Class notes
Class notes for intro to psych unit 2
- Course
- PBSI 107 (PBSI170)
- Institution
- Texas A&M University
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Chapter 4 - Biology of PsychologyHow to approach
● Consider each element of thinking about the brain/nervous system and how we analyze it
○ Learn the basics as if it's the “truth” and practice speaking the lingo, find metaphors/examples that
work for you
○ Know the basics are not the whole truth
○ Don’t be afraid to be wrong. Just make it kind/cute/cool
■ Do not be afraid of “experts” or be deterred by bad attitudes
● How convinced are you that we have a fairly good vision of the way it works? How compelling is the
evidence?
○ What are the implications of each perspective?
○ The more I learn about anything, the more I realize we need interdisciplinary work real bad
■ The novices often out-think the experts by chasing what doesn’t make sense
● Compassionate and complex reading/understanding of the “consequences” of each understanding
○ what/whom are you fighting for?
○ When we are judging the individuals instead of wondering about the shortcomings of the system
to which they exist?
○ Choose interpretations that increase free-will and are compassionate to struggles
Nervous system - What is the relationship between one’s body and one’s mind
● Nervous system: network of cells that carries information to and from all parts of the body
○ Allows you to gain information about what is going on outside and inside the body
3 Basic Functions of the Nervous System
1. Receive inputs from the environment
2. Process the inputs, integrating with past experiences
3. Generate outputs, behavioral responses to the inputs
Building blocks of the nervous system
● Neurons: specialized cells within the nervous system
that send and receive messages within that system
○ Communicate with each other by using
electrical signals along their axons to send
chemical messengers (neurotransmitters)
across the synapse
● The other type of nervous center cells are: Glail
○ Support role: surrounded neuron, hold in place, supply nutrients/oxygen to neurons
Neurotransmitters
● Dopamine (inhibitory and excitatory)
○ Regulating smooth movements/stability (Parkinson’s = not enough dopamine)
○ Associated with feelings of pleasure
■ Eating a good meal, sex, thrills
■ But also achieving goals
○ Important for reward-motivated behavior
■ Long term v short term (there’s always a conflict to be found)
○ Relevant to cognitive and behavioral changes we see in adolescence
■ Too much = ADHD (or too little - basically, you’re constantly seeking it, but can’t “see it
through”), aggression, etc.
● Serotonin (inhibitory)
○ Feelings of wellbeing and happiness (mood, sleeping, eating, dreaming)
■ Think “chill” version of feelings of pleasure
, ○ Regulate anxiety and physiological responses
■ But then too much = anxiety, sweating, confusion, etc.
Neurotransmitter: Dr Dowd Tangent
● Typically, neurotransmitters are discussed sort of separately, which doesn’t really make sense
○ Ex: applied to changes throughout the lifespan
○ In aging research, you’ll read that dopamine and serotonin levels decrease (as well as other
neurotransmitters, but if you think about them in terms of proportions to each other, you get a
different clinical picture)
● Think about the environment in which the human specimen exists
○ The neural “plot twist” of SSRIs (and other psychotropics)
How do cells communicate
● Action potential: an electric signal that is conducted along an axon to a synapse
○ Cells are usually polarized: More negative inside
■ Outside: more positively charged sodium (Na+) ions (compared to negatively charged
chloride ions, Cl-)
■ Inside: more negatively charged protein (anions A-), compared to positively charged
Potassium (K+) ions
○ Add a little bit of excitement…neurotransmitters get on the move
1. Depolarization: channels let in positive ions
2. Dendrites goes to cell body
3. Action potential occurs
4. Action potential goes down axon to the synapse
5. Neurotransmitters are released
a. This is where the SSRIs come in Refractory period: cell cannot fire
6. Refractory period: cell cannot fire
7. Repolarization: negative in, positive out
● What does this phase feel like?
○ Are some good things about being “brain dead”?
■ Think about how it might feel more “long term”
■ How do you build back up again?
○ Keep in mind when we put the puzzle pieces together: electric impulses
■ Brain waves occur at different frequencies
● Often overlooked when thinking about neuropsych
● Understanding the brain should require some physics as well as anatomy and
psychology
○ Also keep in mind neuronal connections create pathways, and on top of that, create “systems”
■ Especially when we talk about parts of the brain
● Does it matter what “pathway” a neural signal takes to create neural activity
within specific structures of the brain
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