The Basic Structure of the Brain and the Functions - Research Paper Example

Introduction: Psychologists study processes of sense perception, thinking, learning, cognition, emotions and motivations, personality, abnormal behavior, interactions between individuals, and interactions with the environment.. Psychology and Development of Modern Psychology Psychology is the science or study of the thought processes and behavior of humans and other animals in their interaction with the environment. The De anima of Aristotle is considered the first monument of psychology as such, centered on the belief that the heart was the basis for mental activity. The foundations of modern psychology were laid by 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes who argued that scientific causes could be established for every sort of phenomenon through deductive reasoning. The mind-body theories of Rene Descartes Baruch Spinoza and G. W. Leibniz were equally crucial in the development of modern psychology, where the human mind's relation to the body and its actions have been significant topics of debate. Conclusion Psychology is a science because it is systematic and empirical and is dependent upon measurement. In the study of human behavior, many scientists and psychologists have come up with various theories. Some of these theories have proven to be true. Psychology continues to study about the many aspects of human behavior and tries to give explanation to man’s behavior. 1. Explain the Major Functions of the Nervous System Introduction The nervous system is the major controlling, regulatory, and communicating system in the body. It is the center of all mental activity including thought, learning, and memory. Major Functions of the Nervous System The various activities of the nervous system can be grouped together as three general, overlapping functions: Sensory, Integrative, and Motor. Millions of sensory receptors detect changes called stimuli, which occur inside ands outside the body. They monitor such things such as temperature, light and sound from the external environment. Inside the body, the internal environment, receptors detect changes, called stimuli, which occur inside and outside the body. They monitor such things as temperature, light, and sound from the external environment. Inside the body the internal environment, receptors detect variations in pressure, pH, carbon dioxide concentration, and the levels of various electrolytes . All of this gathered information is called sensory input. Sensory input is converted into electrical signals called nerve impulses that are transmitted to the brain. There the signals are brought together to create sensations, to produce thoughts, or to add to memory; Decisions are made each moment based on the sensory input. This is integration. Based on the sensory input and integration, the nervous system responds by sending signals to muscles, causing them to contract, or to glands, causing them to produce secretions. Muscles and glands are called effectors because they cause an effect in response to directions from the nervous system. This is the motor output or motor function. Conclusion The nervous system is composed of organs, principally the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and ganglia. These, in turn, consist of various tissues, including nerve, blood, and connective tissue. Together these carry out the complex activities of the nervous system. 3. What is the basic structure of the brain and the functions of each major structure. Introduction The brain is a complex structure. It is made up of 100-200 billion neurons, each with the capacity to communicate with up to 1,000 other neurons. The brain is the “master organ of the body” that coordinates or controls many of the functions of the other organs. It weights about 3 pounds and it is made up of cells. The brain has three main parts, the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brain stem. The brain is divided into regions that control specific functions. The Major Structures Of The Brain And Their Functions THE CEREBRUM: Frontal Lobe The functions of the cerebrum are as follows: behavior, abstract thought processes, problem solving, attention, creative thought, some emotion ,intellect ,reflection ,judgment ,initiative ,inhibition ,coordination of movements ,generalized and mass movements ,some eye movements ,sense of smell ,muscle movements ,skilled movements ,some motor skills ,physical reaction ,libido (sexual urges) Occipital Lobe ( Vision reading) Parietal Lobe (Sense of touch (tactile senstation) ,appreciation of form through touch (stereognosis) ,response to internal stimuli (proprioception) ,sensory combination and comprehension ,some language and reading functions ,some visual functions Temporal Lobe (Auditory memories ) ,some hearing ,visual memories ,some vision pathways ,other memory ,music ,fear ,some language ,some speech ,some behavior amd emotions ,sense of identity Right Hemisphere (the representational hemisphere) .The right hemisphere controls the left side of the body . It is also responsible for temporal and spatial relationships ,analyzing nonverbal information ,communicating emotion Left Hemisphere (the categorical hemisphere) .The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and it produces and understands language Corpus Callosum is responsible for communication between the left and right side of the brain THE CEREBELLUM The cerebullum is responsible for the body’s balance, posture, Cardiac, respiratory, and vasomotor centers THE BRAIN STEM The brain stem is the motor and sensory pathway to body and face, vital centers: cardiac, respiratory, vasomotor Hypothalamus – is responsible for moods and motivation, sexual maturation, temperature regulation, hormonal body processes, optic chiasm ,vision and the optic nerve Pituitary Gland – is responsible for hormonal body processes, physical maturation, growth (height and form), sexual maturation, sexual functioning Spinal Cord – is the conduit and source of sensation and movement Pineal Body Ventricles and Cerebral Aqueduct -contains the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord Conclusion The brain is an important organ of the body. It performs many functions. Such functions are complicated and beyond human understanding. Because of the complexities of its functions, it controls many of the tasks of the other organs. 2. What is the meaning of reliability and validity in psychological measurement? Introduction Psychological tests concern their ability to measure what they are supposed to measure. The accuracy or usefulness of a test is known as its validity. Reliability is, replicating an experiment and getting comparable results. These are the concerns of psychological testing. Reliability and Validity Reliability is, roughly, whether you could replicate an experiment and get comparable results - either because an individual's responses are consistent (for example, their reaction times in a test are consistent when the test is carried out again), or the general overall results are consistent (for example, the average score on a test is the same or similar when carried out again on a comparable group) The accuracy or usefulness of a test is known as its validity. Validity is whether the construct you are using really measures what you are using it to measure. For example, if you devised a test to measure people's self-esteem, does it really measure self-esteem? Construct Validity refers to the ability of a test to measure the psychological construct, such as depression, that it was designed to measure. One way this can be assessed is through the test’s convergent or divergent validity, which refers to whether a test can give results similar to other tests of the same construct and different from tests of different constructs. Content Validity refers to the ability of a test to sample adequately the broad range of elements that compose a particular construct. Criterion-related Validity refers to the ability of a test to predict someone’s performance on something. For example, before actually using a test to predict whether someone will be successful at a particular job, you would first want to determine whether persons already doing well at that job (the criterion measure) also tend to score high on your proposed test. If so, then you know that the test scores are related to the criterion. The ability of a test to give consistent results is known as its reliability. For example, a mathematics test that asks you to solve problems of progressive difficulty might be very reliable because if you couldn’t do calculus yesterday you probably won’t be able to do it tomorrow or the next day. But a personality test that asks ambiguous questions which you answer just according to how you feel in the moment may say one thing about you today and another thing about you next month. Internal Consistency Validity refers to how well all the test items relate to each other. Test-retest Validity refers to how well results from one administration of the test relate to results from another administration of the same test at a later time. Conclusion Without reliability, there can be no validity. A thermometer, for example, may be a valid way to measure temperature, but if the electronic thermometer you are using has bad batteries and it gives erratic (that is, unreliable) results, then its reading is invalid until the batteries are changed 5. Describe the stages of sleep. What are the common sleep disorders? Introduction Sleep is a dynamic process during which the brain is very active. There are recognized stages of sleep, each of which is characterized by a different type of brain wave activity. Sleep is the natural state of rest observed throughout the animal kingdom , in all mammals and birds, and in many reptiles, amphibians, and fish. . In humans, other mammals, and a substantial majority of other animals which have been studied by humans — such as fish, birds, ants, and fruit flies, — regular sleep is necessary for survival. Stages of Sleep There are five stages of sleep that cycle over and over again during a single night's rest: stages 1, 2, 3, 4 and REM (rapid eye movement). Stages 1 through 4 are also known as non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM). About 50% of sleep time is spent in stage 2 and about 20% is spent in REM (normally more than 2 hours a night in adults). A complete sleep cycle, from the beginning of stage 1 to the end of REM, usually takes about an hour and a half. Stage 1 is light sleep during which the muscles begin to relax and a person can be easily awakened. During stage 2, brain activity slows down and eye movement stops. Stages 3 and 4 comprise deep sleep, during which all eye and muscle movement ceases. It can be difficult to wake a person during deep sleep. Stage 3 is characterized by very slow brain waves (delta waves), interspersed with small, quick waves. In stage 4, the brain waves are all delta waves. It is during deep sleep that some people sleepwalk and children may experience bedwetting. It is during REM sleep that dreams occur. The muscles of the body stiffen, the eyes move, the heart rate increases, breathing becomes more rapid and irregular, and the blood pressure rises. Common Sleep Disorders A sleep disorder (somnipathy) is a medical disorder of the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Some sleep disorders are serious enough to interfere with normal physical, mental and emotional functioning. A test commonly ordered for some sleep disorders is the polysomnogram. There are more than 70 different sleep disorders that are generally classified into one of three categories: Lack of sleep (e.g., insomnia), Disturbed sleep (e.g., obstructive sleep, apnea), and Excessive sleep (e.g., marcolepsy). Conclusion In most cases, sleep disorders can be easily managed once they are properly diagnosed. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. It occurs more often in women and in the elderly. Falling asleep and waking up are controlled by various chemical changes in the brain and in the blood. Foods and medicines that alter the balance of these chemicals also affect how well we sleep. 6. How is language acquired? Introduction Language is very important in communication. Without language, communicating or getting across one’s idea becomes difficult. How does one learn to use a language? What are the processes involved in acquiring language? These are questions that are often asked and are given answers in this test. Acquiring Language  Language acquisition is the process by which the language capability develops in a human. First language acquisition concerns the development of language in children, while second language acquisition focuses on language development in adults as well. Historically, theorists are often divided between emphasizing either nature or nurture as the most important explanatory factor for acquisition. One hotly debated issue is whether the biological contribution includes language-specific capacities, often described as universal grammar. For fifty years, linguists Noam Chomsky and the late Eric Lenneberg argued for the hypothesis that children have innate, language-specific abilities that facilitate and constrain language learning. Other researchers, including Elizabeth Bates , Catherine Snow, and Michael Tomasello , have hypothesized that language learning results only from general cognitive abilities and the interaction between learners and their surrounding communities. Recent work by William Ogrady proposes that complex syntactic phenomena result from an efficiency-driven, linear computational system. O'Grady describes his work as "nativism without Universal Grammar . 7.Describe social development among young children Introduction Development results from maturation and learning. Each phase of development has characteristic traits. The developmental pattern is marked by periods of equilibrium when the individual adapts easily to environment demands and disequilibrium, when he experiences difficulties in adaptation. Some hazards that interfere with adjustments are environmental in origin while others originate from within. These hazards may affect physical, psychological, and social adjustments. Social development begins at birth out of necessity. The infant is unable to provide for its physical needs, or to protect itself against danger, therefore it must rely on its adult caretakers. An infant forms attachments to adults that provide care for it. These attachments can be one of three types: secure, insecure-avoidant, or insecure-ambivalent/resistant. (Gerrig and Zimbardo pp.342-356.) A child with a secure attachment will show signs of distress when a parent leaves the room, and will seek comfort and contact upon the return of a parent. After a reunion a securely attached child will return to play. Secure attachments encourage exploration, and interaction with peers and other people. This is due to the fact that the parent, or caregiver, has instilled in the child that they will be there if the child needs comfort or protection. An insecurely attached-avoidant child seems detached from the parent and avoids or even ignores the parent upon their return. This can be due to abuse, neglect, or other turmoil in the parent-child relationship. The third type of attachment is insecurely attached-ambivalent/resistant. Children with this type of attachment become upset and anxious when the parent leaves the room, and when the parent returns the child is unable to become comforted. They show signs of anger and resistance to the parent, but crave contact. Again abuse, neglect, or underlying problems with the parent-child relationship may cause this type of attachment. (Gerrig and Zimbardo pp.342-356.) The second stage in social development is socialization. This comes in many forms of interactions that range from structured playgroups, parallel play with peer, and sharing with peers. Preschools and daycare offer structured socialization and interaction with peers and adults and can provide the tools needed for later interactions and social responses. (Gerrig and Zimbardo pp.342-356.) A lack of comfort and human contact deprivation has a serious effect on infants that carry on throughout its life. When an infant or young child experiences deprivation of human contact and comfort, they may exhibit illnesses and fevers of unknown origins and these may even lead to death. If these deprived infants do survive they may exhibit severe emotional and physical disorders and experience a higher mortality rate than their counterparts who did receive comfort and contact. Other affects on an infant’s social development are abuse, neglect, and dangerous environments. (Gerrig and Zimbardo pp.342-356.) Between the ages of 2 and 6 children try to establish their gender role. A gender role is the set of characteristics and behaviors associated with the gender of male or female. During this age span children are very strongly set to gender perceptions. They tend to act according to stereotypical behaviors. Factors that effect gender roles are toys, playmates, and adult expectations that the child is exposed to. There are some biological factors that effect gender roles including genetics, hormonal influences, and physical characteristics. (Gerrig and Zimbardo pp.342-356.) Conclusion Childhood is the foundation of life. Attitudes, habits, and patterns of behavior established during the early years determine how successfully the individual will adjust to life as he grows older. 8. What is social response cycle? What are its phases? Introduction As a person grows mature, he experiences bodily changes. Likewise, emotions also change. A person becomes more aware of himself sexually The sexual response cycle refers to the sequence of physical and emotional changes that occur as a person becomes sexually aroused and participates in sexually stimulating activities, including intercourse and masturbation. Knowing how your body responds during each phase of the cycle can enhance your relationship and help you pinpoint the cause of any sexual problems. Phases of the Sexual Response Cycle Phase 1: Excitement General characteristics of this phase, which can last from a few minutes to several hours, include the following: Muscle tension increases. Heart rate quickens and breathing is accelerated. Skin may become flushed (blotches of redness appear on the chest and back). Nipples become hardened or erect. Blood flow to the genitals increases, resulting in swelling of the woman's clitoris and labia minora (inner lips), and erection of the man's penis. Vaginal lubrication begins. The woman's breasts become fuller and the vaginal walls begin to swell. The man's testicles swell, his scrotum tightens, and he begins secreting a lubricating liquid. Phase 2: Plateau General characteristics of this phase, which extends to the brink of orgasm, include the following: The changes begun in phase 1 are intensified. The vagina continues to swell from increased blood flow, and the vaginal walls turn a dark purple. The woman's clitoris becomes highly sensitive (may even be painful to touch) and retracts under the clitoral hood to avoid direct stimulation from the penis. The man's testicles are withdrawn up into the scrotum. Breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure continue to increase. Muscle spasms may begin in the feet, face, and hands. Muscle tension increases. Phase 3: Orgasm This phase is the climax of the sexual response cycle. It is the shortest of the phases and generally lasts only a few seconds. General characteristics of this phase include the following: Involuntary muscle contractions begin. Blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing are at their highest rates, with a rapid intake of oxygen. Muscles in the feet spasm. There is a sudden, forceful release of sexual tension. In women, the muscles of the vagina contract. The uterus also undergoes rhythmic contractions. In men, rhythmic contractions of the muscles at the base of the penis result in the ejaculation of semen. A rash, or "sex flush" may appear over the entire body. Phase 4: Resolution During this phase, the body slowly returns to its normal level of functioning, and swelled and erect body parts return to their previous size and color. This phase is marked by a general sense of well-being, enhanced intimacy and, often, fatigue. Some women are capable of a rapid return to the orgasm phase with further sexual stimulation and may experience multiple orgasms. Men need recovery time after orgasm, called a refractory period, during which they cannot reach orgasm again. The duration of the refractory period varies among men and usually lengthens with advancing age. Conclusion The sexual response cycle has four phases: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. Both men and women experience these phases, although the timing usually is different. For example, it is unlikely that both partners will reach orgasm at the same time. In addition, the intensity of the response and the time spent in each phase varies from person to person. Understanding these differences may help partners better understand one another's bodies and responses, and enhance the sexual experience. Reference List A. Electronic Sources The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/anatomy/brain/Structure.  uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index? www,neurology channel B. Books Gerrig and Zimbardo. Psychology and Life. 16th edition. Boston. 2002. Chomsky, N. (1975). Reflections of Language. New York: Pantheon Books.  Courtney Cazden (1972). Child Language and Education. New York: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston, 92.  .  Read More