2/2 and 2/7 : Biological Approaches *refer to class notes on bb as well

• Frontal lobes involved in thinking, planning, and inhibiting impulses 
• Human brain and nervous system are an integrated system consisting of different specialized parts
• Biological Psychology- The study of the brain, the nervous system, genetics, and how they relate to behavior and mental processes
• Nervous System
• Nervous system: electrochemical communication network that connects the brain and spinal cord to all organs, muscles, and glands
• Central Nervous system: brain and spinal cord
• brain: interprets, stores information, and communicates
• spinal cord: pathway connecting the brain and the peripheral nervous system
• relays messages between brain and extremities
• receives sense signals and relays them to and from the brain controlling our behavior
• few behaviors controlled solely by spinal cord = reflexes
• Peripheral Nervous system: nerves that radiate from the spinal cord to the rest of the body
• made up of bundles of axons that communicate between spinal cord and rest of body
•  two sub nervous systems
• Somatic System
• Voluntary, carries sensory information and controls movement of the skeletal muscles
• Communication between brain and skeletal muscles
• Autonomic Nervous System
• two parts
• Sympathetic division
• prepares body to react and expands energy in times of stress, fight/flight
• Energizing
• Parasympathetic division
• maintains body functions; conserves resources, resets the body
• Calming
• involuntary, interprets and strores information and communicates with muscles, glands, and organs
• communicates between CNS(brain) and heart, lungs, organs, glands
• Neurons
• receive and transmit messages
• types
• Sensory: from tissues and sensory organs to brain and spinal cord
• Motor: carry outgoing info from CNS to muscles and glands
• Interneurons: internally communicate between sensory inputs and motor outputs
• Process: Info----Sensory-----Interneurons-----Motor   ex: touching a hot surface
• Action Potential
• fired when a neuron receives signals from sense receptors or stimulated by chemical messages
• what to know:
• resting potential is negative inside neuron
• Action potential
• opens Na+ gates= Na+ passes inside the neuron
• Subsequently opens K+ gates= K+ passes outside the neuron
• Process continues down the neuron
• Initial resting potential inside neuron
• Types of Neurotransmitters
• Acetylcholine (ACH)
• one of the most common NT- at every junction between a motor neuron and skeletal muscle
• when released, muscle contracts
• when blocked, muscles can't contract (botulin)
• undersupply: alzheimer's disease
• Endorphins:
• natural opiates released inn response to pain and vigorous excercise
• Dopamine:
• can both excite or inhibit depending on the receptors on other neurons
• influences movement, learning, attention,, and emotion
• feel good transmitter
• too much: linked to schizophrenia
• too little: Parkinson's
• Serotonin
• mood regulation, also controls sleeping, arousal
• other feel good transmitter
• all or nothing law; either fires or doesn't
• strength of the stimulus doesn't affect the action potential's speed
• Brain: Regions and Structures
• Hindbrain: consists of structures that are critical to controlling basic life sustaining processes
• Brain stem (Medulla and Pons)
• basic functions: salivating, sneezing, breathing, heart rate
• Cerebellum
• specializes in coordination and timing, learning new motor skills, maintaining balance
• Midbrain: strutures that control basic sensory respoinses and those involved in control of voluntary movement
• located just above the hindbrain
• relay station between sensory and motor areas
• coordinates sensation of motion with actions, locate where sound is coming from
• includes neurons that contain very dense concentration of dopamine receptors and activity 
• Forebrain
• most visible obvious region of brain
• basal ganglia
• functions in planned voluntary movement and processing of rewards
• e.g. playing an instrument, Tourette's
• Substructure: the Nucleus Accumbens
• implicated in experiencing pleasure and reward
• accompanies all sorts of pleasure
• Limbic System
• invoved in emotion and memory
• between cerebral hemispheres and brain's older parts
• Amygdala
• memory fr emotional events, 
• mediates fear responses
• plays role in recognizing and facial expressions
• adaptive for fear responses
• Hippocampus
• critical for learning, memory, and formation of new memories
• Hypothamus
• serves as thermostat that maintains temperature and regulates drives with endocrine system
• Cerebral Cortex
• command center
• controls..
• higher order thought
• speech
• Gray and White Brain matter
• Cerebral spinal fluid
• cushions brain in case of impact
• Two Hemispheres
• Left and Right
• Corpus callosum
• 4' bundle of nerve fibers that connect the 2 brain hemispheres and carries messages between them
• Hemisphere Laterization
• Left Hemisphere:
• specialized in language and math
• processes info in analytical style
• responsible for Speech Generation
• Right hemisphere:
• specializes in cognitive tasks involving visual-spatial skills
• Speech Comprehension but doesn't play role in speaking
• since it controls left side, can use left arm to write out what it saw
• global holistic style
• Frontal Lobe
• numerous higher cognitive functions
• planning
• regulating impulses and emotion
• language production and voluntary movement
• contains Primary Motor Cortex
• sends info how/when to move a certain part of the body
• Parietal Lobe
• adjacent to frontal lobe
• involved in 
• bodily awareness
• contains Somatosensory cortex 
• Temporal-Parietal junction
• between Parietal and Temporal lobe
• Temporal Lobe
• sides of brain near ear
• sense aspects and higher order vison like object recognition
• Broca's Area
• Speech Generation
• Frontal lobe, L hemisphere
• Damage= difficulty speaking and horrible grammar ;
•  known as Broca's aphasia
• Wereneke's Area
• Left Temporal Lobe
• Speech Comprehension
• Damage=  difficulty of comprehension; nonsensical giberish
• known as Wereneke's aphasia
• Occipital Lobe
• Visual cortex which processes all visual information
• Damage= brain can't interpret what eyes see
• Drugs and their Effects
• Depressants
• effects of alchol
• helps GABA (inhibitor) shut down neurons and depress the CNS
• explains impairments
• acts at dopmaine and opiate receptors to produce euphoria dn relieve anxiety
• if alcohol increases an inhibitory NT (Gaba) why do people become less inhibited
• impairs the frontal lobe's ability to inhibit behaviors and impulses
• Stimulants
• increases activity of CNS
• cause increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and alertness
• cause rapid behavior and thinking
• most affect Nucleus Accumbens
• most common
• Cocaine
• produces an euphoric rush of well-being
• decreases appetite
• stimulates the CNS
• works by
• increasing dopamine at key receptors by preventing its re-absorption
• increase norepinephrine and serotonin
• can cause heart failure
• overdose represses respiratory system
• affects brain's ability to function/make glucose
• reduced dopamine production
• Amphetamines
• manufactured
• increase energy and alertness and lower appetite
• cause an emotional let down upon exit
• produce rush, intoxication and psychosis in high dose
• stimulate CNS by increasing dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin
• Caffeine
• increase release of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine
• increases arousal and motor activity and reduces fatigue
• increases heart rate but constricts blood vessels in the brain
• Hallucinogens
• powerful changes in sensory perceptions
• produces illusions
• includes LSD, mescaline, MDMA(ecstasy)
• LSD
• bind to neurons that normally receive serotonin and change activity at that site
• hallucinations, strengthened visual perceptions, synethesia, "bad trips"
• long term effects: flashbacks, mood disorders, potential for psychosis
• Ecstasy
• MDMA
• produced drug that is a stimulant and hallucinogen
• causes serotonin and to lesser extent dopamine to be released all at once
• dramatic increase, dramatic depletion
• dangers
• immediate psychological problems for weeks
• physical symptoms
• reduced sweat production
• overheating: heat stroke/hypotermia
• water poisoning: hyponatremia
• increased heart rate and blood pressure
• reduced serotonin production
• long term effects
• Cannabis
• produced from varieties of hemp plant
• one chemical responsible for effects is THC
• most powerful is hashish, least is marijuana
• produces mixture of hallucinogenic, depressant
• low doses: may become anxious, suspicious, or irritated. jouy, relaxation
• sharpened perception
• physical changes
• time seems to slow down, distances and sizes greater than they are
• high doses: odd visual experiences
• dangers
• physical dependence
• increases in strength of drug
• panic attacks
• cognitive consequences
• failure to learn info, long term memory
• tar levels and lung disease
• Love as a drug
• shows addiction characteristics
• intense focus/attention, mood swings, cravings, obsessions, compulsions, distortion of reality, emotional dependence, personality changes, risk-taking, loss of self-control, tolerance
• "constructive
• when returned
• destructive
• when rejected
• Fisher, Brown, Aron, Strong, and Mashek experiment
• Pps had activity in cortical/subcortical areas associated with craving and addiction when viewing the rejetcer
• Nucleus Accumbens
• activated during cocaine
• signiicant increase of dopamine
• Right prefrontal cortex
• Ventral tegmental area
• Withdrawal
• Fisher
• two stages
• Protest/denial: first stage
• elevated levels of dopamine and norephinephrine
• frustration-attraction
• Resignation/despair: second stage