Psyc20006 - Biological Psychology

Epileptic seizures arise from sudden excitation in groups of neurons with a loss of inhibitory potential

Intermittent derangement of the nervous system presumably due to a sudden, excessive, disorderly discharge of cerebral neurons

Temporal lobe epilepsy involves recurrent unprovoked seizures originating from medial or lateral areas of the temporal lobe

Simple partial seizures (with loss of awareness/consciousness)  and complete partial seizures (no loss of awareness/consciousness)

He was having 10-20 major seizures per day due to bilateral hippocampi sclerosis and thus had both hippocampi removed

HM struggled with procedural memory, however, his declarative memory came back over time.

After his surgery he had fewer seizures, a normal IQ, a normal attention span and retrograde and anterograde amnesia

Retrograde amnesia leads to an impairment in one's ability to recall memories prior to an event, whilst anterograde amnesia leads to an impairment in creating new memories after an injury

Cocaine blocks the re-uptake o dopamine after it is released, therefore increasing the dopamine signal as perceived by the post-synaptic neuron

Amphetamine (ice = pure, speed = less pure) reverse the uptake transporter causing the active expelling of DA and NA out of the neuron. They also prevent DA uptake.

Addictive dopamine drugs are always coded by the brain as better than expected as DA is released at the time of the beep and at the time when it enters the blood stream. This means that every time the dopamine drug is used the reward system codes it as better than before.

More addictive drugs are released slower than less addictive drugs

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) i.e. prozac, block reuptake of serotonin at the synapse, which leads to the perception of higher activity /stimulation of the neuron

SSRI's are fast acting

SSRIs may alter gene expression, alter NT synthesis/storage, change the structures of the neurons, or shut of f the stress response

Increased levels of SSRIs may lead to neurogenesis

Adenosine levels gradually rise throughout the day and promote sleep and suppress arousal

Increased firing of neurons with adenosine reduce activity

Caffeine and cocaine act in a similar way

Caffeine acts as an adenosine receptor antagonist and blocks the natural action of adenosine, thus promoting alertness and reducing firing which causes activation

In the centre where both parts meet, with a radius of 3-4 mm

Evenly in the entire brain

In all area covered by both rings

It has no effect

TMS is a powerful tool to investigate the causal involvement of brain regions in cognitive processes

TMS penetrates deeper brain structures and can be used to stimulate the midbrain

TMS induces a short-lived ‘virtual lesion’ by injecting ‘neural noise’

‘Virtual lesions’ induced by TMS are not permanent

Participants had problems reporting the letter displayed on the left

Participants had problems reporting the letter displayed on the right

Participants had problems reporting all letters

Participants had no problems reporting any letters

We need to conduct statistical tests because we can't determine whether an observed effect in our sample is significant just because it looks different

Statistical tests can provide direct proof that the H1 hypothesis is true

Statistical tests are used to determine how unlikely a specific empirical result is under the chance distribution of possible results.

Probability distributions of t-values used for statistical testing differ depending on the degrees of freedom.

The values for the dependent variable came from the same group of people in both experimental conditions.

The experiment was designed by researchers independent from those who conducted the study.

The dependent variable used in the experiment was independent from measures used in all previous studies.

The values for the dependent variable came from a different group of people in each experimental condition

The difference between the population mean and the sample mean (of the measure of interest) divided by the standard error of the mean (of the measure of interest)

The difference between the population standard error of the mean and the sample standard error of the mean (of the measure of interest) divided by the mean (of the measure of interest)

The difference between the population mean and the sample mean (of the measure of interest) divided by the summed squared differences (of the measure of interest)

The difference between the population mean and the sample mean (of the measure of interest) divided by the variance (of the measure of interest)

The t-value is a measure of effect size. The greater the t-value, the greater the effect. 

The p-value is a measure of effect size. The smaller the p-value, the greater the effect. 

Both r2 and Cohen's d are effect size measures, and both are independent of the sample size. 

Both r2 and Cohen's d are effect size measures, but only Cohen's d is truly independent of the sample size.

A. true

B. false

C. depends on the subject 

D. depends on the scanner

A. 0.1 - 0.3 mm

B. 1 - 3 mm

C. 10 - 30 mm

D. none of the above

A. ionising radiation 

B. seizure 

C. strong magnetic field 

D. there is no danger associated with fMRI

Explains autonoetic awareness 

Describes longterm depression 

Describes longterm potentiation 

Explains why depression can cause memory impairment

A. Serotonin is released from neurons originating in the Locus Coeruleus 

B. Noradrenaline is released from neurons originating in the Raphe Nucleus 

C. Dopamine is released from neurons originating in the Substantia Nigra 

D. Glutamate is released from inhibitor neurons in the cortex

A. because apple juice is not absorbed by the body quickly enough to trigger dopamine neurons to fire

B. because the dopamine neurons do not signal the “deliciousness” as better than expected. 

C. because apple juice is not delicious enough to trigger dopamine release. 

D. because apple juice is not sufficiently beneficial to a person’s survival for dopamine neurons to code it as a “reward” that the person should be motivated to obtain more of.

A. [1]Serotonin, [2]Tryptophan, [3]Monoamine oxidase (MAO), [4]Prozac

B. [1]Noradrenaline, [2]Tyrosine, [3]L-DOPA, [4]DOPA. 

C. [1]Dopamine, [2]Tyrosine, [3]DOPA, [4]L-DOPA.

D. [1]Adrenaline, [2]Tyrosine, [3]Monamine Oxidase (MAO), [4]Noradrenaline

A. The disease can lead to impairments in both motor and cognitive control 

B. Treatments of the disease can lead to impulsive and addictive behaviours 

C. Symptoms can be reduced by electrical stimulation of the hippocampus 

D. There is currently no cure

A. If you have depression, your brother is more likely to have depression than your neighbour. 

B. Symptoms are not due to direct physiological effects of drugs caused by recreational or medical purposes. 

C. Diagnosis depends on the severity of the depression rather than the duration of time that the depressed symptoms have been experienced. 

D. On average more females than males experience depression in their lifetimes.

A. Stress reduces the body’s ability to produce cortisol and other hormones that are important in the bodies stress response. 

B. Depression is 5-6 times more likely after stressful events. 

C. There is a variation in serotonin function across the population. 

D. Impaired serotonin function may be a risk factor leading to people being “vulnerable” to developing depression.

A. vaccinations cause high fevers in some children and the fevers can trigger the first epileptic event. 

B. children with the epilepsy genes that did not receive vaccinations still ended up getting epilepsy. 

C. some children with the epilepsy gene had seizures before they received vaccinations. 

D. all of the above

A. NO was once named “molecule of the year” and it’s discovery as a neurotransmitter lead to the awarding of a noble prize. 

B. NO is very short lived after it is released by the cell. 

C. NO is not synthesised and stored in vesicles like other neurotransmitters 

D. NO activates receptors on both the pre- and post-synaptic neuron

A. All sons, but no daughters, will exhibit the trait;

B. All daughters, but no sons, will exhibit the trait; 

C. Each of their offspring has a 50% chance of exhibiting the trait; 

D. Each of their offspring has a 0% chance of exhibiting the trait.

Is made up of the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices 

Includes the dentate gyrus and subiculum 

Is part of the lateral temporal lobes 

None of the above

Moderate levels of LC and NA act to consolidate decisions of either exploring or exploiting one's environment

A burst of NA tips the balance and commits the individual to a particular behaviour or action

Neurons in the Locus Coeruleus are inhibited after firing due to a refractory period which acts to inhibit all other choices

The more salient the stimulus the smaller the burst of LC neurons and NA

Heroin can cause death by respiratory failure

Buprenorphine, Naloxone and Methadone are all used to treat heroine addiction and all act as agonists 

Synthesis pathways for lipids remain unclear

Endocannabinoids are natural cannabis like substances with two known receptors CB1 and CB2

Endocannabinoids act to modulate the modulators, by shortening the duration of action potentials in presynaptic neurons, thus decreasing the amount of NT released

Is “knowledge memory” 

Makes it possible to acquire and retain factual information 

Does not involve autonoetic awareness 

All of the above

MRI is utilised in reverse inference of cognitive processes based off the presence of activation

A magnetic field of 3T is usually used for functional imaging

Magnetisation on the z-axis is easily  measured because the movement is in the same direction as the magnetic current from the MRI

The head coil is used to send and receive radio frequency pulses

The Hydrogen protons precess either parallel of antiparallel and the precession frequency of protons depends on the strength of the magnetic field.

The above image is a schematic representation of the Medial Temporal Lobe

Information is integrated in sensory systems and is sent to the hippocampal formation for long term storage

Memories can be accessed by reciprocal connections between the hippocampal formation and the temporal neocortex

The  subcortex is part of the limbic system and is involved in higher order thinking. (sensory perception, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thought and in humans, language)

Hebb's rule referes to growth processes and metabolic changes which occur in a pre-synaptic and post-synaptic neuron in order to increase the efficiency of firing in the post-synaptic neuron

LTP occurs in the hippocampus (particularly CA5 and the dentate gyrus, but also in the entorhinal cortex) and  in the prefrontal cortex, the motor cortex, thalamus, amygdala and visual cortex

LTP causes more glutamate receptors to be inserted in the post-synaptic neuron, more glutamate to be released and bushier dendrites

Sensitization refers to a single noxious stimuli causing an exaggerated synaptic response to repeat presentation of the noxious stimulus

Long term depression is resultant of low frequency stimulation at synapses and can decrease synaptic strength

Habituation refers to the process in which repeated stimulation reduces the strength of the synaptic response and thus reduces neurotransmitter

They're all correct

Individuals with down's syndrome have a reduced risk of developing DAT

The most common primary dementing illness, where neural tissue itself is affected by the disease

Definitive diagnosis can only be made on pathology and in life only a diagnosis of dementia of the alzheimers type may be made (DAT)

ApoE is present in late onset AD (60 years +), however, there are rare autosomal dominant cases involving mutations in three genes: amyloid precursor protein (APP), presinilin 1 (PSEN1), presinulin 2 (PSEN2). All of which alter production of amyloid beta peptides, which is the principle component of senile plaques

Strokes or head trauma may bring forward the time of onset of DAT

When bound by a specific neurotransmitter, Ion channels open and allow a specific ion to flow through

The influx of positively charged ions increases the likelihood of the firing of the post-synaptic neuron

GPCR utilise second messengers which act to either open a channel or alter the expression of genes in the nucleus

The terms neurotransmitter and neuromodulator can be used interchangeably in most cases

Patients with depression have a reduced number of serotonin receptors in post-mortem studies

A mutation in a serotonin transporter gene is linked to an increased likelihood of developing depression

Tryptophan depletion induces transient depression symptoms

Serotonin function is important in managing the positive feedback control of the brain's stress response

RTMS is applied for a longer period of time, usually after the task.

Safety guidelines (Wassermann, 1998) explicitly rule out the use of rTMS for experiments; it is only allowed to treat depression.

RTMS is a powerful tool to give participants a head massage after a stressful day.

RTMS can be used to investigate whether (and for how long) a specific cognitive task is impaired

A positive deflection in amplitude observed at central electrodes ~80-100 ms that is stronger after an erroneous response as compared to a correct response

A positive deflection in amplitude observed at central electrodes ~80-100 ms that is stronger after a correct response as compared to an erroneous response

A negative deflection in amplitude observed at central electrodes ~80-100 ms that is stronger after a correct response as compared to an erroneous response

A negative deflection in amplitude observed at central electrodes ~80-100 ms that is stronger after an erroneous response as compared to a correct response

There is a brain region in the fusiform gyrus that is more strongly activated for faces compared to greebles. 

There is a brain region in the fusiform gyrus that is more strongly activated for houses compared to faces. 

There is a brain region in the fusiform gyrus that is more strongly activated for faces compared to objects. 

There is a brain region in the prefrontal cortex that is more strongly activated for faces compared to hands.

The probability that a task exclusively measures the cognitive process of interest, and the probability that a brain region is exclusively activated during a specific cognitive task. 

The probability of false positives; i.e. that the experimenter has corrected for multiple comparissons (i.e. divided the critical p-value by the number of voxels). 

Whether of not the researcher has considered that more demanding tasks might activate larger proportions of the prefrontal cortex. 

That fMRI is a very slow signal because of the temporal lag of the heamondynamic response function (HRF).

FMRI

EEG 

TMS 

All of the above

A. none of the binding sites can be occupied by their specific compounds 

B. a glycine molecule must be bound to the receptor and a magnesium ion cannot be bound.

C. both a glycine molecule and a magnesium ion must be bound to the receptor 

D. neither a glycine molecule or a magnesium ion can be bound to the receptor.

FMRI has been utilised to confirm how the human visual system represents information and how the visual content becomes available to higher level visual areas in the cortex

Kanwisher and colleagues (1997) discovered that the fusiform gyrus responded strongly to faces, indicating that the visual areas of the brain are modular 

It would be simply impossible if the brain had modules for everything

Kanwisher and colleagues (2002) suggested that the visual system might not be organised by specific object categories, rather it may be organised by where we encounter things in our visual field

Malach and colleagues (2002) argued that coding is driven by resolution needs and the fusiform face area is good for everything that requires high resolution

Gauthier and colleagues (1999) discovered that the the FFA responded strongly to greebles indicating that it is a specialised area for expertise rather than a modular area for faces

Implicit memories cannot be recalled unless conditions are the same as when the information was encoded

Implicit and explicit memories were derived from dissociable cognitive theories

Procedural and declarative were named through analysis of performance on particular tasks

In studies of amnesia procedural/declarative distinction is less meaningful

It investigated three patients who had suffered very early bilateral medial temporal lobe injuries

All three had abnormally small bilateral hippocampi and relatively intact extra-hippocampi temporal lobes

All three cases have significantly impaired memory function , relative to intellectual capacity

Their everyday memory deficits included: spatial memory, temporal memory and episodic memory. But all had factual knowledge within the normal range

Despite their impairments they were able to be left alone

They had intact semantic memory but impaired episodic memory, which fit with Tulving's SPI model

Double dissociations exist but are rare

Inhibitory networks reduce the likelihood of neurons firing for their non-preferred stimulus

GABA is synthesised from glutamatic acid and can also be converted to and from glutamate

There are two types of GABA receptors: GABAa ion channel and GABAb GPCR

Epilepsy is caused by an abnormality in GABA neurons or receptors

They're all correct

Drugs initiate wanting and cravings

Cognitive control is reduced by impaired function of the prefrontal cortex as a result of excessive dopamine

Failures of top down control contribute to the loss of control over the urge to take drugs

DA system might be less important in the behavioural/habit and cognitive aspects than the pleasant feeling

Serotonin acts as a neuromodulator influencing many functions such as sleep, arousal, appetite, temperature, working memory, hallucinations and mood

All serotonin in the brain is synthesised in the Raphe Nucleus cell bodies and then  transported to the synapses where it was stored.

Serotonin has different effects in different brain areas depending on the receptor subtypes.

Drugs will often activate multiple receptor subtypes

Forward genetics involves introducing random mutations and screening for the desired phenoype

Optogenetics uses microbial opsins to excite or inhibit neurons by light. An adeno-associated virus is commonly used to introduce the required material.

Reverse genetics involves introducing targeted mutations using a CRISPR-Cas9 system and guide dsRNA in order to disable a gene or introduce a specific mutant

Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) pump responds to blue light and allows positive ions into the cell, while the halorhodopsin (NpHR) pump responds to yellow light and allows negative ions into the cell

Stimulating ChR2 in mice induces a predatory response

Optogenetic systems in conjunction with CRIPSR allow light controlled protein trancription and light controlled genome editing