SSC103

Introduction to Psychology

Lecture 8: Biological foundation of psychology

Dr Stephanie Szeto
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Overview

• Neuron and neurotransmitters

• Brain and spinal cord
• Nervous systems and glands
• Brain structure
• Identify some potential causes of attention-
deficit/hyperactivity disorder
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Neurons and nerves: build the network

Nervous system Neuroscience

• An extensive network of • Deals with the structure and

specialized cells that carry function of neurons, nerves,
information to and from all and nervous tissue
parts of the body • Relationship to behavior and
learning
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Structure of the neuron:

the nervous system’s building block
• Neuron
• The basic cell that makes up the nervous system and receives
and sends messages within that system
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The structure of a neuron

Soma: the cell body

• Glial Cells
• Provide support for neurons to grow on and around
• Deliver nutrients to neurons • Axon terminals: rounded areas at the end of the
• Produce myelin to coat axons branches at the end of the axon
• Responsible for communicating with other nerve cells
• Myelin:
• fatty substances produced by certain glial cells that coat the
axons of neurons to insulate, protect, and speed up the
neural impulse
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Generate message within a neuron:

neural impulse

• Ions: charged particles

– Inside neuron: negatively charged
– Outside neuron: positively charged

• Resting potential: the

state of the neuron
when not firing a
neural impulse
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Generate message within a neuron:

neural impulse

• Action potential: the release of the neural impulse

consisting of a reversal of the electrical charge
within the axon
– Allows positive sodium ions to enter the cell
• All-or-none: a neuron either fires completely or
does not fire at all
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The neural impulse action potential

Voltage readings are shown at a given place on the neuron over a period of 20 or 30
milliseconds (thousandths of a second). At first, the cell is resting; when it reaches the
threshold, and an action potential is triggered. After a brief hyperpolarization period,
the cell returns to its resting potential.
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Neurotransmission

• Send message to other neuros: The synapse

– Synaptic vesicles: sack-like structures found inside the
axon terminal containing chemicals
– Neurotransmitter: chemical found in synaptic vesicles
which, when released, has an effect on the next cell
– Synapse/Synaptic gap
– Microscopic fluid-filled space between the rounded areas
on the end of the axon terminals of one cell and the
dendrites or surface of the next cell
• Receptor sites
– Holes in surface of dendrites or certain cells of the
muscles and glands, which are shaped to fit only certain
neurotransmitters
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The nerve impulse reaches the axon terminal, triggering the release of
neurotransmitters from the synaptic vesicles. The molecules of neurotransmitter cross
the synaptic gap to fit into the receptor sites that fit the shape of the molecule, opening
the ion channel and allowing sodium ions to rush in.
Some neurotransmitters and their functions
Neurotransmitters Functions

Excitatory or inhibitory; involved in arousal, attention,

Acetylcholine (ACh)
memory, and controls muscle contractions
Norepinephrine (NE)
Mainly excitatory; involved in arousal and mood
(noradrenaline (NA))
Excitatory or inhibitory; involved in control of movement
Dopamine (DA)
and sensations of pleasure

Excitatory or inhibitory; involved in sleep, mood, anxiety,

Serotonin (5-HT)
and appetite

Gaba-aminobutyric acid Major inhibitory neurotransmitter; involved in sleep and

(GABA) inhibits movement

Major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in learning,

Glutamate memory formation, nervous system development, and
synaptic plasticity

Endorphins Inhibitory neural regulators; involved in pain relief

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Neurotransmission
• Clean up the synapse: reuptake
– Reuptake: process by which neurotransmitters are
taken back into the synaptic vesicles
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Neurotransmission
• Enzymes: Clean up the
synapse
– Enzyme: complex protein that
is manufactured by cells
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Neurotransmitters: Reuptake
• Cocaine interferes with dopamine regulation by blocking the reuptake of dopamine,
leading to an accumulation of dopamine in the synapses
• This excess dopamine is what produces the intense euphoria and feelings of pleasure
associated with cocaine use
• When the brain is misled into thinking that there are enough dopamine, it starts
releasing lesser dopamine
• People rely on taking cocaine to experience happiness
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An Overview of the Nervous System
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The central nervous system:

the “central processing unit”

• Central nervous system (CNS):

part of the nervous system
consisting of the brain and spinal
cord
– Spinal cord:
– a long bundle of neurons that carries
messages to and from the body to the
brain that is responsible for very fast,
lifesaving reflexes
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The Spinal Cord Reflex

The pain from candle flame stimulates the afferent nerve fibers, which carry the message up to
the interneurons in the middle of the spinal cord. These interneurons then send a message out
through the efferent nerve fibers, causing the hand to jerk away from the flame.
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The central nervous system:

the “central processing unit”

also called afferent neurons also called efferent neurons

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The peripheral nervous system:

nerves on the edge

• Peripheral nervous system (PNS):

• Include all nerves and neurons in the body,
except those contained in the brain and
spinal cord
• Two systems:
• Somatic nervous system
• Autonomic nervous system
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The peripheral nervous system:

nerves on the edge

▪ Somatic nervous system (SNS): consist

of nerves that carry information from
the senses to the CNS and from the
CNS to the voluntary muscles of the
body
▪ Sensory pathway: nerves coming from
the sensory organs to the CNS
consisting of sensory neurons
▪ Motor pathway: nerves coming from
the CNS to the voluntary muscles,
consisting of motor neurons
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The peripheral nervous system:

nerves on the edge
▪ Autonomic nervous system (ANS)
▪ Consist of nerves that control all of the involuntary
muscles, organs, and glands; sensory pathway
nerves coming from the sensory organs to the CNS
consisting of sensory neurons
▪ Sympathetic nervous system: fight-or-flight system
▪ Responsible for reacting to stressful events and bodily
arousal
▪ Parasympathetic nervous system: rest and digest
▪ Restores the body to normal functioning after arousal and
is responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the organs
and glands
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Two systems in
autonomic nervous
system (ANS)
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Distant Connections:
The Endocrine Glands

• Endocrine glands:
• Glands that secrete chemicals, called hormones,
directly into the bloodstream
• Hormones:
• Chemicals released into the bloodstream by
endocrine glands
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The Endocrine Glands

The endocrine glands secrete

hormones directly into the
bloodstream, which carries
them to organs in the body,
such as the heart, pancreas,
and sex organs
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Pituitary gland:
master of the hormonal universe

• Pituitary gland:
• Located in the brain that secretes human growth hormone
and influences all other hormone-secreting glands
– Also known as the master gland
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Other endocrine glands

• Pineal gland: Located near the base of the cerebrum that secretes
melatonin
• Thyroid gland: In the neck that regulates metabolism
• Pancreas: controls the levels of sugar in the blood
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Other endocrine glands

▪ Gonads: the sex glands: secrete hormones that regulate sexual
development and behavior as well as reproduction
▪ Ovaries: the female gonads
▪ Testes: the male gonads
▪ Adrenal glands: Located on top of each kidney
▪ Secrete over thirty different hormones to deal with stress,
regulate salt intake
▪ Provide a secondary source of sex hormones affecting the
sexual changes that occur during adolescence
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Major Structures of human brain

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Brain:
The cerebral hemispheres
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Brain:
The cerebral hemispheres

• Left side of the brain

– Control language, writing, logical thought, analysis, and
mathematical abilities
– Processes information sequentially, and enables one to speak
• Right side of the brain
– Control emotional expression, spatial perception, recognition of
faces, patterns, melodies, and emotions
– It processes information globally and cannot influence speech
• Corpus callosum:
– thick band of neurons (white matters) that connects the right and left
cerebral hemispheres
Specialization of the Two Hemispheres
Left Hemisphere Right Hemisphere
Controls the right hand Controls the left hand
Spoken language Nonverbal
Written language Visual-spatial perception
Mathematical calculations Music and artistic processing
Emotional thought and
Logical thought processes
recognition
Analysis of detail Processes the whole
Reading Pattern recognition
Blank cell Facial recognition

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The cerebral cortex

• Cerebral cortex: outermost covering of the brain
consisting of densely packed neurons
– Responsible for higher thought processes and
interpretation of sensory input
– Corticalization: wrinkling of the cortex
▪ Allows a much larger area of cortical cells to exist in the small
space inside the skull
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The cerebral cortex

• From top to bottom, a rat brain, sheep

brain, and human brain (not to scale)
• Note the differences in the amount of
corticalization, or wrinkling, of the cortex
between these three brains
• Greater amounts of corticalization are
associated with increases in size and
complexity
• The size of the head doesn’t matter. But
the corticalization matter
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The lobes of the brain

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The cerebral cortex

• Occipital lobe
– Located at the rear and bottom of each cerebral
hemisphere containing the visual centers of the brain
– Primary visual cortex: processes visual information
from the eyes
– Visual association cortex: identifies and makes sense
of visual information
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The cerebral cortex

• Parietal lobes
– Located at the top and back of each cerebral hemisphere
– Containing the centers for touch, taste, and temperature
sensations
– Somatosensory cortex: area of neurons running down the
front of the parietal lobes
▪ Responsible for processing information from the skin and internal
body receptors for touch, temperature, body position, and taste
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The cerebral cortex

• Temporal lobes
– Located just behind the temples
– Contain the neurons responsible for the sense of hearing
and meaning of speech
– Primary auditory cortex: processes auditory information
from the ears
– Auditory association cortex: identifies and makes sense
of auditory information
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The cerebral cortex

• Frontal lobes
– Located in the front and top of the brain
– Responsible for higher mental processes and decision
making as well as the production of fluent speech
– Motor cortex: section of the frontal lobe located at the
back;
– Responsible for sending motor commands to the muscles of
the somatic nervous system
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The motor and somatosensory cortex

The motor cortex in the frontal lobe controls the

voluntary muscles of the body.
Cells at the top of the motor cortex control
muscles at the bottom of the body, whereas
cells at the bottom of the motor cortex control
muscles at the top of the body.
Body parts are drawn larger or smaller
according to the number of cortical cells
devoted to that body part. For example, the
hand has many small muscles and requires a
larger area of cortical cells to control it.
The somatosensory cortex, located in the
parietal lobe just behind the motor cortex, is
organized in much the same manner and
receives information about the sense of touch
and body position.
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The Hindbrain
• Medulla: at the top of the spinal
cord, forming the lowest part of
the brain
– Responsible for life-sustaining
functions such as breathing,
swallowing, and heart rate

• Pons: above the medulla that connects

the top of the brain to the bottom
– Plays a part in sleep, dreaming, left–right
body coordination, and arousal
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The Hindbrain

• Reticular formation (RF): area of neurons running

through the middle of the medulla and the pons
and slightly beyond
– Responsible for selective attention
• Cerebellum: part of the lower brain located behind
the pons
– Controls and coordinates involuntary, rapid, fine motor
movement
– Sensitive to alcohol:
– Affect motor skills, coordinator and balance
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Structures under the cortex:

The limbic system
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Structures under the cortex:

The limbic system
• A group of several brain structures
– Located under the cortex and involved in learning,
emotion, memory, and motivation

– Thalamus: part of the limbic system located in the

center of the brain
▪ Relays sensory information from the lower part of the brain to
the proper areas of the cortex
▪ Processes some sensory information before sending it to its
proper area
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Structures under the cortex:

The limbic system
• Hypothalamus: located below the thalamus and
directly above the pituitary gland
– Responsible for motivational behavior such as sleep,
hunger, thirst, and sex
• Hippocampus: curved structure located within
each temporal lobe
– Responsible for the formation of long-term memories
and the storage of memory for location of objects
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Structures under the cortex:

The limbic system

• Amygdala: Located near the hippocampus

– Emotion
– Responsible for fear responses and the memory of fear
• Cingulate cortex: the limbic structure found in the
cortex
– Cognitive and emotional processing

Cingulate cortex
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The association areas of the cortex

• Association areas: areas within each

lobe of the cortex responsible for the
coordination and interpretation of
information, as well as higher mental
processing
• Spatial neglect: the syndrome of
visuospatial neglect is a common
consequence of unilateral brain
injury, e.g. stroke
– It is more severe and persistent
following right hemisphere damage
– Results in an inability to recognize
objects or body parts in the left visual
field
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The association areas of the cortex

• Broca’s area (primarily in left frontal lobe)

– Language production

• Broca’s aphasia:
– Damage to Broca’s area
– Unable to speak fluently, to
mispronounce words, and
to speak haltingly
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The association areas of the cortex

• Wernicke’s area (primarily in left frontal lobe)
– Language comprehension
• Wernicke’s aphasia:
– Damage to Wernicke’s area
– Unable to understand or produce
meaningful language
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Methods for studying specific regions of the brain

• Lesion studies
– Insertion of a thin, insulated wire into the brain, through
which an electrical current is sent that destroys the brain
cells at the tip of the wire
• Brain stimulation
– Electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB): milder electrical
current that causes neurons to react as if they had
received a message
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Methods for studying specific regions of

the brain

• Invasive Techniques
– Deep brain stimulation (DBS), impulse generator
implanted and sends impulses to implanted electrodes,
stimulating brain areas of interest.
• Noninvasive Techniques
– Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), magnetic
pulses are applied to the cortex using special copper
wire coils that are positioned over the head
– Repetitive TMS (rTMS)
– Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)
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Neuroimaging techniques
• Brain-imaging method
• Computed tomography (CT):
• using computer-controlled X-rays of the brain
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI):
• using radio waves and magnetic fields of the body to produce
detailed images of the brain
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Mapping brain structure

A: CT scan from a 5-year-old girl with a head injury and skull fracture, depicting the brain
and swelling associated with the injury.

B: Same CT scan highlighting the skull fracture (indicated by the red arrow). Contrast the
brain detail of A with the MRI scan in C (different, adult individual). Note the scans are in
the horizontal plane, separating the brain into upper and lower portions.

D: Different type of MRI image from an older adult, with cortical cell loss (atrophy) and
white matter changes. Notice the enlarged ventricles and widening of the grooves (sulci) in
the outer cortex as compared to C.
A, B, C and D images created with OsiriX software; CT and MRI data courtesy of N. White.
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Neuroimaging techniques
• Mapping Function
– Electroencephalogram (EEG): records electric activity of the
brain below specific areas of the skull
– Magnetoencephalography (MEG): measures the magnetic
fields generated by electric currents in the brain
– Positron emission tomography (PET): radioactive sugar is
injected into the subject and a computer compiles a color-
coded image of brain activity of the brain; lighter colors
indicate more activity
– Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT):
similar to PET, but uses different radioactive tracers
– Functional MRI (fMRI): a computer makes a sort of “movie” of
changes in the activity of the brain using images from
different time periods
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Mapping brain function

Various methods for mapping brain function.

An EEG record is shown in A, a PET scan
image in B, and an image from an fMRI study
in C.
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Mapping brain function

EEG record shows brain waves
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The cerebral hemispheres

• Cerebrum: the upper part of the brain consisting of the two
hemispheres and the structures that connect them
• Split-brain Research
– Study of patients with severed corpus callosum
– Involves sending messages to only one side of the brain
– Demonstrates right and left brain specialization

The Split-Brain Experiment

Roger Sperry created this experiment to
demonstrate the specialization of the left
and right hemispheres of the brain.
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Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder

• Likelihood of more than one cause and more than

one brain route to ADHD
• Current research looking at a variety of areas
– Environmental factors such as low-level lead exposure
– Genetic influences
– Role of heredity and familial factors
– Personality factors

2-Minute Neuroscience: ADHD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8JnDhp83gA