend, rather than fight an adversary or flee
● Beta bias (ignore / minimise sex differences) as psychologists assumed females
responded in the same way as males (until Taylors evidence)
● Fight or flight explanation is limited in application to females, this has prompted
recent research which provided an alternate explanation applicable to female
Para 5 → Weakness: negative effects on health, especially in modern-day life (AO3)
● F or F response may have been a useful survival mechanism for our ancestors
● Modern life rarely requires such an intense biological response
● Activation can increase BP / damage blood vessels / contribute to heart disease
● Suggests the F or F response is a maladaptive response in modern-day life
● e.g we don’t need to be angry in a traffic jam
Para 6 → Weakness: positive behaviour not F/F (AO3)
● Von Dawson challenged view under stress men respond with F/F and women T/B
● His study found acute stress can lead to cooperative / friendly behaviour in M and W
● Could explain human connection that happens in times of crises e.g 9/11
● A reason this cooperative behaviour occurs is because humans are social animals
and it is the protective nature of humans that allows our species to thrive
, The Brain
Discuss what research has shown about localisation of function in the brain (8)
(don’t need all these points for an 8 mark question!!!!)
Para 1 → Outline: localisation of function (AO1)
● Some functions are more localised
● E.g somatosensory / motor functions are highly localised to particular cortex areas
● Other functions seem more distributed eg language system
● Localisation can involve restricted areas of cortex eg motor control, or broader
aspects eg right hemisphere visuo-spatial functions
Para 2 → Strengths: evidence from Aphasia (AO3)
● Aphasia - inability to understand / produce language
● Expressive Aphasia (Broca’s) - impaired ability to produce language
● Broca reported ‘Tan’ (only syllable he could express) cloud understand spoken
language / unable to speak or express his thoughts in writing
● Receptive Aphasia (Wernicke’s) - impaired ability to understand language
● Wernicke discovered p’s with damage to the posterior position of the left temporal
lobe could speak but were unable to understand language
● Case studies are subjective and cannot be generalised
Para 3 → Weakness: Lashley - rats (AO3)
● Lashley suggests higher cognitive functions (learning) are not localised
● He removed areas of the cortex (10-15%) in rats that were learning a maze
● No area was proven more important in terms of the rats ability to learn the maze
● Suggests all areas of the cortex are involved in complex tasks such as learning
rather than being confined to a single area
Para 4 → Weakness: overall limitations (AO3)
● Brain is so complex, no one part acts independently, strict localisation is impossible
● Plasticity - the brain's ability to recover function of damaged areas
Para 5 → Weakness: how the brain communicates is more important (AO3)
● How brain areas communicate may be more important than localisation
● Wernicke claimed although different brain regions have different function, there
are interdependent as in order to work they must interact with each other
● E.g a neurologist described a case in which the loss of as ability to read resulted
from damage to the connections between the visual cortex and Wernicke's area
● Suggests complex behaviour (language, reading, movement) are built up gradually
as stimuli enters the brain and moved through different structures
● Damage to the connections may result in impairments that relate to the localised
brain region associated with the function
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