There are 7 lessons in this course:
- Energy and Work
- Anaerobic energy supply
- Phosphate energy
- Lactic acid energy
- Adenosine triphosphate
- Aerobic energy supply
- Energy requirements for different types of activity
- Breathing during exercise
- ATP movement
- ATP sources
- ATP-PC system
- Lactic acid system
- Oxygen system
- Aerobic systems
- Krebs cycle
- Energy Pathways
- What is energy
- The nature of energy
- Units of measurement
- Production and storage of energy
- Carbohydrates in an animal or human body
- Glycogenesis
- Glycogenolysis
- Gluconeogenesis
- Hyperglycaemia
- Carbohydrate oxidation
- Glycolysis
- Hydrolysis
- Hydrolysis of metal salts
- Hydrolysis of an ester link
- Energy production pathways from different foods: fats, carbohydrates, proteins
- Respiratory quotient
- Resting quotient
- Aerobic capacity
- What happens during exercise
- Recovery from exercise: Alactacid and lantacid oxygen debt, Replenishing muscular glycogen
- Lactic acid
- Calculations
- The Acid-Base Balance
- pH
- What is acidity
- The urinary system: Kidneys, ureters, bladder
- Physiology of the Urinary system
- The urea cycle
- Osmosis and Diffusion
- Diffusion explained and examples given
- Nature and types of diffusion
- Movement of molecules through cell membranes
- Endocytosis
- Membranes and their structure
- Osmosis
- Osmosis and filtration
- Membrane transport: simple passive, active and facilitated transport
- Chemical potential
- Osmotic pressure
- Reverse osmosis
- Atmospheric Pressure
- Altitudes
- Introduction to atmospheric pressure
- Partial pressure gradients
- Effects of change in pressure
- Equalising when diving
- Gas solubility
- Breathing at different atmospheric pressures
- Calculations
- Temperature Regulation
- Introduction
- Affect of temperature changes on the human body
- Conduction and convection
- Lowering temperature: sweating, vasodilation, metabolic reduction, hair, behaviour
- Raising temperature
- Vasoconstriction
- Increased metabolism
- Behaviour
- Effect of temperature on enzymes
- Ecrine glands
- Apocrine glands
- Energy production
- Factors affecting individual BMR: growth, body size, food, thyroid gland
- Fever: mechanism of fever, shivering, other temperature disorders
- Grades of fever
- Signs of fever
- Ergogenic Aids to Performance
- Introduction
- Drugs: steroids, amphetamines
- Oxygen
- Vitamins
- Water
- Other foods: carbohydrates, protein
- Creatine
- Caffeine
- Antioxidants
Learn to Understand People
Although psychologists are primarily concerned with behaviour, an understanding of the biology of the brain and central nervous system can help to unravel why people behave the way they do in given instances. In fact, biological psychology holds that all our behaviours, thoughts and experiences are a direct consequence of activity in our brains.
Not all causes of behaviour are quite so easy to explain. There are other underlying determinants of behaviour - genetics being one. In fact, we have long known that genetics is a key determinant of how we behave and this can most obviously be seen through studying our nervous systems. Closely linked to genetics is human development. Development is governed by our genes and their interactions with the environment.
The study of biopsychology is a big part of understanding people. Through a better understanding of how people think, we can better understand how and why people act as they do. This knowledge allows a marketing professional to target their marketing more effectively, and a manager to control their staff better; just as much as it helps a health care professional better care for their clients or patients.
We are Learning More about the Brain all the Time
Study of brain function, development, injury and damage can help in different fields such as education, research and development of treatments. The more we can learn, the better the treatment options will be. It can take many years to gather data, perhaps because it is taken form case studies or perhaps because of the rarity of some conditions, nevertheless we have come a long way since studies of the brain began.
From a clinical perspective, neuropsychology has two main areas of application, namely assessment and rehabilitation.
- Assessment - as we have already seen, assessment involves collecting patient-specific data and then using a test battery to help shed further light on the individual's particular deficits and disorders.
- Rehabilitation - this involves implementing patient-specific strategies to help improve particular cognitive domains or specific cognitive deficits.
Aside from these obvious applications, study of the brain and behaviour stretches far and wide into our daily lives, perhaps more broadly than many people realise.
Brain Studies and Children
By studying the brain and how it develops, we can learn more about children and how they learn. We have already discussed how changes in the brain affect what a child is ready and able to learn. If a child is ready to learn to read developmentally, but is not stimulated to learn to read, this can affect their development. If a child is not ready to read, and is forced to start learning to read, then again, this can affect their development. So it is important that teachers are aware of how the child is developing, what is expected of a child of a certain age, but also recognising that all children are different. Children develop in different ways and what they are capable of and ready for, will vary from child to child.
Beyond this, we can also use the study of neuropsychology to look at different ways to help children learn and improve their memories.
Neuropsychological assessments are tools that have traditionally been used in hospitals by psychiatrists and psychologists, but teachers have come to realise that they can also be used in assessing children educationally. For example, school psychologists or educational psychologists can use them to assess children with special needs.
Neuropsychology helps us to study the function of the brain and how the nervous system affects the way that people think and behave. It is also now helping in determining why some children have difficulties acquiring language skills, reading, learning arithmetic and so on. So neurological assessments can be used to determine how much of the child’s school performance is due to the function of their brain and nervous system. It can also help the school to determine the child’s skills and the best learning environment for them.
In practice, this will involve gathering information about the child’s development physically, psychologically, educationally and socially. This can include observations by parents, formal observations, standardised assessment methods and other tests.
Professional Development or a Foundation for Something Else
This course will allow you to extend your knowledge and broaden your understanding of biopsychology.
Some will choose this course to build on scientific knowledge or behavioural studies which they already have behind them; while for others, this may be a starting point for exploring human biology and behavioural science.
Whatever your reason; this course will build both your understanding of people around you, and of the anatomical and physiological wonders of the human body.
