...research has been evolving on that issue to show how the biology of the brain is related to aggression and how different the neurochemistry of the brain of an aggressive person to a non aggressive one. “Violent behavior never erupts from a single cause, rather it results from a combination of risk factors — among them inherited tendencies, a traumatic childhood and other negative experiences — that interact and aggravate one another” (Strueber). Basically putting together this combination of likely explanations of aggression may let one see the whole picture of why people become so aggressive. The biology of the brain and aggression seek to be explained in two different ways, in terms of androgens which are male hormones and the level of serotonin in the brain. In general it is important to talk about aggression and understand its possible manifestations because aggression is important in human existence therefore being aware of its likely biological causes will help us understand better why there is a high rate of aggression, violence and suicide and make us perceive it from the biological aspect rather than from the cultural or the individual context. First of all, the first linkage to aggression is the level of androgen in the human’s body and it has been proven that the level of testosterone increases the level of aggression in a person. Male interactions are more emphasized because of the different levels of androgens in males which therefore show that “male sex hormones play...
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...reaches the terminal buttons which release neurotransmitters housed in synaptic vesicles. Neurotransmitters are then released into the space between the synaptic cleft. The neurotransmitters cross this space and combine with receptors of the postsynaptic neuron. The message is relayed and the neurotransmitter detaches from the receptor, and is recycled, disposed, or reabsorbed. Acetylcholine (ACh) is responsible for controlling arousal, attention, motivation, and movement. Too much ACh causes spasms and tremors, too little causes paralysis or torpor. Dopamine is responsible for emotions and behaviors. Pleasure and pain are also controlled by dopamine. Excessive amount lead to mental disorders, and lack of this neurotransmitter can cause involuntary muscle spasms. Serotonin is a well known neurotransmitter, and it is responsible for regulating sleep, dreams, moods, and aggressive behavior. Too much serotonin leads to anxiety and impulsiveness. Endorphins are often released during exercise, and are involved with restricting pain. The complexity of neurotransmitters and the...
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...can have affects lasting up for over a few weeks. Doctors have actually found that not only does ketamine work almost instantly; it is also very effective in patients who have failed to respond to traditional antidepressant treatment. Ketamine is very different from a normal antidepressant medication. While most antidepressants work on the neurotransmitters serotonin or norepinephrine. Ketamine focuses on a different neurotransmitter called glutamate. Ketamine blocks the receptors critical for receiving glutamate’s signals, which improves the brain’s electrical flow, resulting in reduced depression. Ketamine can also result in a state of dissociative anesthesia, making one feel a generalized sense of well being. This anesthetic effect is why the drug is used for surgeries. Describe the roll of the Limbic system: The limbic system is a set of evolutionarily primitive brain structures located on top of brainstem and buried under the cortex. Limbic system structures are involved in many of our emotions and motivations, particularly those that are related to survival. Such emotions include fear, anger, and emotions related to...
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...special properties. Biological causes of clinical depression continue to be studied extensively. Great progress has been made in the understanding of brain function, the influence of neurotransmitters, and other biological processes, as well as how they may relate to the development of depression. Depression or anxiety causes individuals to have many changes in their behaviors. They tend to become isolated from their family, friends, or be social. Their eating patterns lead to either weight gain or loss; and sleeping patterns change where they either do not sleep or sleep excessively. They become agitated, irritable, and fatigue or have lack of energy. Biological psychology aims at finding the biological factor of depression. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, (SSRI) have had a major impact on the field of biological psychology because it is the most commonly prescribed medication for the treatment of depression and other mental disorders including anxiety and obsessive disorder. The brain is the "command center" of the human body. It controls the basic functions of our...
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...Neurons are the specialized cells of the nervous system. There are three types of neurons: sensory neurons, motor neurons, and interneurons. Sensory neurons are involved with sensation, such as feeling pain, and they relay messages to the brain or spinal cord. Motor neurons transmit impulses from the central nervous system to activate parts of the body, such as muscles or glands. Interneurons receive signals from sensory neurons and from hormones and act like bridges transferring messages between the sensory neurons and motor neurons. The central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) is made almost entirely from interneurons. They are what make complex reflexes and the higher associative functions required for learning and memory possible. Communication between neurons, also termed neurotransmission or synaptic transmission is accomplished by the movement of chemicals and electrical signals across a synapse. Interneurons function by receiving information or messages (input) from other neurons, processing the information, and then sending this ‘output’ to other neurons through synapses. There are electrical synapses as well as chemical synapses. The electrical synapses are involved with long distance rapid communication. Chemical synapses process neurotransmission involving chemical messengers, or neurotransmitters. When neurons receive the threshold amount of electrical impulses or messages through dendrites they are triggered to fire and release stores of neurotransmitters...
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...best known as neurons. Neurons perform as information transmitters and receivers to other neurons or to muscles in the body. Neurons have these tiny fibers that extend from the body of the cell and its main function is to receive incoming messages and transmit them to the main cell. Outgoing messages to other neurons and muscles or glands are carried out by a single long fiber called the axon. Axons are covered with a white fatty tissue called myelin sheath. The myelin sheath provides insulation to avoid signals from other neurons to interfere with each other and it also increases speed when signals are been transmitted. Motor neurons carry messages from the spinal cord or the brain to the muscles and glands. Al l neurons in the nervous system only speak one language ON or OFF electrochemical impulses. The communication process of neurons in the work by impulses or what it’s also called firing. When a neuron receives a message from other neurons it automatically excites the neuron or tells the neuron to fire. This term is also known as electrochemical impulse or discharge. After the neuron has fired, it returns to a resting state and remains ready to fire again. During resting state more positive charge ions remain on the outside of the neuron and negative charged ions remain on the inside. During the action or excitement phase, Ion exchange process begins by positively charge Ions are mixed with negatively...
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...impairs the person's capacity to function” (The Merck Manual for health care professionals, 2013). The parts of the brain that are believed to be involved in this certain disorder are the medial prefrontal cortex also known as MPFC, Amygdala, Hippocampus, and ventromedial parts of the basal ganglia. Drevets, Price, and Furey cited that “patients with mood disorders show abnormalities of morphology or morphometry in many visceromotor network structures (Drevets and Price 2005). Depending on the amount of time an individual has had the abnormalalities, they may develop aggressive moods or psychosis. The Hippocampus “is a limbic system brain structure, important in storing information in long term memory” (Stangor, 2010,. p. 73). The limbic system is also associated with a person’s emotions, which affects the mood of the person. The Amygdala, also part of the limbic system, “is responsible for regulating our perception of, and reactions to aggression and fear” (Stangor, 2010,. p. 72). Chakravarthy, Joseph, and Bapi, (2010) said that “basal ganglia (BG) are deep brain nuclei implicated in diverse and crucial functions like (1) reward-based learning, (2) exploratory behavior, (3) goal-oriented behavior,(4) motor preparation, (5) working memory, (6) timing,(7) action gating, (8) action selection, (9) fatigue, and...
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...componets in protecting against brain related diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's (Hall, 2011). Several parts of the brain initiates, and maintains motivation that engages in healthy eating. Some researchers say that evolutionary factors come into play. Factors like reinforcements of endorphins and serotonin activity producing the fullness and well-being feelings after eating (Stone, 2011). If one tries denying these reinforcing experiences, this causes difficulty maintaining a stablized diet. According to Psychological musings, factors such as biological, and enviornmental influences help in the implecation of new, and specific behavior like maintaining a healthy diet (Stone, 2011). To maintain continual motivation in healthy eating there are many brain structures that do contribute. Brain structures that maintain the motivation for healthy eating are the limbic system, hypothalamus, hippocampus, and the amygdala. These structures together form new memories, regulate emotions that maintain positive attitudes about considered diet changes (Stone, 2011). The limbic system is linked with reward, and motivation. This system has a very important role in healthy eating. This allows the indivdual to have a sense of accomplishment, and reward. Alison Adcock and Guido Frank, MD at the Universityh of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus considered the relation between dopamine related reward-learning task in healthy and bulimic women. Alison...
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...do. All three disorders come with symptoms that can cause people not blend in with society and live a normal life. The right kinds of treatment can help people to overcome the symptoms of these disorders and live a normal life, but they are not curable. Schizophrenia Schizophrenia affects the most crucial parts of the brain: the forebrain, the hindbrain, and the limbic system. The forebrain includes the cerebral hemispheres (hypothalamus, thalamus, corpus callosum, and the limbic system). It controls cognition, sensory and motor functions, temperature regulation, hunger, sleep cycles, and emotional expressions. The frontal lobe of the forebrain causes positive symptoms of schizophrenia like delusions. The temporal lobe of the forebrain distorts sounds and visions causing hallucinations. The hindbrain includes the pons, medulla, and the cerebellum. Schizophrenia affects this part of the brain causing the negative symptoms as in distorted motor functions, body language, and catatonic behaviors. The limbic system includes the hippocampus and the amygdala. The functions of this area of the brain are regulated emotions, memories, learning, and sexual behaviors ("Livestrong.com", 2012). According to "Livestrong.com" (2012), “In a brain affected by schizophrenia this causes affective flattening which is considered a negative symptom of the disorder. Additionally, impairment in this portion of the brain creates disorganized behaviors preventing normal social connecting, bizarre actions...
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...Brain Response of Behavior Neurons are electrical cells found in the nervous system which are responsible for sending information between neurons and the cells. With neurons, all body systems are able to talk with the brain through sending and receiving signals. A connection with the specific regions of the central nervous system is found. In order to get to where they are going, neurotransmitters are needed by the neurons so that signals between a neuron, and a cell are relayed, modulated and amplified. Neurotransmitters are chemicals released by a neuron at the presynaptic nerve terminal by which movement across a small gap called synapse facilitates accomplishment of communication of information between the neurons and the other cells. Neurotransmitters play major roles in regulating moods, emotions, affects, sensory functions, and perception giving it a impact on behavior. Common neurotransmitters that can affect the behavior are dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine . Dopamine gets released in different parts of the brain. Natural factors like food, sex, and drugs are usually where dopamine is released. Dopamine has stimulating effects with many functions which include roles in behavior and cognition, motivation and pleasure, sexual arousal, sleep regulation, mood, attention, motor activities, and learning. Serotonin controls mood and behavior such as sexual behavior and hallucinogenic behavior, appetite, sleep, memory, and learning. Norepinephrine distributes...
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...Associate Level Material Appendix C Brain Response of Behavior Part I Note: Parts II and III follow below, complete all three. Neurons process information through signals or nerve impulses in the brain. These are referred to as action potentials and the action is carried through two types of process. These processes are electrical and chemical synapse. Nerve impulse is the electrical signal reach from the chemical signal. the neuron receives it from another neuron through its dendrites. That chemical reaction between neurons is called a terminal buttons. The result, neurotransmitters are released which in turn transmit the message to the next neuron. The reactions between the neurons and signal transmitting are termed as synapses. The synapses do not gather together they exist as the synaptic cleft. Synaptic cleft is where and how the signals transfer through reaching the dendrite of a neuron. Once the neuron that receives information is known as a postsynaptic neuron and the one that sends the neuron is the presynaptic neuron. Then it returns to neurotransmitters that are released in the axon by the sacs named synaptic vesicles. A synaptic vesicles are often known as neurotransmitter vesicles. Stores a variety of neurotransmitters that function as chemical messengers to the next neurons. Neurotransmitters are released when they have a nerve impulse at the end of a axon and once they come across the synaptic cleft they will attack to the receptors of the receiving...
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...relating to behavior. Researchers base biological theories on flaws relating to heredity, dysfunction of the brain’s neurotransmitters, injuries, trauma, or abnormalities involving the brain affecting behavior (Raine, 2002). Brain development is a biological theory providing information connecting damage of the frontal lobes located in the brain’s cerebrum to criminal behavior. The brain is similar to a computer sending messages to the body and when the messages cannot be delivered it is because of a dysfunction that has occurred in the brain. The frontal lobes and the limbic system are two of the major areas of the brain involving behavior. The frontal lobes are responsible for reasoning, problem solving, and emotions (Allen & Harper, 2010). The limbic system contains electrical circuitry controlling emotions and motivation (Allen & Harper, 2010). The amygdala when stimulated produces behavior related to emotions, memory and fear. When the amygdala is functioning properly it produces the proper behavioral reaction or response to the event that is happening (Allen & Harper, 2010) When damage occurs to the frontal lobes the ability to reason or censor thoughts, and actions will become impaired leading to maladaptive behavior, aggression, or anti-social behavior (Allen, & Harper, 2010). A study by Antonio Damasio provided information relating to injuries of the frontal lobes may...
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...a signal at a very fast rate. The function of the entire nervous system is to provide a system that allows for signals to be transmitted quickly from one specific location to another. I think they are related because they all work with the nervous system in the same way. 2. Experimental design is a branch of statistics that attempts to outline the way in which experiments should be carried out so the data gathered will have statistical value. With correlation designs is a type of research design in which patterns of correlations are analyzed. Correlation designs do not show cause and effect. They only show how likely two things are. Experimental designs are created in order to display cause and effect. 3. Three differences in the theory of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis and the theory of Ivan Pavlov and behaviorism. One reason is that Psychoanalysis would look at the childhood and unconscious. And one reason for behaviorism is behaviorism looks at the stimulus and consequences to the behavior. The second reason is that Sigmund use different techniques that used were free association, dream analysis, transference, and resistance and par praxes. These research techniques stressed that behavior is “not what it seems on the surface, but a large part of the personality is below the level of awareness”. Behaviorism employed methods to evaluate the S-R relationship and its effects on behavior. Each system provides its constituents with different ideas of truth and each...
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...Gabriel Test 1 Study Guide (Topics and Concepts) for Chapter 1 and 2: Chapter 1 * Define psychology Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes * Identify and explain psychology’s four primary goals.description, explanation, prediction, influence * Understand the meaning of a theory a theory organizes facts systematically and guides scientific reaserach * **Compare and contrast basic and applied research Basic research is to seek new knowledge and expore and advance scientific understanding. Applied research is to solve practical problems and improve the quality of life * Compare and contrast naturalistic and laboratory observations, case studies and survey research, including their advantages and limitations. Naturalistic Observation – where reasearchers observe behavior in its natural setting without attempting to influence or control it. It allows study of behavior in normal settings but you have to wait for things to happen and observer bias distrots observations. Laboratory Observation- Studying behavior in a labortatory, Reasearchers have more control and use morepresise equipment to measure responses but they lose sontaneirt that occurs when behaviours take place in a more natural setting Case study – an in depth study of one or a few participants consisting of info gathered through observations, interviews and psychological testing. Good for studying people who have uncommon psychological or physiological disorders or brain...
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...worse, a woman may be experiencing the effects of postpartum depression (PPD). Abrupt hormone withdrawal is the most obvious change in immediate postpartum, but clues to the mood disturbance may lie in the deregulation of neuroendocrine systems, including how hormones affect neurotransmitters and their actions within the brain. The baby blues are common for numerous reasons. The baby’s crying and the mother’s interrupted sleep and breast-feeding are enough to make any woman feel irritable if not overwhelmed. The onset of postpartum depression, on the other hand, is believed to be caused by chemical imbalances in the brain; specifically shifts in hormone levels. According to postpartum Support International (PSI), the theory to date suggests that a sharp drop in estrogen and progesterone following delivery is the culprit.1 Ovarian steroids play an important regulatory role in a women’s general sense of wellbeing. Studies have found significant positive correlations between the onset of PPD and postpartum withdrawal of estrogen and progesterone levels.2 Aside from estrogen’s many roles in our developmental health, it is also known to be a neuro-stimulant with anti-depressive effects. High levels of estrogen produce an imbalance in the system that aggravates symptoms of anxiety. On the other hand, low levels of estrogen can lead to episodes of depression.3 A...
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