Developmental Psychology

Question 1

GENETICS AS AN EXPLANATION OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Answer 1

• Genes such as DISC1 and COM1 have been studied.
• They are both involved in various aspects of brain development and neuronal signalling
• Schizophrenia is considered early onset when it starts before the age of 18.

Question 2

ROLE OF EPIGENTICS - What might it suggest for the individuals development of schizophrenia

Answer 2

• That both genetic and environment al factors play a role in the development of schizophrenia.
• Environmental factors can influence gene expression and increase risk of schizophrenia

Question 3

BRAIN ABNORMALITIES

Answer 3

• It develops in late adolescene or early adult hood around the late teens to early thirties.

Question 4

NEUROTRANSMITTERS AS AN EXPLANATION OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Answer 4

• There is so much evidence of imbalances in certain neurotransmitters such as dopamine and glutamate
• over activity of dopamine causes the positive symptoms
• Glutamate transmission have been linked to cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia.

Question 5

HOW DOES NEUROTRANSMITTERS LINK WITH DOPAMINE ACTIVITY?

Answer 5

• This links with dopamine activity in adolescence which may further set the stages for the onset symptoms
• This also links with pre-frontal cortex maturation at this stage; pre-frontal cortex develops in late adolescence, an area implicated in the dopamine hypothesis.

Question 6

When does schizophrenia develop?

Answer 6

• late adolescence and early childhood

Question 7

GLUTAMATE

Answer 7

• There is a pathway, rich in glutamate neurons that runs from the prefrontal cortex to the area that regulates the release of dopamine in the mesolimbic pathway
• these areas of the brain are said to be smaller in volume, due the increased size of ventricles and therefore it this part of the brain is undeveloped this would affect how it deals with the neurotransmission.

Question 8

LOW LEVELS OF GLUTAMATE

Answer 8

• Low levels of glutamate activity in the frontal lobe would be presumably lead to a lower basal release of dopamine in the mesolimbic pathway.
• This low level of basal release would turn cause dopamine receptors in the mesolimbic pathway to be super sensitive, so that they would react to.

Question 9

Susser et al 1996

Answer 9

• Tested to see whether prenatal exposure to famine was associated with schizophrenia.
• Prenatal nutritional deficiency was associated with a greater risk of schizophrenia personally disorder in men aged 18

Question 10

Walker, Savoie and Davis 1994

Answer 10

• Group comparison revealed a higher rate of abnormalities in the preschizophrenia children when compared to their healthy siblings preaffective disorder subjects, the healthy siblings of patients with the effective disorder illness and families with no mental illness