Physiology of psychology is part of behavioral neuroscience (biological psychology) that studies the neural mechanisms of perception and behavior through direct manipulation of the brains of nonhuman animal subjects in controlled experiments. This field of psychology takes an empirical and practical approach when studying the brain and human behavior. Most scientists in this field believe that the mind is a phenomenon derived from the nervous system. By studying and gaining knowledge of the mechanisms of the nervous system, physiological psychologists can reveal many truths about human behavior. Unlike other subdivisions in biological psychology, the main focus of psychological research is the development of a theory that describes the relationship of brain-behavior.
Physiological psychology studies many topics related to the body's response to behavior or activity within an organism. It concerns the brain cells, structures, components, and chemical interactions involved to produce the action. Psychologists in this field typically focus their attention on topics such as sleep, emotion, consumption, senses, reproductive behavior, learning/memory, communication, psychopharmacology, and neurological disorders. The basis for this study all surrounds itself around the idea of ​​how neural systems intertwine with other systems in the body to create certain behaviors.
The nervous system can be described as a control system that connects other body systems. It consists of the brain, spinal cord, and other nerve tissues throughout the body. The main function of the system is to react to internal and external stimuli in the human body. It uses electrical and chemical signals to send responses to different parts of the body, and it consists of nerve cells that are also called neurons. Through the system, messages are sent to body tissues such as muscles. There are two major subdivisions in the nervous system known as the central and peripheral nervous system.
The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord. The brain is the body's control center and contains millions of neural connections. This organ is responsible for sending and receiving messages from the body and its environment. Each part of the brain is devoted to various aspects of human beings. For example, the temporal lobe has a major role in vision and audition, whereas the frontal lobe is significant for motor function and problem solving. The spinal cord is attached to the brain and acts as the primary link between the nerves and the brain.
The neural network located outside the central nervous system is collectively known as the peripheral nervous system. This system can be subdivided into autonomic and somatic nervous systems. An autonomous system can be called an involuntary component that regulates the body's organs and mechanisms, such as digestion and respiration. The somatic system is responsible for conveying messages back and forth from the brain to different parts of the body, whether it takes sensory stimulation and sends it to the brain or sends messages from the brain to muscle to contract and relax.
Video Physiological psychology
Emotion
Emotion is a major influence to determine human behavior. It is thought that emotions can be predicted and rooted in different areas of our brain, depending on the emotions it causes. Emotional responses can be divided into three main categories including behavioral, autonomous, and hormonal.
- Behavioral components are explained by the muscle movements that accompany emotions. For example, if a person experiences fear, the possible mechanism of behavior is a flight of the fear factor.
- The autonomous aspects of an emotion provide the ability to react to emotions. This will be a fight-or-flight response received automatically by brain signals.
- Finally, the released hormone facilitates an autonomic response. For example, an autonomous response, which has delivered a fight-or-flight response, will be aided by the release of chemicals such as epinephrine and norepinephrine, both secreted by the adrenal glands, to increase blood flow further to help rejuvenate oxygen and nutritional muscles.
Emotion activates several areas of the brain within the limbic system and varies per emotion:
- Fear: the amygdala is a major component of acquisition, storage, & amp; expression of fear
- Lesions in central amygdaloid may cause interference in behavioral and autonomic emotional responses of fear
- Anger/aggression: the hypothalamus and amygdala work together to send an inhibitory impulse/stimulus to the periaqueductal gray which then performs usually defensive behavior
- Happiness: the ventral tegmental area works closely with the prefrontal cortex to produce an emotion of happiness as they lie on the same dopamine path
Some hormones are secreted in response to emotions and vary from general emotional tuning to certain hormones released from certain emotions:
- Emotions are seen as positive feedback cycles in the brain. Oxytocin acts to make the limbic system too sensitive to emotional responses leading to greater emotional responses. Under the response to emotion, even more oxytocin is secreted and therefore improves the response further. In addition to the effects of oxytocin in general on the limbic system, it provides a more specific purpose also in the body. It acts as an anxiety suppressant especially found in stressful and social situations. It provides a relaxing effect for the body during this high stressful situation. Oxytocin is also seen as a powerful hormone in attachment and aggression in the mother found in new mothers. This hormone also plays a little part in the desire of women to pair up and mate.
- Another hormone found in direct responses to emotions is the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secreted in response to terrifying stimuli. ACTH is secreted by the posterior pituitary in response to fear and plays a role in facilitation or inhibition of behaviors and actions to follow. In many cases, high ACTH secretion will lead to inhibition of action that will result in the same fear response that has just occurred.
- Happiness is mainly controlled by levels of dopamine and serotonin in the body. Both are monoamine neurotransmitters that work in various places in the body. Serotonin acts on receptors in the gastrointestinal tract while dopamine acts on receptors in the brain, while both perform similar functions. Dopamine is known as the major hormone that works on the brain reward system, while it has recently begun to become a point of debate in the research community. Serotonin is less well known about how it performs its function in reducing depression, but it only works. Specific-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a type of drug given to patients suffering from depression in which serotonin is left in the synapse to continue to be absorbed in the body.
Maps Physiological psychology
Sleep
Sleep is a behavior triggered by a body that begins drowsiness so that people can rest for several hours at a time. During sleep, there is a reduction of awareness, response, and movement. On average, an adult human sleeps between seven and eight hours per night. There is a percentage of minutes sleeping less than five to six hours, which is also a symptom of sleep deprivation, and the percentage of people who sleep more than ten hours a day less. Oversleeping has been shown to have a correlation with higher mortality. There is no benefit to excessive sleep and can cause sleep inertia, which is a sleepy feeling during the period after waking. There are two phases of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) and Non-REM sleep (NREM).
REM sleep is a less restful stage in which you dream and experience muscle movement or twitching. Also during this stage in sleep, the heart rate and breathing of a person are usually irregular. Non-REM sleep, also sometimes referred to as slow-wave sleep, is associated with deep sleep. Blood pressure, heart rate, and body breathing significantly decreased compared to the alert state. Dreaming can happen in this country; However one can not remember them because of how deep their sleep and the inability to consolidate occur in memory. The REM cycle usually occurs within 90 minute intervals and increases in length as the number of sleeps in a session takes place. In a typical night's rest, a person will have about four to six REM cycles and non-REM sleep.
Sleep is essential for the body to recover from energy depletion during awake and allow recovery because cell division occurs most rapidly during the Non-REM cycle. Sleep is also important to maintain the functioning of the immune system, as well as assist with consolidation of previously learned and experienced information into memory. If lack of sleep, withdrawal of information usually decreases. Dreams that occur during sleep have been shown to improve mental creativity and problem-solving skills.
Since the time period since the last Non-REM cycle has increased, the body's drive to sleep also increases. Physical and environmental factors can have a major influence on the body's drive to sleep. Mental stimulation, pain and discomfort, higher/lower than normal environmental temperature, exercise, exposure to light, noise, hunger, and overeating all result in increased awareness. Conversely, sexual activity and some foods such as carbohydrates and dairy products promote sleep.
Careers in the
fieldIn the past, physiological psychologists received most of their training in the psychology department of the major universities. Currently, physiological psychologists are also being trained in behavioral neuroscience or biological psychology programs that are affiliated with the psychology department, or in an interdisciplinary neuroscience program. Most physiological psychologists receive PhDs in neuroscience or related subjects and either teach and carry out research in colleges or universities, employed for research for government laboratories or other private organizations, or employed by pharmaceutical companies to study the effects of various drugs on individual behavior.
See also
- Cognitive neuroscience
- Psychophysiology
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments