Free QCE Year 11 Psychology Flashcard Review
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What does a materialist approach to the mind-body problem claim?
The mind arises from physical matter, especially the brain. Galen is associated with this view.
What does a dualist approach claim, and who is associated with it?
Mind and body are separate kinds of thing that interact; René Descartes, who proposed the pineal gland as the meeting point.
Why is phrenology not accepted as science?
Its claims rested on selected cases matched to skull features, and they were never supported by controlled, reproducible tests.
What method did Flourens use?
Ablation: removing parts of animal brains and observing the change in behaviour.
What did Penfield do?
Electrically stimulated the cortex of conscious epilepsy surgery patients to map areas producing movement, sensation and memory-like experiences.
Which neuroimaging technique has the best temporal resolution?
EEG, which records electrical activity within milliseconds.
What does fMRI detect?
Changes in oxygenated blood flow (BOLD signal), used to infer which areas are active during a task.
Name the two divisions of the peripheral nervous system.
Somatic (sensory input and voluntary movement) and autonomic (involuntary control of organs and glands).
What is the role of the myelin sheath?
It insulates the axon and speeds the transmission of the neural impulse.
Contrast sensory and motor neurons.
Sensory neurons carry information from receptors to the CNS; motor neurons carry commands from the CNS to muscles and glands.
Which hindbrain structure coordinates balance and skilled movement?
The cerebellum.
What is the role of Geschwind's territory?
It links Broca's and Wernicke's areas and integrates sensory information to attach meaning to words, supporting naming and reading.
What does myelination do for cognitive development?
It increases the speed and efficiency of neural transmission, supporting faster processing; it continues into early adulthood, with the frontal lobes last.
What is synaptic pruning?
Removal of rarely used synaptic connections ('use it or lose it'), strengthening efficient networks; major waves occur in early childhood and adolescence.
Which brain region matures last and what does it do?
The prefrontal cortex in the forebrain: planning, impulse control, judgement and abstract reasoning.
Distinguish a critical period from a sensitive period.
Critical: experience is essential within a strict window. Sensitive: learning is easiest in the window but still possible later.
What happens to the brain in an enriched environment?
More dendritic branching and synaptic connections, and generally better problem-solving, compared with a deprived environment.
Give two ways plasticity helps after brain damage.
Sprouting of new connections by surviving neurons, and rerouting or reorganisation so other areas take over the function.
What did Lorenz (1937) show?
Goslings imprint on the first moving object they see soon after hatching, suggesting a critical period for bonding.
What did Harlow and Zimmermann (1958) conclude?
Contact comfort, not feeding, is central to attachment in infant rhesus monkeys.