Class notes
[HSP 3U9 A] Course notes #2
- Course
- Institution
This document of notes briefly goes over the brain and sleep cycles that are learnt for the AP psychology exam. These notes also work for Ontario grade 11 classes.
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
simraniqtidar
Content preview
Understanding the Brain: STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS● Brain vs. mind → two different things
○ Subconscious brain vs. active brain
○ Dual processing → doing stuff now that we’re not aware of
● “Everything psychological is simultaneously biological.”
● The amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex were activated during the trolley problem
● Prefrontal cortex: thinking/logic/what to do/evaluation
○ Is not fully developed until you’re 25 years old → amygdala remains the most prominent until
then (especially in teenage years)
○ Predicts consequences, pursuing goals, emotional control, abstract thought, delayed
gratification, rational decision making, second sober thought
○ Can strengthen using meditation and learning from consequences
○ Not the prefrontal cortex → prefrontal area
● Hippocampus: regulates memory (memory processing) and emotions
● Amygdala: Turns on fight or flight and stores memories of the event
○ Mostly looks at emotional responses → ex. fear and aggression
● Sulci: valley, groove vs. gyri: hills, ridge
○ The gyri (folds in the brain) indicate intelligence
● Second sober thought: thinking about something twice
○ Ex. the Senate reviewing all new bills and laws before they’re actually passed
● Fun facts about the human brain:
○ 3 lbs
○ 100 billion nerve cells
○ Lose 200,000 per day
○ Still end up with 98%
● Medulla/medulla oblongata: controls unconscious functions
○ Breathing
○ Heart rate
○ Blood pressure
○ Crossover point
○ Contralaterality
● Pons: controls REM sleep and dreaming
○ Other parts of the brain can control other aspects of sleep
● Thalamus: relay centre for cerebral cortex
○ Gets sensory signals except smell
○ Hub for all the signals (ex. train tracks, airport, etc)
● Reticular formation: body arousal and the ability to focus attention
● Hypothalamus: several metabolic functions (ex. body temperature, hunger, thirst, hormones)
○ Emotion and rewards
○ Lateral hypothalamus: feelings of hunger
○ Ventromedial hypothalamus: feelings of fullness
○ Hyperphagia: never feeling full
● Olds and Milner 1954 experiment: the rat is willing to get electrocuted to press a lever that stimulates
the hypothalamus
○ Ex. social media, gambling
● Pituitary gland: master gland working with the hypothalamus
, ○ Regulates growth-growth hormone
○ Controls other endocrine glands → hormones
■ Ex. stressful event = cortisol
● Nucleus accumbens: near hypothalamus (work together)
○ Reward centre for dopamine release → addiction
○ Kind of like what gives you a rush
● Phineas Gage was impaled right through the prefrontal cortex and lost all of the functions controlled
by that area of the brain
○ He became impulsive and very quick tempered because he wasn’t able to control many of his
emotions → amygdala took over
● Parallel (right brain) vs. serial (left brain) processors
● What are the parts of the hindbrain?
○ Thalamus
○ Reticular formation
○ Pons
○ Medulla
● Which species shares our hindbrain? Reptiles
● Cerebellum: coordinates movement and balance
○ Focuses on nonverbal learning and memory
○ Processes sensory input
● Limbic system: shared with all mammals
○ Includes the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, amygdala, and hippocampus
● Corpus Callosum: attaches left and right side of the brain
● What are some ways to study the brain?
○ PET Scan → identifies “hot spots”
○ Lobotomy
○ Deep brain stimulation
○ CT scans
○ fMRI
● What functions does the left hemisphere control?
○ Science
○ Logic
○ Linear
○ Past and future
○ Language
○ Details
○ “I am”
○ Right side of the body
○ Computing
○ Language and speech
● What functions does the right hemisphere control?
○ Arts
○ Creativity
○ Present moment
○ Euphoria
○ Nirvana
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller simraniqtidar. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $3.31. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
75759 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now