AQA A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY: BIOPSYCHOLOGY EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH COMPLETE SOLUTIONS VERIFIED

AQA A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY: BIOPSYCHOLOGY EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH COMPLETE SOLUTIONS VERIFIED Practice questions for this set Terms in this set (86) Localisation of function Theory that states that different areas of the brain are responsible for different behaviours, processes or activities. Motor area Back of frontal lobe, involved in regulating movement. Somatosensory area Front of both parietal lobes, processes sensory information such as touch. Parts of the brain: Visual area. Occipital lobe, receives and processes visual information. Parts of the brain: Auditory area. Temporal lobe, analyses speech-based information. Parts of the brain: Language areas. Broca's area, frontal lobe in the left hemisphere = speech production. Wernicke's area, temporal lobe in the left hemisphere = language comprehension. Define plasticity. Brain's tendency to change and adapt (functionally and physically) as a result of experience and new learning. What five things must be used to evaluate localisation of function? Brain scan evidence, neurological evidence, case study evidence, Lashley's research and plasticity and the equipotentiality theory. Synaptic pruning. As we age, rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened. Axonal sprouting. Undamaged axons grow new nerve endings to reconnect neurons whose links were injured or severed. Recruitment of homologous areas. Regions on opposite sides of the brain take on functions of damaged areas. Functional recovery. Form of plasticity. Following damage through trauma, the brain's ability to redistribute/transfer functions performed by damaged areas to other, undamaged areas. Neural plasticity. Describes the brain's tendency to change and adapt - functionally and physically - resulting from experience and new learning. What is the central nervous system (CNS)? Consists of brain and spinal cord; origin of all complex commands and decisions. What is the peripheral nervous system (PNS)? Sends info to CNS from outside world, transmitting messages from CNS to muscles and bodily glands. Define hemispheric lateralisation. Certain mental processes and behaviours are controlled or dominated by one hemisphere rather than the other (as in the example of language). Corpus callosum A band of neural fibres that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Split-brain studies. Corpus callosum cut in patients with severe epilepsy, allowing researchers to investigate the extent to which brain function is lateralised.