AQA A Level Psychology 3.2.2 Biopsychology Exam Questions

About AQA A Level Psychology 3.2.2 Biopsychology

Biopsychology is a Paper 2 topic in AQA A Level Psychology. It explains how the nervous and endocrine systems communicate, how neurons transmit signals across synapses, and how the fight or flight response works. You then study the brain: localisation of function, hemispheric lateralisation and split-brain research, plasticity and functional recovery, and the methods used to study the brain. Finally you learn circadian, infradian and ultradian rhythms and the roles of endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers. Biopsychology supports the biological approach and links to stress, aggression and schizophrenia on Paper 3. Examiners often use diagrams of neurons and ask about scanning methods.

What you need to know

• Nervous system and neurons The central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nervous system (somatic and autonomic, with sympathetic and parasympathetic branches). Sensory, relay and motor neurons; synaptic transmission involves neurotransmitters released from vesicles, diffusing across the synapse and binding to postsynaptic receptors, with excitation and inhibition and summation.
• Endocrine system and fight or flight Glands such as the pituitary (the master gland) and adrenals release hormones into the bloodstream. In fight or flight the hypothalamus activates the sympathetic nervous system, and the adrenal medulla releases adrenaline, increasing heart rate and breathing.
• Localisation of function Motor (frontal lobe), somatosensory (parietal lobe), visual (occipital lobe) and auditory (temporal lobe) centres. Broca's area in the left frontal lobe is linked to speech production and Wernicke's area in the left temporal lobe to language comprehension.
• Lateralisation and split-brain research Language is usually lateralised to the left hemisphere. Sperry (1968) studied split-brain patients and found they could name objects shown to the right visual field (left hemisphere) but not those shown to the left visual field.
• Plasticity and functional recovery Maguire et al. (2000) found London taxi drivers had more grey matter in the posterior hippocampus. After trauma, recovery involves axonal sprouting, reformation of blood vessels and recruitment of homologous areas on the opposite hemisphere.
• Ways of studying the brain fMRI measures changes in blood oxygenation, EEG records overall electrical activity via scalp electrodes, ERPs isolate responses to a specific stimulus, and post-mortem examinations analyse brain structure after death.
• Biological rhythms Circadian (about 24 hours, e.g. sleep-wake cycle; Siffre's cave study), infradian (more than 24 hours, e.g. menstrual cycle; McClintock and Stern, 1998) and ultradian (less than 24 hours, e.g. stages of sleep). The suprachiasmatic nucleus is the main endogenous pacemaker; light and social cues are exogenous zeitgebers.

Common mistakes in 3.2.2 Biopsychology

• Saying the somatic nervous system controls involuntary functions; that is the autonomic nervous system.
• Mixing up Broca's and Wernicke's areas: Broca's is production and frontal; Wernicke's is comprehension and temporal.
• Describing fMRI as measuring electrical activity; it measures blood flow and oxygen use, while EEG and ERPs measure electrical activity.
• Stating that split-brain patients could not see objects in the left visual field; they could see them but could not name them, and could often select them with the left hand.
• Writing that the adrenal cortex releases adrenaline in acute stress; adrenaline comes from the adrenal medulla.

Try three 3.2.2 Biopsychology exam-style questions