Biopsychology - Biological Rhythms

Question 1

What is a biological rhythm?

Answer 1

Patterns of changes in body activity that occur at cyclical periods in time.

Question 3

What is a circadian rhythm?

Answer 3

A type of biological rhythm that completes one full cycle very 24 hours.

Question 4

What is an ultradian rhythm?

Answer 4

A complete cycle occurs more than once every 24 hours e.g. stages of sleep, a full sleep cycle takes 90 minutes to complete so can occur multiple times.

Question 5

What is an infradian rhythm?

Answer 5

one full cycle occurs less than once every 24 hours e.g. the menstrual cycle, seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Question 6

What are the 5 stages of sleep?

Answer 6

Stages 1 and 2 are the sleep escalator.
Stages 3 and 4 consist of the delta waves deep sleep
Stage 5 is REM sleep, the stage in which dreaming occurs according to research

Question 7

What is Siffre’s cave study?

Answer 7

A case study in which Siffre spent two months in a cave deprived of light and sound determined that his circadian rhythm remained between 24-25 hours. He stayed underground for an extended period of time with no external cues so only his internal clock influenced his behaviour

Question 8

What is the conclusion of Siffre cave study?

Answer 8

This implies that there was an internal clock that works without the natural day/night cycle, highlighting the role of an endogenous pacemaker in control of his circadian rhythms.

Question 10

What is an endogenous pacemaker?

Answer 10

Internal body clocks e.g the suprachiasmatic nucleus

Question 11

What is an exogenous zeitgeber?

Answer 11

External cues like light and temperature that influence biological rhythms.