CURRENT BIOPSYCHOLOGY
Utilize this training to expand your expertise and knowledge. If you have a solid understanding of the structure, functions, and chemistry of the brain, then this course will allow you to broaden your knowledge. Learn how the use of medications and nerve injury affects how the brain works and how people behave.
ADVANCE YOUR PERSONAL PERCEPTION OF LIFE
This course is a stand-alone addition to our Biopsychology I curriculum. It is advisable to study Biopsychology 1 initially if you haven’t taken any courses in this field before.
Understand about the intricate operations of the brain, such as memory systems, and how they are affected by circumstances such as brain injury.
A fuller understanding of the connection between our physiological conditions and mental processes and how these influence behaviour will be beneficial to those working in or studying the fields of counselling, psychology, or health.
Lesson Structure
There are 7 lessons in this course:
- Evolution, Genetics and Experience
- What is biopsychology
- The organism’s genetic endowment, experience and perception.
- Adaptation
- Behavioural genetics
- The nature nurture debate
- The human genome
- Benefits of genetic research
- Critical policy and ethical issues
- Research Methods in Biopsychology
- Behavioural genetics
- Methods of investigating the brain: invasive and non invasive
- Localisation of function
- Neuroanatomical techniques
- Psychophysiological measures
- Other methods
- Lesions
- Brain Damage
- Causes of brain damage
- Frontal lobe damage
- Damage to other areas and effects
- Types of brain damage
- Case study : Phineas Gage
- Case study: diagnosing epilepsy
- Case study -Alzheimer’s disease
- Recovery from Brain Damage
- Neuro plasticity
- Stages of recovery: unresponsiveness, early responses, agitated and confused, higher level responses,
- Case study: Parkinson’s disease
- Parkinsons disease symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, stages, etc
- Drug treatments for Parkinson’s disease
- Complimentary and supportive therapies for Parkinson’s disease
- Coping with Parkinson’s disease
- Terminology
- Drug Dependence and the Brain
- Drugs
- Definitions
- Effects of illegal drugs
- Other drugs: steroids, barbiturates, etc
- Physiological and psychological effects of drugs: illicits, stimulants
- Addiction: how drugs work in the brain
- Central nervous system
- Memory
- Models of memory: multistore model, working memory model, levels of processing model
- Levels of processing model
- Amnesia and types of amnesia
- Case study: traumatic amnesia
- Case study: Korsakoff’s syndrome (Alcohol amnesic syndrome)
- Language
- The brain and language
- Paul Broca
- Carl Wernicke
- Aphasia and Diaphasia
- Apraxia
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims
- Learn how behaviour and individual differences are influenced by evolution, genetics, and experience.
- Talk about the study techniques utilised to comprehend how the nervous system and behaviour function.
- Describe the various causes of brain damage and how they affect how the brain functions as a result.
- Learn about neuroplasticity from the perspectives of brain development, learning, and rehabilitation.
- Explain biopsychological theories of addiction and reward systems in the brain as well as the impact of drugs on the CNS.
- Explain the brain’s mechanisms for remembering, hypotheses on how memories are stored, and examples of various forms of amnesia.
- Explain various theories of language localization and assess the support for each theory.
How You Plan to Act
- Describe the relationship between evolution and human behaviour.
- Describe how genetics affects how dominant qualities are passed on to progeny.
- Explain the connection between the genetic code and gene expression.
- Examine the insights provided by research on identical twins regarding the emergence of individual differences.
- Describe how brain images are obtained using CT and PET scans.
- Discover the invasive research techniques used to comprehend the brain and behaviour.
- Take into account how medications are used to study neurotransmitters and how they affect behaviour.
- Describe the applications of gene knockdown and gene replacement approaches.
- Provide examples of neuropsychological testing procedures.
- Explain how observing animal behaviour in a lab setting can help us better understand human behaviour.
- The most frequent causes of brain injury are listed and defined.
- Describe the importance of neuronal death.
- Describe the processes involved in brain regeneration and degeneration.
- Find out how the mammalian brain uses both gradual and fast neuronal remodelling.
- Analyze the degree of replacement brain tissue that has undergone neurotransplantation.
- Describe the connection between drug withdrawal syndrome and physical dependence.
- Examine the potential role of brain systems in addiction.
- Find out what implicit and explicit memory tells us about medial temporal lobe amnesia.
- Take into account language lateralization, left and right handedness, and cerebral dominance.
- Take into account the research that implies split-brain patients’ hemispheres operate independently.
- Describe the current state of our understanding of the lateralization of function in the left and right hemispheres.
- Consider the Wernicke-Geschwind model of language localization in the cortex.
How Can a Brain Go Wrong?
The brain is incredibly complex and specialised. Its complexity makes even minor damage potentially catastrophic. The damage to the brain can be caused in a variety of ways, and the intensity and area affected determine how detrimental the damage is. Some of the reasons for brain injury include:
- Brain tumours are collections of cells that develop apart from the body. Modern technology have allowed for the detection of more cases of brain tumours. Pressure from the tumour caused by the expansion of malignant cells on the brain can result in a blood clot or direct brain injury.
- Brain vascular conditions include cerebral haemorrhage or an interruption in the brain’s supply. The cells connected to the brain can have issues if there is not enough blood flow there. Humans can only hold their breath without oxygen for around four minutes before severe brain damage sets in and there is little prospect of survival. Because of a blood clot, a stroke can result in a blood shortage in the brain.
- A closed head injury is one that does not pierce the skull. The common cause of contusions, which result in bleeding, is the brain striking the skull. The skull’s defences can be overcome by a strong enough hit to the head (especially near the temple), which can result in structural damage.
contamination of the brain An organism invading the brain causes a brain infection, and the swelling that follows causes encephalitis. - Viral infections and bacterial infections are the two main categories of brain infections.
- Neurotoxins Any one of a number of hazardous chemicals can harm the neurological system, and lead and mercury can build up in the brain and harm it permanently, resulting in toxic psychosis.
- A variety of illnesses, including Down’s syndrome, Huntington’s disease, and phenylketonuria, can be caused by genetic factors such chromosomal abnormalities, faulty dominant genes, or incorrect recessive genes. A defective hereditary gene may be transmitted to kids, preventing the brain from growing to its full potential.
The physical body can be impacted by psychology, and vice versa
Long-term, excessive stress might initially make one feel bad, but eventually it can harm the body, make one tired, and in the worst cases, even make one die. The term “dystress” refers to excessive stress that damages physical health (by Syle). “Dys” is a Greek prefix that indicates bad. Literally, “terrible stress” is what dystress is. In certain ways, stress is both inevitable and beneficial. Yet, dystress (or anguish) is undesirable.
Continuous stress has negative impacts on the human body. Both clinical abnormalities (such as organ system breakdown and ulceration) and physiological changes that affect disease resistance (such as blood chemistry changes) are signs of stress. Defense mechanisms within the body may be adversely affected both directly and indirectly (by promoting behaviours that weaken these mechanisms or that lead to exposure to pathogens).
Contemporary people do less physical labour thanks to new technology, and they also eat when they are not actually hungry and seek out entertainment when they are fatigued. Actually, this goes against every instinctive emotional “signal from the brain.” In reality, humans are depriving themselves, which is a significant psychological stressor. “Adaptation” overload, which occurs when people are exposed to continual or rapid change—whether it be social, cultural, technical, etc.—is another psychosocial cause of stress.
Additional Learning Methods
Why not take a look at some of our other psychology courses if you’re unsure if this is the right course for you? If you are new to psychology, consider taking Biopsychology 1 or an introductory course.
Why You Could Benefit from This Course
This course assumes that students have some familiarity with the anatomy and functions of the brain and builds on the research done in Biopsychology I. The consequences of brain injury and drugs on behaviour are emphasised more, and the more advanced cognitive abilities of memory and language are thoroughly examined. Graduates of both biopsychology courses will feel assured that they have a solid understanding of how various brain regions function.
This course can be taken independently, as a part of a certificate programme, or as a higher-level course. Most interested in the course are people who work in or intend to work in:
Psychology
Psychotherapy
Teaching
Research
sciences of life
medical fields
health practitioner
