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Biological structures
A level: Biological psychology
Starter
Rita and Holly are identical twins who were
separated at birth. When they finally met each
other at the age of 35, they were surprised at
how different their personalities were. Rita is
much more social and out-going than Holly.
Use your knowledge of genotypes and
phenotypes to explain this difference in their
personalities (4 marks)
Mark scheme
• Holly and Rita have identical genotype as they are MZ
twins.
• They have the predisposition to develop the same
personalities as each other unless another factor(s)
intervenes.
• For them to have developed different personalities
over time, this must have been influenced by being in
different environments.
• Their phenotypes – personalities achieved – are
different, presumably because Rita was encouraged to
be sociable and lively and Holly was not.
What we need to know
1. Biological Structures
• Division of Nervous system
• Function of Endocrine system
• Fight or Flight
• The Role of adrenalin
2. Neurotransmitters
• Structure and function of sensory relay and motor
neurons
• Process of synaptic transmission (neurotransmitters)
Activity: Where on the body?
• Get into pairs.
• Person A closes their eyes.
• Person B has to touch Person A gently in different areas of
the body.
• Person A has to identify which part of their body was being
touched.
Question:
How do you know which area was being touched when
nothing was said?
The Brain: facts
• The average adult brain weighs about 3 pounds (13001400 grams)
• Like snowflakes, no two human brains are exactly alike,
although they do have common structures and
configurations.
• The brain is made up of many different structures.
• the cerebrum (top part of the brain) is divided in two
hemispheres (hemisphere means ‘half a circle’ in latin)
• The left hemisphere and the right hemisphere
• There are 4 lobes (frontal, temporal, parietal and
occipital) each with their own function.
• The left hemisphere in most people, is dominant for language,
speech, writing, mathematics, and logical reasoning.
• The right hemisphere is dominant for music, spatial awareness, art,
intuitive thought, and imagination. A bridge-shaped band of nerve
fibers called the corpus callosum (which means ‘body of hardness’
in Latin) connects the two hemispheres.
• There are millions of nerve fibers in the adult human corpus
callosum that send messages back and forth between the
hemispheres.
• The nerve fibers in the corpus callosum allow the hemispheres to
communicate with each other.
• Since the two hemispheres have different and complementary
functions, it is important for them to communicate for optimal
mental performance.
Brain APP
Find the following on the App and provide an
overview of its role
• Occipital
• Temporal lobe
• Parietal lobe.
• Frontal lobe
The cortex is divided into four different
lobes
• Occipital lobe is primarily to do with the function of
vision and is often referred to as the visual cortex.
• Temporal lobe is primarily to do with the function of
hearing and is often referred to as the auditory cortex.
• Parietal lobe processes sensations from the skin and
different muscles throughout the body.
• Frontal lobe is concerned with higher thought
processes such as reasoning and abstract thinking.
The Brain can affect Behaviour
• Phineas Gage: hard to evidence that the brain plays a
part in behaviour without case studies of individuals
who have suffered a brain injury.
• Phineas Gage suffered an accident where a large rod
was blasted through his skull and brain.
• He survived this ordeal but it was reported that his
behaviour changed after the event. He became antisocial and ill-mannered.
• His friends said “Gage was no longer
Gage.”
Activity 1
• Complete Activity 1 on the worksheet
• Extension: For the individual that finishes first:
create a cut out of the brain and label.
• Create spinal cord and place on the outline to
represent the central nervous system.
Nervous system
Provides the biological basis of psychological
experience
All our thoughts, movements, sensations and
emotions are controlled by the nervous system.
Central Nervous system: Brain and spinal cord
Peripheral nervous system: Transmits information
to and from the central nervous system
Central nervous system
Concerned with all life functions and psychological processes
• Consists of the brain and the spinal cord
• Pivotal in transferring messages to and from their environment.
• Centre at which all the physiology of the individual is controlled
• The Central Nervous System (CNS) is made up of the brain and the
spinal cord. The vertebrae of the spine encase and protect the soft
neural tissue of the spinal cord, just like the skull protects the brain.
Biological psychologists look to the brain for behaviour as most actions
and reactions are generated from the CNS
Peripheral nervous system
Transmits information to and from the central nervous system
The motor and sensory nerves running throughout the body make up the Peripheral
Nervous System (PNS).
The PNS sends message to and from the CNS.
The CNS controls the body by sending messages that flow through the motor nerves
to control muscles.
Sensory nerves relay messages about touch, pressure, temperature, pain, sound,
vision, smell, and taste to the CNS.
Thus, motor nerve messages travel from the CNS out to the muscles in the body and
sensory nerve messages travel from nerve endings in the body back in to the CNS.
Divisions of the peripheral nervous
system (PNS)
• Two major divisions:
– somatic nervous system
– autonomic nervous system
Somatic nervous system
• Interacts with the external environment
• Conducts sensory signals to the CNS from external sensory
receptors, e.g. from:
–
–
–
–
eyes
ears
touch receptors in the skin
sensory receptors in joints and skeletal muscles
• It conducts motor signals from the CNS to skeletal muscles
Autonomic nervous system
• Participates in the regulation of the body’s
internal environment.
• Conducts signals from sensory receptors in
internal organs, e.g.
– liver
– Stomach
to the CNS
Activity 2
• Using two different coloured pens, draw and
label on the diagram the motor and sensory
pathways of the peripheral nervous system.
• Extension: On the human outline use two
coloured pens, representing the motor and
sensory nerves, to create motor and sensory
pathways of the peripheral nervous system.
Activity 3 The Endocrine System
Read page 115 of the Green haired girl book
Make notes on the Endocrine system
Complete the handout questions
The nervous system
Activity 4
The peripheral nervous system
The central nervous
system
Somatic
nervous system
Transmits
information to
and from senses
and to and from
central nervous
system
Autonomic
nervous system
Transmits
information to and
from internal
organs to sustain
life processes
Sympathetic nervous system
Generally increases bodily
activities
Spinal cord
Receives and
transmits
information to
and from the
brain
Brain
Maintains life,
involved in
higher functions
and
psychological
processes
Parasympathetic nervous system
Generally maintains or decreases
bodily activities
Inside the Brain - Neurons
Neuron (nerve cell)
• These neurons carry signals electrically along
their axon and chemically across a synapse.
• A synapse is a gap between two neurons.
• Neurons never touch so to communicate they
send chemicals across the synapse and these
are picked up by the other neuron.
Activity: create a neuron
• Hold out your arm and spread your fingers. Your
hand represents the "cell body" (also called the
"soma”)
• Your fingers represent "dendrites" bringing
information to the cell body.
• Your arm represents the "axon" taking
information away from the cell body.
• Your jumper/shirt represents the myelin sheath
that that facilitates the transmission of nerve
impulses
Activity 5
Label the diagram and state what each part of
the neuron does.
Answers
• Synapses: Send electrical impulses to neighbouring
neurons.
• Myelin sheaths: Cover the axon and work like
insulation to help keep electrical signals inside the cell,
which allows them to move more quickly.
• Axon: Transfers electrical impulse signals from the cell
body to the synapse.
• Soma: The cell body which contains most of the cell’s
organelles
• Nucleus: Contains the cell’s DNA
• Dendrites: Receive electrical impulses from
neighbouring neurons.
The Firing of a neuron and Synapse
Neuron sending the
chemical signal
Chemicals being released
into the synapse
Neuron picking up the
chemical signal
Using the whiteboards explain what is
happening in this diagram
Watch the video
• Complete activity 6
• Label the synaptic transmission diagram
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhowH0
kb7n0
Extn- Check the diagram
Plenary: quiz
• Get into teams of 4/5
• Choose a team name (has to be biological
related)
• First team to shout out their team name gets
to answer the question
• 10 questions
Exam questions
Handout
Another name for
a “nerve cell.”
neuron
The part of the neuron
that
brings information
to the cell body.
a dendrite
The part of the neuron
that
takes information
away from the cell body.
axon
The junction between
two neurons.
synapse
The explosion of electrical
activity sent down an
axon when a neuron
sends information.
action potential
The weight of the adult
human brain.
3 pounds
or 1.4 kilograms
The two main divisions
of the nervous system.
central nervous system
and the peripheral
nervous system
Area of the brain
responsible for thought,
language and planning.
cerebral cortex
Connects the right and left
hemispheres of the brain.
corpus callosum
Name of the man who
survived after an iron rod
went through the frontal
lobe of his brain in 1848.
Phineas Gage