Biological Psychology Flashcards
Describe the process of Synaptic Transmission
1) Action potential comes down the axon to the terminal.
2) Vesicles full of NTs move to the edge of the cell and release the NT into the synaptic gap
3) The NT drifts across the gap and bonds to a receptor
4) When enough receptors are filled, a new action potential starts in the next cell
5) any excess NTs are reabsorbed into the pre-synaptic membrane
Describe the process of an Action Potential
1) The neuron is negatively charged at its resting state of -70mV
2) A stimulus activates the neuron by charging it with positive ions. Neuron’s that reach the threshold of -55mV become fired action potentials.
3) The action potential depolarises until it reaches +40mV when it then begins to depolarise back to its resting state.
4) The neuron enters the refractory period, in which it is more negatively charged, before returning to its resting state of -70mV
What is the biological key question?
How effective is drug therapy for treating drug addiction?
What costs does drug addiction have?
costs society in terms of crime/ NHS costs/ death
Why does using a biological method make sense?
Heroin changes the brain and body.
What are the two substitute prescriptions?
Buprenorphine and Methadone
What does Methadone do?
Methadone fully occupies the opiate receptor.
This means it has full effects (withdrawal, euphoria, addiction)
What does Buprenorphine do?
Only partially occupies the opioid receptor.
This means it has partial effects
(satisfies craving)
It is not addictive and does not cause withdrawal symptoms.
What may be a better method?
Counselling.
This gets to the root of the issue and why the addiction began.
It is more long lasting.
What did West find?
Buprenorphine is effective.
What did Alexander’s ‘rat park’ experiment find?
The environment is more impactful on addiction.
What did Marteau find about Buprenorphine?
Buprenorphine is 6x safer to use than Methadone.
