bio rhythms - infradian and ultradian✅

Question 1

INFRADIAN:

what is it?

what is the menstrual cycle?

what hormone develops the egg? what does progesterone do?

Answer 1

• type of bio. rhythm with a frequency of less then one cycle in 24 hrs, such as menstruation or seasonal effective disorder
• monthly changes in hormone levels which regulate ovulation. time between first day of period to the day before her next (28 days)
• oestrogen causes ovary to develop egg and release via ovulation.
  progesterone helps the womb lining to grow thicker for pregnancy

Question 2

INFRA:
study into pheromones:

who studied it and what did they want to find out?

who did he study? what did they do?

how dd it work?

what did he find?

Answer 2

• McClintock wanted to show how cycles may sync bc of other women pheromones
• 29 women with irregular periods, cotton pads were placed on 9 of the women’s armpit to collect pheromones during their period. these were treated with alcohol and frozen and rubbed on the top lip of other ppts
• day one = pad from first day of period
  day 2= pad from second day of period etc….
• 68% of women experiences changes to their cycle, closer to their odour doners cycle

Question 3

INFRA:
seasonal affective disorder:

what is it often referred to as? why?

what do psychologists believe to be the cause of SAD? why does this change in winter?

what does this have an effect on?

Answer 3

• ‘winter blues’ - become depressed due to the changes In seasons … bc symptoms are triggered in winter months as the daylight hours become
  shorter
• hormone melatonin … during the night the pineal gland secretes melatonin until dawn when their is an increase In light
  in winter , the lack of light in the morning means the secretion process continues for longer, making you more tired
• the production of serotonin in the brain - linked to depression

Question 4

ULTRADIAN:

what is it?

what have psychologists suggested about sleep? what are they characterised by?

Answer 4

• bio rhythm with more than one cycle in a day such as the stages of sleep
• there are 5 stages, altogether lasting around 90 min … characterised by a diff level of brain wave activity which can be monitored using an EEG

Question 5

ULTRA:

what is stage 1 & 2

Answer 5

• known as the ‘sleep escalator’
• light sleep where the person is easily woken
• at the start of the sleep, brainwaves become slower and more rhythmatic (alpha waves) becoming slower as you get into a deeper sleep (theta waves)

Question 6

ULTRA:

what is stage 3 & 4?

Answer 6

• involves delta waves, slower snd have a greater amplitude then earlier wav patterns
• this is a deep sleep and its hard to wake some up

Question 7

ULTRA:

what is stage 5

Answer 7

• REM (rapid eye movement)
• body its paralysed from movement
• highly correlated with the experience of dreaming, brain activity speeds up in a manner that resembles the awake brain.

Question 8

A03:

✅ strength

❌ weakness

Answer 8

✅ practical application for SAD, effective treatments is phototherapy, is a Lightbox that stimulates strong light in the morning and evening and is thought to reset melatonin levels in ppl with SAD, relieving symptoms.

❌ methodological limitations in synchronisation studies, many factors effect the change in women’s menstrual cycles such as stress, diet and excercise (confounding variables) also, research samples tend to involve women nd rely on self reports so it may not be valid