6.3 Biological basis of nervous system disorders

Question 1

schizophrenia

Answer 1

strongly genetic
50% twin study
higher - schizophreniform disorder

Question 2

stress-diathesis theory

Answer 2

genetic inheritance provides a predisposition, stressors elicit the disease

Question 3

dopamine hypothesis | temporal/frontal lobe hypothesis

Answer 3

overactive dopamine pathways
overabundance of dopamine and hypersensitive dopamine receptors

• hyper-activation of the temporal lobes -> explains the positive symptoms
• dopamine antagonist medications have been found to be helpful
• DEACTIVATION of frontal lobes responsible for negative symptoms
• smaller brain size due to atrophy, increased ventricles, enlarged sulci and fissures (less folding)

Question 4

depression and related Neuro diseases

Answer 4

depression can accompany Parkinson’s and traumatic brain injury (overlapping areas of the brain)

Question 5

alzheimer’s

Answer 5

less of orientation + mood swings + language function/spatial coordination

cortical disease - affects the cortex

formation of neuritic plaques, beta-amyloid protein and neurofibrillary tangles

acetylcholine in hippocampus

Question 6

Parkinson’s disease

Answer 6

movement disorder
basal ganglia and substantia nigra

TREMOR
slowly movement
rigidity of movements
shuffling gait
language is spared, but depression and visual-spatial problems may arise
50-80% of Parkinson’s patients experience dementia as disease progresses

Question 7

attitudes

Answer 7

a person’s INTERNAL feelings or beliefs about other people or events around them, a tendency to react behaviorally based on these evaluations

may lead to inaccurate snap judgements when they remain fixed beliefs in the face of disconfirming evidence

ABC

a - affect
b - behavior tendencies
c - cognition

Question 8

behavior does not always reflect attitudes

Answer 8

three examples:

1. health
2. homeless man
3. juror guilty

Question 9

when attitudes predict behavior

Answer 9

1. when social influences are reduced; external behaviors is much more susceptible to social influence
   e. g. secret ballot -> honesty
2. when general patterns of behavior are observed

PRINCIPLE OF AGGREGATION - attitude reflects average behavior, not necessarily every isolated act

3. when specific attitudes, not general, are considered: SPECIFIC ATTITUDES are better predictors than general attitudes
4. When attitudes are more powerful through self-reflection: given more time and deliberation, we are more likely to act our attitudes; self-consciousness also matters

Question 10

behaviors influence attitudes (3 methods)

Answer 10

1. role-playing (Stanford experiment) - loss of sense of reality; singing the pledge of allegiance -> influence out attitudes; an identity (role of citizen) leads to better wholesome behaviors
2. public declaration - we tend to have stronger attitudes when we publicly declare them; matching attitudes to LANGUAGE
3. justification of effort

Question 11

Justification of effort

Answer 11

our effort (studying for the MCAT) goes toward our actions

Question 12

Foot in the door

Answer 12

enticing people to make a small action, which leads to greater actions to justify their acceptance of smaller requests

Question 13

cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 13

self-justification plays an important role in how behaviors shape attitudes

tension when we hold two thoughts that are incompatible -> we make our views of the world match how we feel

explains people’s reactions to situations when there is insufficient justification for actions - INSUFFICIENT JUSTIFICATION = DISSONANCE