biopsychology: circadian rhythms

Question 1

biological rhythms?

Answer 1

cyclical patterns within biological systems that have evolved in response to environmental influences

Question 2

circadian rhythms?

Answer 2

a body clock, a biological rhythm is a 24 hour circadian rhythm- reset by levels of light

Question 3

what are biological rhythms governed by?

Answer 3

endogenous + exogenous zeitgebers

Question 4

endogenous zeitgeber?

Answer 4

internal mechanisms that govern biological rhythms, circadian sleep-wake cycle

Question 5

exogenous zeitgeber?

Answer 5

external cues- lights, that help to regulate internal biological clocks

Question 6

sleep-wake cycle?

Answer 6

dictates when humans + animals should be asleep and awake. light provides primary input to this system- first detected by eye, which sends messages to SCN which coordinates activity of circadian system

Question 7

body temperature?

Answer 7

circadian rhythm- at lowest in early hours of morning (36 at 4:30am) and its highest in the early evening (38 at 6pm). sleep happens when temp starts to drop, and awake when it starts to rise- promoting alertness in morning

Question 8

siffre’s cave study?

Answer 8

2 months in cave, let body clock free run, no natural sunlight, regular sleep-wake cycle, lost track of time and thought he still had a month to go. shows we have internal biological clock

Question 9

issues with siffre?

Answer 9

just one man, caves are cold, internal validity as he still contacted outside world. he had lights which affected his internal body clock, acting as cues.

Question 10

czeisler?

Answer 10

argued the strong light is equivalent of drugs

Question 11

individual differences are ignored by research- duffy?

Answer 11

found that morning people prefer to rise and go to bed early, whereas, evening people prefer to wake up and go to bed later. shows people and their cycles are different

Question 12

shift work- boivin?

Answer 12

shift work found to lead to desynchronization of rhythms. boivin showed night workers suffer concentration lapse at 6am which increases accidents

Question 13

shift work- knuttsson?

Answer 13

theres a relationship between shift work + poor health- likely to develop heart disease due to stress of adapting to different sleeping patterns + poor sleep in day

Question 14

pharmacokinetics?

Answer 14

action of drugs on the body + how well they are distributed + absorbed

Question 15

baraldo?

Answer 15

research into c.r revealed there are peak times during day/night where drugs are most effective- led to development of guidelines of timing drugs