PSY 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Frontal Lobe, Limbic System, Pulse Oximetry
• Chapter 2-Biology of the Mind
o Biological Psychology
o The basic assumption: Everything psychological is biological.
o The basic question: What is the role of the brain in behavior and thinking?
o Fo the ai, ad fo the ai ol, aise ou pleasues, jos, laughte ad jests, as
ell as ou soos, pais, giefs ad teas… –Hippocrates
o Phrenology- a popular but wrongheaded theory (1800s) that claimed that bumps on the
skull could reveal mental abilities and character traits as specific as the desire to have
children, spirituality, benevolence, consciousness, etc.
o The goal of contemporary biological psychology is to study the link between biological
activity and psychological events. (solving a problem, making a decision, creating events)
o What areas of the brain are responsible for our ability to perceive human faces?
(fusiform face area)
o Neural Communication
o Neurons(nerve cells)
o Cell odthe ells life suppot ete, Neual ipulseation potential)(electrical signal
down the axon), Axon(passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons,
muscles, or glands), Dendrites(receive messages from other cells), Myelin sheath(covers
the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural impulses), Terminal branches of
axon(form junctions with other cells)
o Sensory neurons- a essages fo the ods tissues ad seso ogas iad to
the brain and spinal cord for processing.
o Motor neurons- a essages fo the ai ad out to the ods tissues.
o How neurons communicate
o When a neural impulse reaches the terminal of an axon, it triggers release of
neurotransmitters ito the sapti gap…
o Neurotransmitters:
o Acetylcholine- enables muscle action, learning, and memory. E: ith Alzheies
disease, Ach-producing neurons deteriorate.
o Dopamine- influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion. EX: Oversupply
linked to schizophrenia. Undersupply linked to tremors and decreased mobility in
Pakisos disease.
o Serotonin- Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal
o Norepinephrine- helps control alertness and arousal.
o GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) - a major inhibitory neurotransmitter.
o Glutamate- a major excitatory; involved in memory
o Eah of the ais euotasittes has desiged pathas hee it opeates…
o The Nervous System-Peripheral and Central(brain and spinal cord). Peripheral-
autonomic(controls self-regulated action of internal organs and glands) and somatic
(controls voluntary movement of the internal glands)
o Peripheral Nervous System- the somatic nervous system enables voluntary control of
skeletal usles…eahig fo thigs suh as allet ad kes
o Peripheral Nervous system- the autonomic nervous system controls our glands and the
muscles of our internal organs.
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