Brain Science

What Brain Science covers

Brain Science is examined in Unit AS 4, Brain Science — internally assessed, Double Award only. It covers brain structure and frontal lobe damage, neurones, synapses and the endocrine system, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and stem cell therapy, schizophrenia and mental health awareness in Northern Ireland, the biology of aggression and methods of studying the brain, stress, the stress response and stress management, memory models, forgetting and eyewitness testimony, abnormality, phobias, depression and OCD, experiments, observations, self-report and research design and Hypotheses, sampling, ethics and descriptive statistics.

The 10 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Brain structure and frontal lobe damageThe four lobes, Broca's area, the corpus callosum and ventricles, the limbic system, amygdala and basal ganglia, the brain stem, Phineas Gage and the effects of frontal lobe damage.Open →
• Neurones, synapses and the endocrine systemSensory, relay and motor neurones, myelin and impulse speed calculations, transmission at synapses, excitation, inhibition and summation, endocrine glands, and adrenaline in fight or flight.Open →
• Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and stem cell therapyNeurodegenerative disease, the plaques and tangles of Alzheimer's and its progression and treatment, the genetics and effects of Huntington's disease, and stem cell therapy for brain disease.Open →
• Schizophrenia and mental health awareness in Northern IrelandPositive and negative symptoms, twin studies, the dopamine hypothesis, neural correlates, family and cognitive explanations, antipsychotics and cognitive behavioural therapy, and mental health strategies in Northern Ireland.Open →
• The biology of aggression and methods of studying the brainThe limbic system, serotonin, testosterone and the MAOA gene in aggression, the Brunner and Caspi studies, and invasive and non-invasive methods including lesions, deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, fMRI, EEG and PET.Open →
• Stress, the stress response and stress managementSelye's general adaptation syndrome, the sympathomedullary pathway and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal system, cortisol, stress and immunity and heart disease, life changes, hassles and workplace stress, measuring stress and managing it.Open →
• Memory models, forgetting and eyewitness testimonyThe multi-store model and the case of HM, episodic, semantic and procedural memory, the working memory model, interference and retrieval failure, and factors affecting eyewitness testimony.Open →
• Abnormality, phobias, depression and OCDDefinitions of abnormality, the characteristics of phobias, depression and OCD, conditioning explanations and treatments for phobias, Beck and Ellis on depression, cognitive therapy, and explanations and drug treatment of OCD.Open →
• Experiments, observations, self-report and research designLaboratory, field, natural and quasi-experiments, observation methods and reliability, questionnaires and interviews, variables and extraneous variables, and independent groups, repeated measures and matched pairs.Open →
• Hypotheses, sampling, ethics and descriptive statisticsAims and hypotheses, populations and sampling, ethical principles and deception, peer review, correlation, measures of central tendency and spread, bar charts and scattergraphs, and normal and skewed distributions.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Brain Science further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Sensory neurone vs Motor neurone

  Sensory neurone: nerve cell carrying impulses from receptors towards the central nervous system. Motor neurone: nerve cell carrying impulses from the central nervous system out to effectors.

• Proactive interference vs Retroactive interference

  Proactive interference: older learning disrupting recall of newer information. Retroactive interference: newer learning disrupting recall of older information.

• Episodic memory vs Semantic memory

  Episodic memory: long-term store of personal experiences tied to a time and place. Semantic memory: long-term store of facts and general knowledge about the world.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What are the four lobes of each cerebral hemisphere?

   Model answer

   Each hemisphere has a frontal, a parietal, a temporal and an occipital lobe. The lobes are named after the skull bones that cover them.

2. 2

   What are the main functions of the frontal lobes?

   Model answer

   The frontal lobes control planning, decision-making, personality and the inhibition of impulses. The motor cortex at their rear controls voluntary movement.

3. 3

   Which area of the left frontal lobe is involved in producing speech?

   Model answer

   Broca's area in the left frontal lobe controls the production of speech. Damage to Broca's area leaves speech slow and effortful although understanding is largely kept.

4. 4

   What are the main functions of the temporal lobes?

   Model answer

   The temporal lobes process sound in the auditory cortex and help to understand language. The hippocampus, deep in each temporal lobe, is needed to form new memories.

5. 5

   What are the main functions of the parietal lobes?

   Model answer

   The parietal lobes contain the somatosensory cortex, which receives touch, temperature and pain signals. The parietal lobes also build a sense of spatial awareness and body position.

6. 6

   What is the function of the occipital lobes?

   Model answer

   The occipital lobes at the back of the brain contain the visual cortex. The visual cortex processes information from the eyes, such as shape, colour and movement.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Brain Science revision questions

What does Brain Science cover in CCEA A-Level Life and Health Sciences?

10 subtopics: brain structure and frontal lobe damage, neurones, synapses and the endocrine system, alzheimer's disease, huntington's disease and stem cell therapy, schizophrenia and mental health awareness in northern ireland, the biology of aggression and methods of studying the brain, stress, the stress response and stress management, memory models, forgetting and eyewitness testimony, abnormality, phobias, depression and ocd, experiments, observations, self-report and research design and hypotheses, sampling, ethics and descriptive statistics. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Brain Science organised?

By the CCEA 0008 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.