Exam 2 Flashcards
conciousness
a person’s subjective awareness; thoughts, perception, experience, self-awareness
Difficult to define and study due to subjectivity
biological rhythms of consciousness
different rhythms have different times
Circadian rhythms – internally driven daily cycles; last 24 hours
o Sleep and wakefulness – regulate psychological and behavioural processes at different times of the day
circadian rhythms
- effected by
- influences
Effected by:
- Time of day & amount of light
- Retina is stimulated by light -> communicates info to SCN (hypothalamus) -> pineal gland -> regulates melatonin release (related to feelings of sleepiness) -> hypothalamus stimulated by melatonin
- Creates feedback loop that regulates melatonin release - Hunger
- Concentrations
Bidirectional influences – rarely only body influencing, usually external cues
- Entrainment – biological (circadian) rhythms become synchronized to external cues/world
- Outside stimuli affect biological rhythms, they are not entirely regulated by body
- ex. time, temp, clocks - endogenous rhythms – biological rhythms generated by our body independent of external cues
- ex. man who lived in cave – studied endogenous rhythm; 24hr is fairly appropriate for humans
- polysomnography
set of objective measurements used to examine physiological variables during sleep (respiration, body temp, muscle activity)
- Electroencephalogram (EEG)
measures excitatory and inhibitory activity in groups of neurons in the brain
Waveform – represents amount of activity in a particular area; frequency and amplitude
Examining populations of neurons – not just one
Types of waves & stages of sleep:
Awake:
1. Beta waves – high frequency (15-30Hz); low amplitude
o Wakefulness – alert and awake; focussed on something
- Alpha waves – lower frequency (8-14Hz); slightly higher amplitude than beta (still low)
o Daydreaming, meditating, falling asleep, losing interest & unfocussed; calm and relaxed
o Discovered these first (hence alpha)
Sleeping – 4 stages; constantly moving through 4 stages throughout the night
1. Theta waves (stage 1-2) – just fallen asleep; lower frequency (4-8Hz); higher amplitude
o Breathing, BP, and HR decrease
o Still sensitive to external stimuli
a) Stage 2 – may be important in memory formation and maintaining sleep
- Sleep spindles – clusters of high-frequency, low amp waves; wakeful patterns
- K complexes – clusters of large amp waves
- Delta waves (stages 3-4) – deep sleep; low frequency (<3Hz), high amp
o Deepest sleep in first 3-4 hours - REM sleep – waves look like you’re awake
o Characterized – high frequency waves, inhibited body mvmt, rapid eye mvmt
o 20-25% of total sleep
o Dreaming likely occurring
2 theories of sleep
2 complimentary hypotheses about why we sleep (do not contradict one another)
- Restore and repair hypothesis – our bodies need to restore energy levels and repair wear and tear of daytime activities
a. Lack of sleep – cognitive decline, emotional disturbances, impaired immune functioning
b. Brain level – sleep helps clearing of waste products and excess proteins from the brain - Preserve and protect hypothesis – sleep is important for preserving energy and protecting organisms from harm
a. Where and when we sleep – prey sleep in safe locations while predators are awake and hunting
- Animals higher on food chain sleep more
- Lower animals sleep less to be less vulnerable
b. Humans – 8hrs (1/3 of day); makes us vulnerable but we are higher on food chain
sleep deprivation vs displacement
Deprivation – occurs when an individual cannot or does not sleep; external and internal factors
- Difficulty multitasking, maintaining attention, quick decision making, risk assessment, impaired memory, inhibits control, temporal organization (time events)
- Impaired coordination – missing 1 night sleep = blood alcohol of 0.07 in driving simulation studies
- Long haul truckers and healthcare staff – often sleep deprived to levels of 0.1 alcohol
Displacement – when individual is prevented from sleeping at their normal time; same amount of sleep may occur but at different times
- Internal and external factors – work schedule, travel, caffeine
- Jetlag – sleep cycles are not aligned with light/darkness
- Switching day to night shifts
- Similar difficulties of sleep deprivation
2 approaches to dreaming
- Psychoanalytical approach – Freud viewed dreams as unconscious expression of wish fulfillment; a way to access unconscious mind
a. Primal urges – sex and aggression; things we want to do but can’t due to societal norms
b. 2 categories
i. Manifest content – images and storylines we dream about; description of physical aspects of dream (tip of iceberg)
ii. Latent content – symbolic meaning of a dream; usually sex and aggression (beneath the water) - Activation-synthesis hypothesis – suggests dreams arise from brain activity; bursts of excitatory neurons from the pons
a. Activation:
Pons – associated with wakefulness brainstem; can affect other areas of the brain
- Explains REM – eye mvmts and EEG patterns; muscles are being activated by pons
- Stimulation of occipital and temporal lobes could produce sights and sounds
b. Synthesis:
Different regions of the cortex trying to make sense of info
- Frontal lobe – key role in synthesizing coherent story by picking up on different activation and organizing to make sense of it
3 sleep disorders
- Insomnia – extreme lack of sleep; 17% of canadian adults; out of your control
a. 3 categories
i. Onset – extreme difficulty falling asleep
ii. Maintenance – waking through the night
iii. Terminal/early morning – can’t fall back asleep
b. Secondary insomnia – often related to other conditions; psychiatric disorders - Nightmares – vivid and disturbing dreams occurring during REM sleep; 85-95% of adults
- Night terrors – intense panic and arousal that wake individual and induce a heightened emotional state; 1% of adults and 1-6% of children
a. Occurs during non-REM sleep
b. Not one-time occurrence – impairs regular sleep schedule
3 movement disturbance disorders
- REM behaviour disorder – condition that does not show the restriction of mvmt typically seen during REM
a. Individuals act out content of dream
b. Not sleep walking – you are making mvmt correlating to dream - Somnambulism/sleepwalking – involves wandering and performing other activities while asleep
a. Unrelated to dreams – people don’t recall dreaming
b. During non-REM sleeping; occurs during deep sleep (stages 3-4)
c. Prevalent in childhood
d. Waking up a sleepwalker will be confusing and disorienting for sleeper - Sexomnia (sex sleep) – engagement in sexual activity, vocalizations during non-REM sleep
a. Occurs during deep sleep (stages 3-4)
b. Unknown to them
sleep apnea
characterized by an obstruction of air flow; temporarily causes inability to breathe during sleep
Causes snoring and non-restful sleep (difficulty entering deep sleep)
Treatments
o Dental devices holding mouth in specific condition
o Weight loss
o CPAP machine – continuous positive air pressure
Can be caused by brain’s inability in regulate breathing
o Medulla – responsible for controlling chest muscles when breathing
narcolepsy
extreme daytime sleepiness and sleep attacks
Can last few seconds or minutes – enter into REM immediately
Associated with intense emotion – laughing can cause you to fall asleep
- Emotional parts of brain are very active during or shortly before sleep attack
Treated with medication
Causes
- Low levels of orexin – hormone maintains wakefulness; difficulty creating or controlling
- hypothalamus – controls release of orexin; may not have effective control of brain areas related to emotion
- amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens – show increased activity during emotion induced narcolepsy
hypnosis
- types of suggestions
- 2 theories
- cognitive hypnotherapy
procedure for inducing a heightened state of suggestibility (not a trance/magic/control you)
types of suggestions
a. ideomotor – perform a specific action
b. challenge – do not perform a specific action
c. cognitive perceptual – remembering or forgetting specific info; experiencing altered perception
- ex. reducing pain sensation
- Freud – used to recall forgotten memories from childhood
2 theories
1. Dissociation theory – hypnosis is a unique state in which consciousness is divided into 2 parts
2 parts
a. Low level system – perception and mvmt
o Automatic system of mvmt
b. Executive system – evaluates and monitors these behaviours
o Decision making and manual process
o Hypnosis cuts out this process – reduced activity in anterior cingulate cortex (frontal lobe)
Suggestion -> executive process (removed) -> perception and mvmt
- Social cognitive theory – the degree to which beliefs and expectations contribute to increased suggestibility
- Response expectancy – placebo effect
- People conform to what they expect – even when they’re not hypnotized
- Could be mere compliance
Often paired with other psychotherapies – cognitive hypnotherapy
Cognitive hypnosis = cognitive behavioural theory (CBT) + hypnosis
a. Used to treat: Depression, anxiety, eating disorders, hot flashes of cancer survivors, IBS, smoking cessation
b. Pain – 60-75% report relief (more effective with acute; not chronic)
• Used in addition to medication
Connection involving the anterior cingulate gyrus – differ between hypnotizable people and non
o Anterior cingulate gyrus – involved in perception of pain
o Gyrus – out folding portion of brain (sulcus is between gyrus’)
mind wandering
unintentional redirection of attention from the current task to an unrelated thought
Associated with poor memory retention in university
Active networks in mind wandering (Network – light up and shut down together)
1. Default mode network – network of brain regions that most active when an individual is awake but not responding to external stimuli
Includes:
• Medial prefrontal cortex
• Posterior cingulate gyrus
• Medial and lateral regions of the parietal lobe
- Frontoparietal network (in frontal and parietal) – goal directed thinking (planning for future) and attention to control
- Tend to think about the future more than present or past when mind wandering
- Potential benefit – planning for future
disorders of consciousness
lack full consciousness; can be due to trauma; unable to fully experience sensation and perception
Brainstem – highly implicated in varying levels of consciousness
o Pons – wakefulness & alertness
o Medulla – life maintaining; breathing and HR
6 levels of consciouness
- Consciousness
- Locked in syndrome – patient is aware and awake; unable to move body
a. Can be caused by damage to pons
- Appears unconscious – “locked” inside of body
b. People have miraculously come out of it - Minimally conscious state (MCS) – individuals are able to show some behaviour; suggests partial consciousness even on an inconsistent basis
a. Simple commands
- Yes/no
- Physical and emotional reactions
b. Neuroimaging shows some activity in higher order sensory and cognitive regions - Persistent vegetative state – minimal to no consciousness; some functions may still be controlled by the brain
a. Eyes may be open; may develop sleep/wake cycles
b. Typically due to extensive brain damage – grey and white matter in both hemispheres - Coma – complete loss of consciousness
a. Typically due to
i. Damage to brainstem
- Supressed reflexes (ex. pupillary response)
ii. Widespread damage to both hemispheres
b. Possible to recover high levels of consciousness within 2-4 weeks
- Longer = lower likelihood of recovery
c. Biological functions can be maintained artificially - Brain death – brain (inc brainsteam) does not function; no chance of recovery
a. Potential for certain biological functions to be maintained artificially
ways to access consciousness
Testing reflexes
ex. Pupil response related to brainstem damage
o Pupil dilation/constriction – tests comatose state with flashlight; no response indicates damage to brainstem
Glasgow coma scale
Brain imaging
Glasgow coma scale
score on scale indicates level of consciousness
- Tests if eyes – open at all, in response to pain, open in response to speech, or spontaneously
- Language abilities
- Movement abilities – responses to pain; obey commands
Brain imaging to access consciousness
case studies
can see brain activity even if patient is nonresponsive
Case study 1
- 23 yr old patient in vegetative state (minimal to no consciousness)
- Mental imagery task – imagine playing tennis or imaging the rooms in their house
- Scan brain in response to these requests
• Tennis – activity in brain areas related to movement
• House – activity spatial network (parahippocampal gyrus and parietal lobe)
Confirms a certain level of consciousness & brain activity
- they are listening & able to follow instructions
- If distinct areas don’t light up in response to mental imagery tasks – could indicate lack of consciousness/brain activity
Case study 2
Brain activity during a mental imagery task used as a yes/no response
• Yes – imagine playing tennis
• No – imagine rooms in house
Use this technique to ask participant questions (ex. are you in pain
drug
change in psychological experience related to drug use
Short term physical and psychological side effects of drug use
- where does main nt come from
Alters amount of nt released into synapse
a. Agonist – causes more; amplifies
- Direct – binds to receptor; replaces nt
- Indirect – prevent reuptake; causes increased activity of nt
b. Antagonist – cancels out message of nt
- Block receptor that the nt would normally bind to
Dopamine – most often influenced by drugs; reward and pleasure feelings
- Released by – nucleus accumbens & ventral tegmental area
- Produces high associated with drugs
- Pleasure feelings reinforce behaviour – increased usage; anticipation can be enough to release dopamine
Setting
o Novel setting – creates more powerful effects (Overdose often occurs because body is not prepared)
o Place associated with drug use – body prepares for metabolization of drug
Previous experience with drug
o First use – body was unprepared and effects were not fully felt
o Subsequent uses – more potent; body learns drug and how to react; pathways are put into motion quicker and easier (Curve eventually dies up – we build up tolerance)
Expectations
o Know what to expect/expect stronger high – more likely to receive high
Long-term physical and psych effects
Tolerance – repeated use of drug results in need for higher dose to obtain intended effect
- Brain is trying to maintain stable levels of nt
- Down-regulation – decrease in receptor sensitivity in the synapse; post synaptic cells are not as stimulated by nt
Dependency
a. Physical – need to ward off unpleasant physical withdrawal symptoms (nausea, increased HR, increased BP, hallucinations and delirium)
- Body relies on drug to produce necessary amount – no longer makes enough internally
b. Psych – emotional need for drugs without any underlying physical dependence
- Can occur with drugs not considered classically addictive
- Ex. weed & alcohol – assists with anxiety and is associated with fun social setting
Biopsychosocial model – factors and effects
o Bio – specific gene related to drug taking behaviour and dependence
o Psych – cognitive factors (memory cues), emotional relationship
o Sociocultural – family attitudes, religion, social isolation (Addiction is more common in people with small social circles)
Psychoactive drugs & types
affect thinking, behaviour, perception, emotion
- stimulants
- hallucinogenics
- opiates (narcotics)
- sedatives
- alcohol
- marijuana
Stimulants
speeds up activity of NS; enhance wakefulness and alertness; high likelihood of dependence; tolerance develops quickly
Neurotransmitters – increased dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine
- Caffeine – temporarily increases energy levels and alertness
a. Adenosine antagonist (binds and blocks receptors)
- Adenosine – slows neural activity in the brain; makes sleepy; inhibitory; nt are broken down or reuptaken
b. Stimulates adrenal gland – releases adrenaline (energy) - Cocaine
a. Dopamine agonist – blocks reuptake in reward centers of brain (indirect)
b. Influences serotonin and norepinephrine
- Serotonin – feel good
- Norepinephrine – arousal and excitement - Amphetamines
a. Prescription drugs – Ritalin, Provigil
b. Methamphetamine
- Dopamine agonist
- Stimulates release from presynaptic cells (instead of reuptake inhibition)
- Can cause structural abnormalities in frontal lobe – effects decision making and ability to quit using - Ecstasy/MDMA – classified as stimulants; also hallucinogenic
a. Serotonin agonist – blocks reuptake
b. Medicinal uses
- SSRI – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (ex. Prozac)
- PTSD – may be beneficial