Chapter 1 of 810% of exam

Biological Bases of Behavior

This domain covers how brain structure, neurochemistry and genetics relate to perception, cognition, mood and personality, and how drugs act on those systems. The ASPPB test specifications also include imaging and electrophysiological methods and the evidence behind pharmacological and combined treatments.

Brain systems and classic lesion findings

Much of this domain rests on linking a region to a function through what is lost when it is damaged. Language, memory and timekeeping are the standard examples. Items usually describe a patient's symptoms and ask which structure is most likely involved.

Broca's vs Wernicke's aphasia

Damage near the left inferior frontal gyrus produces effortful, nonfluent speech with relatively preserved comprehension; damage in the left posterior superior temporal region produces fluent speech with poor comprehension.

Broca (1861); NIH NIDCD aphasia fact sheet

Medial temporal lobe and new memories

Bilateral medial temporal (hippocampal) removal in patient H.M. produced severe anterograde amnesia while motor-skill learning was spared, separating declarative from procedural memory.

Scoville & Milner (1957); Milner (1962)

The master clock

The suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus is the brain's master circadian clock; it uses light input from the eyes and controls melatonin production.

NIH NIGMS Circadian Rhythms fact sheet

Thiamine and Korsakoff syndrome

Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome results from thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency, most often with chronic heavy alcohol use; the Korsakoff phase features memory loss and confabulation.

NIH NINDS Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome page

Psychopharmacology: mechanisms and warnings

The outline asks for drug classes, mechanisms of action, and desired and adverse effects of therapeutic agents and drugs of abuse. Questions focus on how a drug works and its major risks, not on dosing. The FDA label is the authoritative statement of a drug's mechanism, interactions and boxed warnings.

SSRIs

Sertraline, fluoxetine and related drugs inhibit neuronal reuptake of serotonin.

FDA labels (e.g., Zoloft section 12.1)

MAOIs and tyramine

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors such as phenelzine can produce a hypertensive crisis when combined with tyramine-rich foods such as aged cheese and cured meats.

FDA label, Nardil (phenelzine)

Lithium monitoring

Lithium toxicity is closely related to serum concentration and can occur near therapeutic levels, which is why serum levels are monitored.

FDA lithium label, Boxed Warning

Substance use medications

Disulfiram blocks alcohol metabolism at the acetaldehyde stage; naltrexone is an opioid antagonist; buprenorphine is a partial mu-opioid agonist; methadone is a full agonist.

FDA labels for each product

Genetics and heritability

Behavioral genetics questions test inheritance patterns and what heritability estimates can and cannot say. The outline stresses both the role and the limitations of genetic information. The most common confusion is reading a population statistic as a statement about one person.

Autosomal dominant inheritance

Each child of a parent with an autosomal dominant condition such as Huntington's disease has a 50% chance of inheriting the variant.

NIH MedlinePlus Genetics

Heritability is a population statistic

Heritability is the share of trait variance in a particular population and environment associated with genetic variance; it does not describe an individual and does not mean a trait is unchangeable.

Visscher, Hill & Wray (2008); NIH MedlinePlus Genetics

Twin designs

Comparing identical and fraternal twin similarity is the classic way to estimate genetic and environmental contributions to trait variance.

Visscher, Hill & Wray (2008)

Measuring the brain

Imaging and electrophysiological methods differ in what they measure and in their temporal and spatial resolution. The outline also names therapeutic drug monitoring and genetic screening. Items often ask which method fits a particular research or clinical question.

EEG and event-related potentials

Scalp EEG records electrical activity with millisecond timing but limited spatial precision.

Standard electrophysiology methods

fMRI and the BOLD signal

Functional MRI tracks a hemodynamic response that unfolds over seconds, giving better spatial than temporal resolution.

Logothetis (2008) Nature

Structural vs functional imaging

Structural MRI and diffusion imaging describe anatomy and white-matter tracts; functional methods such as fMRI and PET describe activity.

Standard neuroimaging methods

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