Environemental Psychophysiology

Question 1

What is binge drinking?

Answer 1

Binge Drinking

• Drinking so that BAC rises to 0.08% in 2 hrs (80 mg alcohol/100 ml blood)
• Women- drinking ⅔ bottle of 12.5% alcohol concentration eg. in wine
• Men- drinking 4.5 bottle 12.5% concentration wine
• male> female binge drink
• Male have mainly full strength beer, spirits, liqueurs, wine and mid strength beer
• Females mainly drink liqueurs, wine, full strength beer, champagne/sparkling wine
• Naimi JAMA: in US 32% 21-25 yr olds and 44% uni students binge drink
• Underage aussies 14-15 yr olds drink more than 3x US counterpart in binge drinking; highest risk of binge in 18-24 yr olds (1 in 5 males; 1 in 10 females) (ABS, 2007)
• Indigenous 25-34 yr old women and 35-44 yr old males, have highest risk
• Binge drinkers drink more on weekends
• Health questionnaires need to ask amount and intact patterns
• Risk of injury: drink driving, brawls, sexual assaults, vandalism, no cardiovascular protective effect from alcohol. Injury may be severe disabling (brain damage) or chronically painful. Increased thrombosis, BP, sudden cardiac death, cirrhosis. 1995-2005, about 32,700 australians 15 years or over died from cause attributable to risky or high risk drinking

Results of Binge Drinking

• Memory problems (verbal and spatial): initially faster brain activity, after several years brain activation is less than controls; problems with mood and anxiety (bipolar, depression, social phobia)
• Neurological development problems: disrupts normal course of neurological development
• Long term addiction (alcoholism): younger binge drinkers may become alcoholics. Effects of alcohol worse by other risk factors in smoking and poor diet (new scientist ‘04, ABS ‘09)

Question 2

Why are alcohol and nicotine important environmental

substances?

Answer 2

Drug and Alcohol Stats

•96% all substance abuse death = cause by alcohol and tobacco, but only 4% of population are alcoholics

→ National Drug Household survey, AIHW 2007, 2010

• Alcohol: 80.5 australians consume alcohol, most widely used drug. 26.3% 20-29 yr olds at levels put them at risk. 2010- 18.1 % used alcohol
• Cannabis: 33.6% australians have tried it. Most widely used ILLICIT drug.highest rate in 20-29 yr (54.5%_. In 2010 10.3% used it. Males> Females use.
• LSD/ Hallucinogens: 7.6% have tried. 2010- 1.4% population used
• Amphetamines: 9.1% 18-29 yr olds have tried. 21% 20-29 yr group. 2010- 2.1% used
• Cocaine. 4.7% had used. 8.9% in 20-29 yr olds. males> females. 2010- 2.1 % used
• Heroin: 1.6% in 2001, 3.6 % 2004, of 20-29 yr olds. In 2007 drug most associated with drug problem however in 2010 only 0.2% used
• Ecstasy: 7.5% used at some time. Highest rate (22%) in 20-29 yr olds. 3rd most widely used after cannabis and amphetamines

→ National Drug Household survey, AIHW, 2013 UPDATE

• Use of illicit drug remained stable 2010-2013, however significant change in certain drugs
• Proportion of people who misused pharmaceutical rose from 4.2→ 4.7% in 2013, whereas fall in ecstasy use (3.0–>2.5%), heroin (0.2→ 0.1%) and gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB)
• Change in main form of meth/amphetamine used- powder fell (51→ 29%), while ice (or crystal methamphetamine) more than doubled (22%–> 50% in 2013)
• People in 5os have lowest rate illicit drug use; however recently become group with largest rise in illicit use of drugs. Eg. recent cannabis use increased significantly 8.8–>11.1% among 20-29 yr olds
• males>females to use all drugs illicit and licit) except for pain killers/ analgesics which were used by similar proportion of male (3.3%) and female (3.2%)
• Fewer young people take up smoking. Proportion people aged 12-17 who never smoke remain high at 95%. Between 2001 and 2013, proportion of 18-24 yr olds never smoking rose from (58→ 77%) :)
• People 18-49 yrs less likely to smoke daily than they were 12 years ago, however decline is less pronounced for older people with little change in daily smoking seen among people aged 60 or older
• Younger people choosing to abstain from alcohol as proportion of aged 12-17 abstaining increased (64→ 72% ) :)
• 2013- declines in proportion people under 40 drinking at risky level
• No significant differences in proportion people 40 or older drinking alcohol at risky level
• Females less likely than male to drink alcohol daily and quantities risky

Question 3

What are the 4 classes of mind altering drugs?

Answer 3

1. Hallucinogens: LSD, Mescaline, Marijuana (Serotonergic)
2. Stimulants: amphetamines, cocaine, caffeine, nicotine (dopaminergic and noradrenaline)
3. Opiates (narcotics): heroin, morphine, methadone
4. Depressants: barbiturates, alcohol, NICOTINE, tranquilisers, solvents, methaqualone
5. NPS- new psychoactive substances *

Question 4

What effect do selected environmental factors like mind altering
drugs have on heart rate and BP?

Answer 4

Drug effects on Heart Activity and BP

• Drugs affect BP levels: depressants such as barbiturates, tranquilisers lower BP while stimulants raise BP ( study subjects need to be carefully screened for psychophysiology research)
• Nicotine: raise HR by 20 bpm to compensate for vasoconstrictive effects ( Elliot and Thysell, 1968), Stress had an additive effect on smoking- greater cardiovascular effects ( Mac Dougall, 1983): smoking alone raised BP by 12/9 mmHg and HR by 15 bpm, addition of stress (e.g video games) double changes, increases BP within min and effects last for more than 1 hr i.e need to abstain for 2 hrs before BP readings
• Caffeine: increases (ANS, BP, HR), reduces temp due to vasoconstriction additive effects of stress and caffeine together, ?? raises SBP by ~ 11 mmHg and DBP by 10 mmHg (effects noticeable after 30 min and last 3 hrs- lane 1983)
• Alcohol: raises BP. Shapiro et al 1996- recommend subjects in psychophysiological studies abstain 12 hr prior to study
• Marijuana & Cocaine: increase HR, BP effects vary, Marijuana probably through SNS activity mediated by epinephrine release or inhibiting vagus nerve activity

Question 5

What is the difference between an EEG under normal situations
versus an EEG affected by some examples of the 4 classes of
drugs?

Answer 5

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Question 6

What is an “event related potential”

Answer 6

• ERPs derived from EEG
• Another measure of brain activity
• Represent response to specific stimuli
• Early and late effects can be measured
• Average responses stable over time: latency measures speed of brainwave- shorter increased firing rates, Amplitude measures height- increased related to alertness or reduction drowsiness

Effect of Drugs on ERP

• Ritalin (Methylphenidate) use to treat ADHD ( persistent pattern of inattention or hyperactivity, impulsivity): some symptoms must be noticeable before age 7, stimulant that calm down hyperactive children with ADHD
• Brumaghim et al 1987: Drug vs placebo in normal young adults show P300 latency was shorter, RT faster with drug (15-30% children failed to respond and had longer P300 latencies on drug than responders)
• Mann et al 1992: ADHD sufferers have increased theta and decreased beta 1 compared with 27 aged matched controls