Biological rhythms Flashcards
INSOMNIA: A01 Definition - large i_______ d______ so defined by ____ and ______ of sleep, Secondary - insomnia with a __________ e.g phase delay syndrome, caffeine, Primary - when it occurs ___________ , Risk factors: age/gender e.g. __________, parasomnias e.g. ____________, personality e.g. _________
Individual differences, so length and efficiency, secondary: underlying cause like such illnesses/environments, primary: occurs alone with no cause 1 month, bad sleep habits etc., old age gender - increase in arthritis/diabetes, menopause (hormones), parasomnias - apnoea, SW etc. all increase insomnia, personality - e.g. anxiety
INSOMNIA: A02/3 Primary/secondary must be distinguished because ___________
however O_____ and R___ (2003) studied 15,000 ________s (bias) finding that sometimes _________
Genetics as a risk factor was found by W_____ et al. (2006) - the __________ model may explain this better.
Treatments include better ‘sleep hygiene’: ________________, attribution theory (Storms and Nisbett, 1970, gave some insomniacs a pill and found when they told them ________________________)
It is difficult to conduct meaningful research because _____________________
Psych as sci? Biology - reduc/hol?
Because different treatments - if an underlying cause, treat that instead. But Ohayon & Roth (2003) with 15000 Europeans (culture - thus unrepresentative) finding sometimes insomnia should be treated anyway whether the cause or effect, Watson et al. (2006) 50% insomnia risk genetic, diathesis-stress model better- environment - holism, sleep hygiene = good habits with caffeine, naps etc., attribution theory: when Storms & Nisbett (1970) insomniacs were given a pill - those who were told it was a stimulant slept better - ATTRIBUTING lack of sleep to the pill not insomnia - changing expectations, difficult to be meaningful as complex and many factors, supports psych as sci (biological explantions) though not entirely (culture bias study removing its representativeness) - generally holistic - how environment/personality etc. affects sleep,
SHIFTWORK/JETLAG A01 Shiftwork Consequences: decreased ________, sleep __________ because _________, health effects e.g. organ _________ Jet lag define/explain/symptoms, performance: outline Recht et al. (1995) study of baseball teams _______________
decreased alertness, sleep depriation due to light whilst sleeping in day not night, organ disease e.g. heart
Jet lag = physiological effects of disrupting rhythms as we are not developed for large changes, , causes appetite loss, nausea, fatigue, insomnia, depression, Recht et al. (1995) analysed US baseball teams, those travelling east to west (phase delay) won more games
SHIFTWORK/JETLAG A02/A03 Shiftwork effects arent just _______, there are also ______ factors from a more _______ approach. Alternative factors, similarly, can explain jet lag: ______________
Gold et al. (1992) reduced side effects by _____________________ ,
Boivin et al. (1996) found with artificial light _________________, (bias type?)
Herxheimer & Petrie (2001) found with melatonin taking ________________,
Lab experiments: control of _______, but same laws may not ___________
individual differences in rhythms: ___________, bio det _________,
not just biological, social factors - holistic, worry/tiredness, alcohol and caffeine can all affect jet lag. Gold et al. 1992 found alternating shifts are worse - cant get used to them as easily, Boivin et al. (1996) found with 31 male subjects (gender) that those in the group exposed to most light has circadian phase advance,
they found it was effective, only when taken shortly before sleep
extraneous variables, apply in everyday life, individuals whose rhythms naturally change less will cope better, deterministic in that sleep patterns are determined by our internal clock, but also social cues
NARCOLEPSY/SW A01 Narcolpsy symptoms include ____________________
REM explanation ____________
HLA explanation ___________________
Hypocretin explanation _______________
SW is most common in ____________ and particularly in _________ sleep stage
Incomplete arousal explanation ___________
Various factors (Plazzi et al., 2005) ________
and why one age group especially ______________
constant tiredness, loss of muscle control, sleep paralysis
Malfunction in the system regulating REM
HLA - linked to an immune system mutation
A neurotransmitter found in narcoleptic dogs
SW in childhood, occuring in SWS sleep (unconscious)
disorder of arousal - the body awakened but the person still not fully aroused
various other factors involved are sleep deprivation, alcohol use and hormones
children especially because they have more SWS
NARCOLEPSY/SW A02/3
Mostly biological explanations, psychological explanations have been __________
REM explanations have been supported in narcoleptic ____ by Siegel (1999), and HLA, however, can’t be the ________ hypocretins are promising because (animal/human research) _____________
SW fits diathesis-stress because ____________ (diathesis part, stress part), ethics of animals - why an issue?
unsuccessful psychological explanations, narcoleptic dogs (Siegel 1999), HLA can’t be sole explanation, Hypocretins are promising - animal research has been supported in human studies so generalisability not an issue
Diathesis = genetic vulnerability to SW, strong genetic concordance found, stress part can be explained as amount of SWS, and is linked to Plazzi’s risk factors,
animal research may be unethical in that it lacks consent, which may mean having to obtain data elsewhere (as with the human studies)
INFRADIAN/ULTRADIAN RHYTHMS A01 - Sleep stages: 2 NREM stages _________________________
2 SWS stages __________________
and REM ______________________
each cycle of these 5 stages lasts ___ minutes
BRAC - Friedman & Fisher’s 1967 study ___________________
Monthly cycles - menstruation ________________________
the male monthly rhythm - Empson’s 1977 study _______________
Seasonal Affective Disorder _________________________
NREM = light sleep, gradual slowing down of brain waves
SWS stages = even slower waves, hard to become awakened
REM = fast activity, like when awake
cycle of stages lasts 90 minutes
BRAC - Friedman and Fisher 1967 found a 90 minute cycle in the eating/drinking behaviour of psychiatric patients
Menstruation involves changing levels of hormones such as oestrogen over a month to cause ovulation
Empson 1977 found a cycle of temperature and alertness in 21 male participants
SAD is a depressive disorder during winter months caused by lower than normal serotonin/melatonin levels
INFRADIAN/ULTRADIAN RHYTHMS A02/3
Dement and Kleitman 1957 found, regarding REM and dreaming _____________________
Russell et al’s 1980 study of exogenous cues (sweat pheromones) in menstruation _______________
PMS (explain, plus link to bio det and holism/red) __________________
Phototherapy for SAD (placebo - link to psych as sci) ______________________
Dement & Kleitman 1957 REM doesn’t always lead to dreaming, as previously assumed
Russel et al 1980 rubbed daily sweat samples from one female group on the upper lip of the other and their menstruation synchronised
Premenstrual Syndrome affects women the week before menstruation and can cause anxiety depression and insomnia. PMS may support biological determinism e.g. in court cases where criminal behaviour is blamed on it, however research into it is now holistic as it treats it as a physiological as well as psychological problem
Phototherapy uses bright light to treat SAD by increasing melatonin levels, but if as suggested this is placebo, then psychology as a science is not supported.
CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS A01 -
Sleep-wake cycle: (Michel Siffre’s study 1962, Aschoff and Wever 1976, Folkard’s study 1985 - what they show about endogenous rhythms and internal cues)
____________________________________________________________________
Core body temperature variation _____________________________
Hormone production _________________
Michel Siffre (1962) spent 61 days in a cave in the alps. He had no external cues, so slept only according to his internal ‘clock’. His cycle settled to just over 24 hours.
Aschoff and Wever (1976) placed participants in an underground bunker without any social/environmental cues, including natural light, finding a similar SW cycle.
These studies show the importance of the endogenous clock but also the external cues which explain why the cycle length varied.
Folkard et al. (1985) conducted an experiment with a small group living in a cave without natural light/other cues.
They agreed to go to bed according to a clock but when the clock was sped up, their rhythms stayed at 24 hours long, suggested exogenous cues are limited in effect.
Core body temperature is lowest at 4.30am and highest at 6pm - affected by the
circadian clock.
Cortisol (alertness) is lowest at midnight and higest at 6am, melatonin and growth hormone peak at midnight.
CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS A02/3 -
Research flaws (artificial light, individual differences in cycles, validity of a case study, ethics) _________________________
Folkard et al. (1977) study of study of core body temperature ________________
Biology _______________
Psych as sci __________________
Participants still had artificial light which does affect the rhythm, there are differences in the length of someone’s cycle, a case study is less valid as it cannot be representative,
has unique features, and uses an environment the experimenter is used to
(a cave) and lastly putting participants
in such potentially harmful environments
is unethical.
Folkard et al. (1977) showed the link between circadian changes in temperature
and cognitive ability. Children who had
stories read to them showed less recall
when in the circadian trough of temperature.
Bio determinism - it is not always true that
we can’t have free will over our sleeping habits. Bio reductionism - mostly biological
factors are considered (internal rhythms)
but it is acknowledged that external cues
also play an important role.
Most of the studies support psychology as a science, using numerical data and empirical measurement etc., but research flaws limit this to an extent.
PACEMAKERS & ZEITGEBERS A01 Endogenous pacemakers: S\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_c\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ N\_\_\_\_\_ (SCN): \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Pineal gland (+ a hormone) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Exogenous zeitgebers: Light: \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Social cues: \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Temperature \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus: located in the hypothalamus, takes in light info from optic nerves, setting the internal clock
The pineal gland produces melatonin at night to induce sleeping
Light is the dominant zetigeber, resetting the SCN.
Social cues include our entrained mealtimes and bedtimes
Temperature is a lesser zeitgeber in humans but may act when light is absent.
PACEMAKERS & ZEITGEBERS A02/3
Morgan’s 1995 ‘mutant hamster’ study ________________________
Boivin et al. (1996) study into artificial lighting ________________________________
Animal research, bio red, nature/nurture
Morgan (1995) bred hamsters to have 20-hour circadian rhythms instead of 24-hour, then transplanted their SCNs into normal hamsters who then displayed the 20-hour rhythm.
Boivin et al. put 31 male participants into 4 groups. Each was exposed to different degrees of lighting, and their circadian rhythms shifted, showing that even dim room light has an effect.
Morgan’s (among others) was an unethical study as the animals may have come to physical or psychological harm from the transplants/change in rhythms.
Focussing on the endogenous pacemakers would be bio reductionism, but there are the social cues within zeitgebers. The research here mostly supports nature in that our internal biology determines sleep behaviour more than environmental factors.
LIFESPAN CHANGES A01
Infants - sleep ____ hours a day but wake up ______, circadian rhythm begins age _______
Childhood - compared to adults, more ___ sleep and more p____________s
Adolescence - phase delay ____________________
Adulthood/old age - increase in disorders such as i_______ and a______, old people have decreased _____ sleep and increased difficulty _____________
Infants sleep 16 hours daily but rather than continuous sleep they awaken every hour. Circadian rhythms develop around 6 months
Children have more REM skeeo and more likely to have parasomnias like SW.
Adolescents have a phase delay - going to sleep and waking up later.
Towards adulthood insomnia and apnoea become more likely. In old age there is decreased REM sleep and it is harder to get to sleep/stay asleep.
Adaptive explanation of baby sleep patterns ________________________
Hormones in adolescence _______________
Kripke et al. (2002) survey of over 1 million adults, finding that with too much sleep, _______________________
van Cauter et al. (2000) found that decreased SWS in old age causes ________________________
Tynjala et al. (1993) study of 11-16-year-olds from 11 European countries ___________________________
Babies sleeping all day allows parents time in the day for things other than childcare, thus improving survival chances.
Changed in hormone production in adolescence have been used to explain the change in sleep pattern.
Kripke et al. (2002) surveyed over 1 million adults and found those who slept more had an increased mortality risk.
van Cauter et al. (2000) found that decreased SWS in old age causes symptoms linked to aging like lack of energy.
Tynjala et al. (1993) found large cultural differences in the study of 11-16-year olds from 11 European countries in amount of sleep.
RESTORATION THEORY A01
Importance of GH during SWS ________________ and van Cauter et al. (2000) findings about old age and SWS
How REM is linked to brain growth ________________________
REM and memory - Crick and Mitchison’s 1983 findings _______________________
Growth Hormone is secreted in Slow Wave Sleep and is vital for restoring body tissues. van Cauter et al. (2000) linked their findings of declining GH to the decline of SWS in old age.
Greater REM in babies is explained by the great amount of brain growth taking place.
Crick and Mitchison (1983) linked REM to memory - discarding old memories to make way for new ones.
