Final Lecture

Question 1

Describe what ketamine is, how it’s thought to work, side effects, and how it is being used in the treatment of depression

Explain a reason why it might be preferable to other pharmacological treatments

Answer 1

Used clinically as an anesthetic in animals and humans

—seems to exert effects on opioid receptors

Initial evidence suggests it may be an effective and fast-acting treatment for depression

Particularly promising for suicide prevention
because of the rapid onset of effects

Caveats include side effects (feelings of
dissociation and disorientation, especially) and
lack of data on long-term effects

Question 2

Describe what ECT is, how it’s thought to work, side effects, and how it is being used in the treatment of depression

Answer 2

Small electrical currents passed through the brain, inducing a seizure

long history of use, but current practice much improved, e.g., use of general anesthesia, pain
control, muscle relaxation

Used to treat severe, treatment-resistant depression, typically in a series of 6-12 treatments

Possibility of significant memory loss, though, for most,
memory problems typically resolve in a few months

Question 3

Describe what rTMS is, how it’s thought to work, side effects, and how it is being used in the treatment of depression

Answer 3

Targeted, short pulses of electromagnetic stimulation

• typically to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Question 4

Describe the role and location of the subgenual cingulate cortex

Answer 4

Major Depressive Disorder

Subgenual cingulate cortex: Seems to return to typical
levels of activity in people who recover, regardless of
treatment type

DBS targeted to the subgenual cingulate cortex is effective in alleviating severe forms of depression

Question 5

Describe what the DSM-V is

Answer 5

Provides common language for describing psychopathology

Strength is in reliability: clinicians use the same terms in the same ways

But validity is less clear

Question 6

Describe the difference between treatment and neuroenhancement

Answer 6

Neuroenhancement: Interventions that aim to make the typical, healthy brain better

Questions of efficacy and of ethics

Question 7

Describe findings regarding drugs used for both cognitive and social/affective
enhancement, in terms of safety and efficacy

Answer 7

Neuroenhancement: Drugs

Cognitive enhancement?
• Mixed findings on effectiveness of prescription stimulants as
cognitive enhancers in healthy people
• Some studies find modest improvements in learning and executive
function
• Stronger evidence in support of improved declarative memory; less
clear evidence in support of enhanced executive function
• Others find null results and even occasional impairment,
depending on task
• Most marked effects in sleep-deprived people
• Social/affective enhancement?
• Some findings suggesting SSRIs can alter personality and
social behavior
• reducing neuroticism and increasing affiliative behaviors
• Oxytocin has been shown to increase trust and generosity
• But only with in-group members

Question 8

Describe how tDCS is thought to work and findings regarding its use in neuroenhancement, in terms of safety and efficacy

Answer 8

tDCS applies two electrodes to
the head, connected to a weak
power source
• Currents from tDCS thought to
modulate resting membrane
potentials of neurons
• Meta-analyses suggest mixed
findings
• Some results suggesting enhanced
performance on learning,
arithmetic, and target detection
tasks, with practice
• Others find null results
• Effects vary widely depending on
where electrodes are placed
• Fairly new technology and few if any studies of long-term effects

Question 9

Compare and contrast the different methods used to treat depression and describe when you might use one over another

Answer 9

medications,

Question 10

Explain how the RDoC framework might change our understanding of psychiatric disorders

Answer 10

RDoC is a research framework for new ways of studying mental disorders. It integrates many levels of information (from genomics to self-report) to better understand basic dimensions of functioning underlying the full range of human behavior from normal to abnormal.

Question 11

Explain why Lumosity was fined by the Federal Trade Commission in terms of what we know about the efficacy of “brain training” exercises

Answer 11

preyed on consumers’ fears about age-related cognitive decline, suggesting their games could stave off memory loss, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s disease

Question 12

Explain why we might be concerned about the use of neuroenhancement, both in terms of fairness and coercion

Answer 12

Fairness
• “Academic doping?”
• Expensive and so only available to some

Coercion
• Especially an issue for children
• and people in particular professions in which long hours
may be required, e.g., military, medicine