Biopsychology: Ultradian Rhythms Flashcards
1
Q
What Is Ultradian Rhythms?
A
- These are biological rhythms that are less than 24 hours.
- This means that there is more than one cycle within the 24 hours period such as the sleep cycle and the wake cycle.
2
Q
The Sleep Cycle.
A
- Sleep has 5 stages that occur through the night that span approximately 90 minutes and the cycle continues throughout the night.
- Each stage is characterised by a different brainwave activity.
3
Q
Sleep Cycle: Stage 1 And Stage 2
A
- Light sleep where the person can be easily woken.
- Start of sleep brainwave activity becomes slower and more rhythmic (alpha waves), these become even slower as sleep becomes deeper (theta waves).
4
Q
Sleep Cycles: Stage 3 And Stage 4.
A
- Involve delta waves which are slower still and have a greater amplitude (change) than earlier wave patterns.
- This deep sleep and it is difficult to rouse someone at this point.
5
Q
Sleep Cycles: Stage 5.
A
- REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, the body is paralysed yet brain activity speeds up significantly in a manner that resembles the awake brain.
- REM describes the fast, jerky activity of the eyes under the eyelids.
- REM during sleep is highly correlated with the experience of dreaming.
6
Q
Basic Rest Activity Cycles (BRAC).
A
- 90 minute cycle that is found during sleep, continues during the day - BRAC.
- We move progressively from, a state of alertness into a state of physiological fatigue.
- Human mind can only focus for a 90 period and towards the end of the 90 minutes, the body begins to run out of resources resulting into loss of concentration, fatigue and hunger.
7
Q
Examples Of BRAC.
A
- Explains why we have a coffee break at 10:30 am and why cat naps are more likely to happen mid-afternoon as it means the morning or afternoon are split into two 90 minute cycles.
- Ericsson et al that the best violinists tended to practice three sessions during the course of the day, each session lasted than 90 minutes and there was a break between each in order to ‘recharge.’
8
Q
Evalution: Strength - Support Qualitatively Different Stages In Sleep.
A
- There is evidence to support qualitatively different stages in sleep.
- Dement and Kleitman monitored the sleep patterns of nine participants in sleep lab and found evidence for stages of sleep, specifically REM sleep.
- REM activity during sleep correlated with dreaming; brain activity varied according to how vivid dreams; participants woken during dreaming reported accurate recall of their dreams.
- This study, suggests that REM (dreaming) sleep is a distinct ultradian rhythm and an important component of the ultradian sleep cycle.
9
Q
Ultradian Rhythms Evaluation: Weakness - Individual Differences.
A
- There are individual differences in sleep stages linked to biology.
- Tucker assessed sleep in participants in strictly controlled conditions focusing on sleep duration, time to fall asleep and the amount of time in each sleep stage.
- They found large individual differences which showed up consistently across the eight night.
- For deep sleep (stage 3-4) the individual differences were particularly significant.
- This shows that differences between participants were not driven by circumstances but by biology.
- Individual differences may mean that is difficult to generalise the result of such studies to the wider population.
10
Q
Ultradian Rhythms Evaluation: Strength - Supporting Research.
A
- There is supporting evidence for basic rest activity cycles.
- Ericsson et al found that the best violinists tended to practice for three session during the course of the day, each session lasted no more than 90 minutes and there was a break between each in order to ‘recharge.’
- This suggests that there are cycles that last less than 24 hours, where people go from being very alert to physiologically fatigued.
- Applications of this knowledge can ensure that tasks are set for an appropriate amount of time to encourage engagement and retention of information.
