Testbank for Psychology|| New
edition(2025/2026)|| Questions and Answers
Central Nervous System - answers -Brain: consciousness, hemispheres
-Spinal Cord: passes messages from the brain, reflex actions, connects to PNS
Peripheral Nervous System - answers Transmits Messages via neurons
-Autonomic: breathing heart rate stress
-Somatic: muscle and sensory neurons
Endocrine System - answers the body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set
of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream
Examples
-Thyroid, Thyroxine, heart rate
-Pituitary gland, regulates other glands
-adrenal, adrenaline, arousal
Adrenaline Steps - answers -Hypothalamus in brain activates pituitary gland
-ANS Sympathetic state
-Adrenaline Released for fight or flight
Immediate and Automatic
-Once threat has passed, parasympathetic nervous system returns body to original
state
Structure of a neuron - answers cell body
dendrites
axon (myelin sheath nodes of ranvier)
synapse
Neuron Types - answers
Electrical Tranmission - answers Action Potential, sum of the excitory and inhibitory
hormones
Synapse - answers
Localisation vs holistic theory - answers before Broca and Wernicke, scientists
supported the holistic theory of the brain that all parts were involved in the processing of
though and action. however, later scientists argued that different parts of the brain
perform different tasks and are involved with different parts of the body. if the brain area
is damaged, the associated function will also become affected
,Hemispheres of the brain - answers Right side is more Creative (deals with art, music,
holistic thought, and intuition). Left side is more Analytical (deals with logic, language,
science, and math).
Brain Localisation - answers
Brain Part Functions - answers Motor- movement
Visual- sight
Somatosensory- sensory
Auditory- analysis of sound based info
Broca's- Speech production
Wernicke's- language understanding
Localisation of brain function Evaluation - answers +EVIDENCE FROM
NEUROSURGERY
>OCD area of brain can be treated, showing specific area
+BRAIN SCAN EVIDENCE
>activity during tasks
COUNTER
>rats having cortexes severed could still do maze (holistic)
-LANGUAGE QUESTIONED
>not just broca and wernicke, fmri showed greater spread
Left and Right Hemispheres - answers Together, the two hemispheres control much of
your behaviour. The left is relatively more specialized for speech and language; the
right, for appreciation of 3D space and spatial relationships. Right hem controls RVF
and vice versa
Split brain research - Sperry - answers Sperry studied individuals who had undergone a
commissurotomy (corpus callosum cut to separate the two hemispheres)
Images in both visual fields
When image shown to RVF (LH) they could descibe it but not on the opposite side, as
the RH could not relay to language centres in the LH
They could however select the object from sight
LVF (RH) had emotional response to pinups but couldnt describe
Supports Lateralisation
Lateralisation Evaluation - answers +RESEARCH SUPPORT
>PET scans in tasks
-ONE BRAIN
>No dominant side for personality
Split Brain evaluation - answers +RESEARCH SUPPORT
> Split B Better performance in some tasks shows lateralisation
-GENERALISATION ISSUES
>causal relationships hard to establish
,>epilepsy caused not split brain
plasticicty - answers the brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by
reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience
Maguire et.al London Taxi drivers had larger posterior hippocampus, longer done more
grey matter
Draganski et al medical students brains changed after exams
Plasticity Evaluation - answers -NEGATIVE PLASTICITY
>drugs lead to poor function, dementia
>phantom limb syndrome
+AGE
> could be a life long ability
>40 hrs training 40-60yo golfer fmri increased activity
Functional Recovery - answers Axonal Sprouting- new nerve endings
Denervation Supersensitivity- axons doing a similar job are aroused
Recruitment of homologous areas- opposite side does more
Functional Recovery Evaluation - answers +RW APPLICATION
>our understanding aids our ability to help
>constraint induced movement therapy
-COGNITIVE RESERVE
>level of education may influence recovery rate
>implications on less educated
Ways of studying the brain - answers - Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
- Electroencephalogram (EEG)
- Event Related Potential (ERP) FILTERS OUT EEG unuseful stuff
- Post Mortem
fMRI evaluation - answers +no radiation
+spatial resolution
+straightforward
-expensive
-poor temporal resolution
EEG evaluation - answers +stages of sleep
+temp res
+cheap (ish)
-general info, hard to pinpoint
-different but adjacent locations
ERP Evaluation - answers +more specific than EEGs
+temporal resolution
-lack of standardisation of methodology
, -hard to remove noise
Post Mortem Evaluation - answers +foundation for early understanding
+establish links
-causation
-ethical issues consent
Circadian Rhythms - answers The 24-hour biological cycles found in humans and many
other species.
Biological Rhythms - answers periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning
Sleep-Wake Cycle - answers Suprachiasmatic Nucleus endogenous pacemaker
Reset by exogenous zeitgeber daylight
Siffre Cave Study - answers - Caver spent long periods in dark caves to examine the
effects of free-running biological rhythm
o Two months in cave
o Six months in cave
- In both studies, his free running circadian rhythm settled down to about 25 hours
- He did have a regular sleep/wake cycle
Other Circadian Rhythm Research - answers 1)Wever et al
WW2 bunker 4 weeks
no natural light
24 to 25 hr cycle bar one (29)
naturally be a bit longer but trained by ex zeit
2) Folkard et al
12 ppl in cave
sped up clock
only 1 could adjust
Circadian Rhythm Evaluation - answers +SHIFT WORK
>understanding of consequences
>poor health and shift economic impact
COUNTER
>correlationary, other factors eg loneliness
+MEDICAL TREATMENT
>aspirin better taken at night as heart attack likely in morning
-INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
>small samples
>only make averages not generalisations
Infradian Rhythms - answers Less than one cycle in 24 hours
Menstrual Cycle 28 days
Synchronisation study showed 68% of women pheromones synced closer
edition(2025/2026)|| Questions and Answers
Central Nervous System - answers -Brain: consciousness, hemispheres
-Spinal Cord: passes messages from the brain, reflex actions, connects to PNS
Peripheral Nervous System - answers Transmits Messages via neurons
-Autonomic: breathing heart rate stress
-Somatic: muscle and sensory neurons
Endocrine System - answers the body's "slow" chemical communication system; a set
of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream
Examples
-Thyroid, Thyroxine, heart rate
-Pituitary gland, regulates other glands
-adrenal, adrenaline, arousal
Adrenaline Steps - answers -Hypothalamus in brain activates pituitary gland
-ANS Sympathetic state
-Adrenaline Released for fight or flight
Immediate and Automatic
-Once threat has passed, parasympathetic nervous system returns body to original
state
Structure of a neuron - answers cell body
dendrites
axon (myelin sheath nodes of ranvier)
synapse
Neuron Types - answers
Electrical Tranmission - answers Action Potential, sum of the excitory and inhibitory
hormones
Synapse - answers
Localisation vs holistic theory - answers before Broca and Wernicke, scientists
supported the holistic theory of the brain that all parts were involved in the processing of
though and action. however, later scientists argued that different parts of the brain
perform different tasks and are involved with different parts of the body. if the brain area
is damaged, the associated function will also become affected
,Hemispheres of the brain - answers Right side is more Creative (deals with art, music,
holistic thought, and intuition). Left side is more Analytical (deals with logic, language,
science, and math).
Brain Localisation - answers
Brain Part Functions - answers Motor- movement
Visual- sight
Somatosensory- sensory
Auditory- analysis of sound based info
Broca's- Speech production
Wernicke's- language understanding
Localisation of brain function Evaluation - answers +EVIDENCE FROM
NEUROSURGERY
>OCD area of brain can be treated, showing specific area
+BRAIN SCAN EVIDENCE
>activity during tasks
COUNTER
>rats having cortexes severed could still do maze (holistic)
-LANGUAGE QUESTIONED
>not just broca and wernicke, fmri showed greater spread
Left and Right Hemispheres - answers Together, the two hemispheres control much of
your behaviour. The left is relatively more specialized for speech and language; the
right, for appreciation of 3D space and spatial relationships. Right hem controls RVF
and vice versa
Split brain research - Sperry - answers Sperry studied individuals who had undergone a
commissurotomy (corpus callosum cut to separate the two hemispheres)
Images in both visual fields
When image shown to RVF (LH) they could descibe it but not on the opposite side, as
the RH could not relay to language centres in the LH
They could however select the object from sight
LVF (RH) had emotional response to pinups but couldnt describe
Supports Lateralisation
Lateralisation Evaluation - answers +RESEARCH SUPPORT
>PET scans in tasks
-ONE BRAIN
>No dominant side for personality
Split Brain evaluation - answers +RESEARCH SUPPORT
> Split B Better performance in some tasks shows lateralisation
-GENERALISATION ISSUES
>causal relationships hard to establish
,>epilepsy caused not split brain
plasticicty - answers the brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by
reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience
Maguire et.al London Taxi drivers had larger posterior hippocampus, longer done more
grey matter
Draganski et al medical students brains changed after exams
Plasticity Evaluation - answers -NEGATIVE PLASTICITY
>drugs lead to poor function, dementia
>phantom limb syndrome
+AGE
> could be a life long ability
>40 hrs training 40-60yo golfer fmri increased activity
Functional Recovery - answers Axonal Sprouting- new nerve endings
Denervation Supersensitivity- axons doing a similar job are aroused
Recruitment of homologous areas- opposite side does more
Functional Recovery Evaluation - answers +RW APPLICATION
>our understanding aids our ability to help
>constraint induced movement therapy
-COGNITIVE RESERVE
>level of education may influence recovery rate
>implications on less educated
Ways of studying the brain - answers - Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
- Electroencephalogram (EEG)
- Event Related Potential (ERP) FILTERS OUT EEG unuseful stuff
- Post Mortem
fMRI evaluation - answers +no radiation
+spatial resolution
+straightforward
-expensive
-poor temporal resolution
EEG evaluation - answers +stages of sleep
+temp res
+cheap (ish)
-general info, hard to pinpoint
-different but adjacent locations
ERP Evaluation - answers +more specific than EEGs
+temporal resolution
-lack of standardisation of methodology
, -hard to remove noise
Post Mortem Evaluation - answers +foundation for early understanding
+establish links
-causation
-ethical issues consent
Circadian Rhythms - answers The 24-hour biological cycles found in humans and many
other species.
Biological Rhythms - answers periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning
Sleep-Wake Cycle - answers Suprachiasmatic Nucleus endogenous pacemaker
Reset by exogenous zeitgeber daylight
Siffre Cave Study - answers - Caver spent long periods in dark caves to examine the
effects of free-running biological rhythm
o Two months in cave
o Six months in cave
- In both studies, his free running circadian rhythm settled down to about 25 hours
- He did have a regular sleep/wake cycle
Other Circadian Rhythm Research - answers 1)Wever et al
WW2 bunker 4 weeks
no natural light
24 to 25 hr cycle bar one (29)
naturally be a bit longer but trained by ex zeit
2) Folkard et al
12 ppl in cave
sped up clock
only 1 could adjust
Circadian Rhythm Evaluation - answers +SHIFT WORK
>understanding of consequences
>poor health and shift economic impact
COUNTER
>correlationary, other factors eg loneliness
+MEDICAL TREATMENT
>aspirin better taken at night as heart attack likely in morning
-INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
>small samples
>only make averages not generalisations
Infradian Rhythms - answers Less than one cycle in 24 hours
Menstrual Cycle 28 days
Synchronisation study showed 68% of women pheromones synced closer
