Biopsychology : Ultradian Rhythms Flashcards
What is an ultradian rhythm?
A biologist rhythm that occurs multiple times a day (last fewer than 24hrs)
The Sleep Cycle - How many stages of sleep are there?
Five stages lasting 90mins collectivity and repeat throughout sleep. The cycle alters between REM and NREM
The Sleep Cycle - What’s REM?
Rapid eye movement – where brain waves speed up and dreaming occurs (brain waves resemble ‘wide awake’ brain waves)
The Sleep Cycle - What’s NREM?
Non-rapid eye movement
The Sleep Cycle - How does the cycle progress?
Light sleep progressing into deep sleep, then REM. Brain waves decrease in frequency (cycles per second) and increase in amplitude (height).
The Sleep Cycle - Stages 1 and 2
Light sleep (easily woken). Brain wave patterns become slower and more rhythmic (alpha and theta waves)
The Sleep Cycle - Stages 3 and 4
Deep sleep/ slow wave sleep (SWS) and its difficult to wake someone. Brain waves become even slower and have a greater amplitude (delta waves.
The Sleep Cycle - Stage 5
REM sleep (body is paralysed) and its difficult to wake someone up. Brain activity speeds up and resembles the awake brain – associated with dreaming.
Whats the sleep staircase?
the progression through the stages of sleep in a structured pattern though the night. Sleep typically moves from lighter stages to deeper stages and then back up to lighter stages before REM. (Wake, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, REM, 2, 3, 4, etc)
Dement and Kleitman (1957) - Aim
Dement and Kleitman (1957) - Procedure
to investigate the relationship between eye movements in REM and NREM sleep
Dement and Kleitman (1957) - Findings
monitored 9 adults (with no caffeine or alcohol) for between 6-17 nights and recorded their brain activity w EEG.
IV – whether they were woken from REM/ NREM
DV – whether they could recall a dream and is so, the detail
Dement and Kleitman (1957) - Findings
more dreams were recalled in REM vs NREM (152:11). Ps could accurately estimate dream duration. Ps eye movements were strongly related to dream content
Dement and Kleitman (1957) - Conclusion
REM activity during sleep was highly correlated with the experience of dreaming, Bain activity varied according yo how vivid dreams were, and Ps woken during dreaming reported very accurate recall of their dreams.
Are mealtimes ultradian rhythms?
Regular intervals where organisms consume food within a 24hr period, typically repeating every few hours.