1. Biological Bases of Behavior
3A: Neural Processing and the Endocrine System

2. Introduction “Everything psychological is simultaneously biological”
Every idea, mood and urge, memory, and behavior that an individual has ever experiences is a biological phenomenon.
Franz Gall invented phrenology which is a popular theory that linked our mental abilities and character traits to bumps on the skull.
Biological psychologists have been studying the links between biological activity and psychological events which expands our understanding of sleep and dreams, depression and schizophrenia, hunger and sex, stress and disease.

3. Introduction
We are each a system composed of subsystems that are in turn composed of even smaller subsystems.
We are made up of smaller and smaller subsystems; we are also part of larger systems. Thus, we are biopsychosocial systems (biological systems, psychological systems and social-cultural systems).

4. Neural Communication
Information systems of humans and animals operate similarly which makes it easier for scientists to study the functions of these systems.
The human brain is more complex than a rat’s…BUT both follow the same principles which make researchers able to look at rat’s brains to understand humans a bit more.

5. Neurons
Neuron: a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system
Sensory neurons: incoming information to brain from sensory cells
Motor neurons: outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands.
Interneurons: neurons that communicate between sensory and motor neurons

6. Neurons

7. Speed of a neuron impulse
Neurons
Speed of a neuron impulse
Range from 2 to 200 MPH
Measured in milliseconds
(thousandths of a second)

8. Neuron Application
We need 5 volunteers 

9. Neurons Firing a Neuron
Action potential: a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon
Ions: electrically charged atoms; + or –
Positively vs. resting = negatively charged
Resting potential: fluid inside resting neuron has a lot of negatively charged ions & outside fluid has a lot of positively charged ions.
Selectively permeable: the axon surface is very selective about what it allows in.

10. Firing of a neuron Neurons Excitatory (excite the next cell)
Inhibitory (inhibit (slow/stop) the next cell)
Threshold, enough neurotransmitters
All or none response, not a lot or a little, it either fires or not

11. A neural impulse, or action potential, fires when the neuron is stimulated by signals from the senses or when triggered by chemical signals from neighboring neurons.
The action potential is a brief electrical charge that travels down the axon.
Received signals trigger an impulse only if the excitatory signals minus the inhibitory signals exceeds a minimum intensity called the threshold.

12. The neuron’s reaction is an all-or-none response.
During the resting potential, the fluid interior of the axon carries mostly negatively charged atoms (ions), while the fluid outside has mostly positively charged atoms.
Then, the first bit of the axon is depolarized (its selectively permeable surface allows positive ions in), and the electrical impulse travels down the axon as channels open, admitting ions with a positive charge.
When these channels close, others open and positive ions are pumped back out, restoring the neuron to its polarized state.

13. Electrochemical Process
Electricity travels within the cell, from dendrites to the terminal branches, and chemicals (neurotransmitters) travel between cells in the synapse. Electricity does not “jump” between neurons.

14. Action Potential

15. Action Potential

16. Action Potential

17. Action Potential

18. Action Potential

19. Action Potential Activity
Let’s take a field trip!
Leave your belongings here 

20. How Neurons Communicate
Synapse: the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body (soma) of the receiving neuron. The tiny gap at the junction is called the synaptic gap or synaptic cleft.
Synaptic gap (synaptic cleft)
Neurotransmitters: chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons. When released by the sending neuron, neurotransmitters travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing whether that neuron will generate a neural impulse.
Reuptake: a neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron.

21. How Neurons Communicate

22. How Neurons Communicate

23. How Neurons Communicate

24. How Neurons Communicate

25. How Neurons Communicate

26. How Neurotransmitters Influence Us
Acetylcholine (AcH)
Dopamine
Serotonin
Norepinephrine
GABA
Glutamate
Endorphins: “morphine within”—natural, opiate-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and pleasure
Chart pg. 57
is similar to cocaine
Similar to LSD/Ecstasy

29. Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease= dementia, higher mental functions.
Patients experience irreversible global, progressive impairment of brain function, leading to reduced intellectual ability.

30. Alzheimer's disease Video
In Alzheimer's disease, neurons and synapses are seen to be reduced in the cerebral cortex and other subcortical regions. This loss produces deterioration of the affected regions. These are usually the temporal lobe, parietal lobe and parts of the frontal cortex.
MRI and PET scans show reductions in the size of specific brain regions in people with Alzheimer's disease
Although many older individuals develop some plaques and tangles as a consequence of ageing, the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease have a greater number of them in specific brain regions such as the temporal lobe.

31. Alzheimer's disease Epidemiology Risk factors Ageing. Caucasian.
More common in women.
Head injury
Risk factors associated with heart disease
Genetic background= twin study showed that the extent of heritability for the disease is almost 80%.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 50%-60% of all cases.
Sporadic Alzheimer's disease is very common with more than 15 million people affected worldwide.

32. Video

37. How Neurotransmitters Influence Us How Drugs and Other Chemicals Alter Neurotransmitters
Agonists versus antagonists
Agonists: a molecule that is similar enough to a neurotransmitter to bind to its receptor and mimic its effects
Antagonists: Bind to receptors but their effect is instead to block a neurotransmitters functioning.

38. Agonists and Antagonists

39. Agonists and Antagonists

40. Agonists and Antagonists

41. Agonists and Antagonists

43. The Nervous System

44. The Nervous System

45. The Nervous System

46. The Nervous System

47. The Nervous System

48. The Nervous System

49. The Nervous System

50. The Nervous System

51. Introduction
Nervous System: the body’s speedy electrochemical communication network, consisting of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.
Central Nervous System (CNS): the brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): the sensory and motor neurons that connect the central nervous system to the rest of the body.
Nerves: bundled axons that form neural “cables” connection the central nervous system with muscles, glands and sense organs.

52. The Peripheral Nervous System
Somatic Nervous System: the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body’s skeletal muscles. “Skeletal nervous system”
Autonomic Nervous System: the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Its sympathetic division arouses; its parasympathetic division calms.
Sympathetic nervous system: the division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful situations.
Parasympathetic nervous system: the division of the autonomic nervous system that calms the body; conserving energy.

54. The Central Nervous System
Brain and spinal cord
Neural networks
Spinal cord
Reflex: a simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response

55. A Simple Reflex

56. A Simple Reflex

57. A Simple Reflex

58. Endocrine System
Endocrine system: the body’s slow chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream
Hormones: chemical messengers that are manufactured by the endocrine glands, travel through the bloodstream, and affect other tissues.
Adrenal glands: a pair of endocrine glands that sit just above the kidneys and secrete hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine) that help arouse the body in times of stress.
Epinephrine and norepinephrine
Adrenaline and noradrenaline
Fight or flight response
Pituitary gland: the endocrine system’s most influential gland. Under the influence of the hypothalamus, the pituitary regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands.

59. Go ahead and take a diagram that you can glue/tape/staple into your notebook and label.