11 Mental / Environmental Stress

Question 1

In the lab what is the most common way of evoking the ‘alerting response’?

Answer 1

mental arithmetic to the beat of a metronome

Question 2

What does the alerting response usually consist of?

Answer 2

increase in cardiac output
increase in blood pressure
reduction in skin temperature
vasodilation in the limbs

Question 3

What is the net result of the alerting response?

Answer 3

increased ABP?

Question 4

What 2 properties can the alerting response show over time?

Answer 4

habituation

sensitisation

Question 5

Which areas of the brain are important for the alerting response?

Answer 5

ventral hypothalamus
periaqueductal grey matter (midbrain)
dorsal medulla

Question 6

What does the prefrontal cortex do in the alerting response?

Answer 6

can modulate the main other responses by habituation, sensitisation, or conditioning

Question 7

what part of the alerting response pathway is revealed in a coronal section of the brain?

Answer 7

extension of the ventral hypothalamic area into the amygdala (limbic - emotion)

this is a circuit

Question 8

What mediates the efferent outflow in the alerting response?

Answer 8

ventral medulla (NA, RVLM)

Question 9

What does the alerting response inhibit?

Answer 9

baroreceptor reflex at NTS

Question 10

What acute risks are associated with an increase in ABP?

Answer 10

coronary artery disease - MI

aneurysm

Question 11

What chronic risks are associated with an increase in ABP?

Answer 11

hypertension (in those who do not habituate)

Question 12

By how much do those with the largest pressor response have an increased risk of hypertension?

Answer 12

3-4x (within 10 years)

Question 13

How does an increase in ABP lead to chronic hypertension?

Answer 13

an increase in ABP is associated with an increase in sympathetic activity

these cause hypertrophy of vascular SM

this grows inwards, decreasing lumen diameter