Introduction to Neuropsychopharmacology

Question 1

Drug definition

Answer 1

An administered substance that affects physiological functioning

Question 2

Psychopharmacology studies drugs that affect our

Answer 2

Mood
Perception
Cognition
Behaviors

Question 3

Neuropsychopharmacology is important because

Answer 3

Drug abuse and addiction are prevalent
Provides insight into human behavior
Provides insight into therapeutic drug development

Question 4

Endogenous Substance

Answer 4

Substance produced inside an organism.

Question 5

Exogenous Substance

Answer 5

Comes from outside of the body

Question 6

Dose definition

Answer 6

Drug amount/body weight. Amount of drug per body weight

Question 7

ED50

Answer 7

Effect dose for 50% of people. AKA The dose in which 50% of people experience effects

Question 8

Potency

Answer 8

How much of the drug it takes to achieve an effect

Question 9

TD50

Answer 9

Toxic dose for 50% of people. AKA TD50 = the dose at which 50% of the people have toxic effects.

Question 10

Therapeutic Index

Answer 10

TD50 / ED50

Higher = more therapeutic, less toxic

Question 11

Certain safety index

Answer 11

TD1 / ED99

Higher = safer, more certainty of safety

Question 12

LD50

Answer 12

Lethal dose for 50% of people. AKA The dose at which 50% of people die

Question 13

Problems of intuition as a way to acquire knowledge

Answer 13

Illusory correlation
Correlation =/= causation. Third variable problem
Susceptible to bias (Ex: eugenics, bigotry)
Overconfidence - Dunning-kruger effect

Question 14

Observation as a way to acquire knowledge

Answer 14

Critical to good science: empiricism
Works best with objective measures
Still not enough to acquire the best information about the world
Bias and limited explanatory power

Question 15

Scientific skepticism

Answer 15

Question authority, intuition and beliefs
Systematic doubt and continual testing
Careful with extreme skepticism/ extreme postmodernity: these are the tools of obfuscation.

Question 16

Objective Psychoactive Drug Effects

Answer 16

Easily measurable

Question 17

Subjective Psychoactive Drug Effects

Answer 17

Resistant to measurements, can only be measured indirectly

Question 18

Pharmacodynamics

Answer 18

Mechanical effects of drugs

Question 19

Pharmacokinesis

Answer 19

Study of how drugs move throughout the body. From entrance to exit.

Question 20

Pharmacogenetics

Answer 20

How different genes lead to differences in pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinesis

Question 21

Instrumental drug use

Answer 21

When someone takes a drug for a purpose

Question 22

Recreational drug use

Answer 22

When someone takes a drug for fun, just for experience

Question 23

Scientific method

Answer 23

Observation, Idea, Consult past research, hypothesis, design study, ethical approval, collect data, analyze data, modify and repeat (if hypothesis wrong) , consider implications of results, build theories.

Question 24

Materialism

Answer 24

Scientific principle that states the universe is made of matter and energy. Therefore, everything in the universe is measurable, observable, predictable and refers to the laws of physics.

Question 25

Universalism

Answer 25

Science is systematically structured. It uses objective and accepted methods within discipline.

Question 26

Communality

Answer 26

Scientific principle that states that methods and results must be publicly available. Collaborate instead of competing.

Question 27

Disinterestedness

Answer 27

Scientific principle that states that science doesn’t have a stake in the outcome.

Question 28

Organized skepticism

Answer 28

Scientific principle that accounts science to more scrutiny than any other field. Science requires things like peer reviews and reproducibility.

Question 29

Conceptual variable

Answer 29

Not easily measured. We want to turn them into measured variables (quantifiable).

Question 30

Operational variable

Answer 30

To operationalize a variable is to capture a way to measure it.

Question 31

Independent variable

Answer 31

Variable that the scientists manipulate

Question 32

Dependent variable

Answer 32

Variable that is being measured

Question 33

Situational variables (Or extraneous variable)

Answer 33

Aspects of the experiment. How controlled the situation is

Question 34

Participant variables

Answer 34

humans are different and cause noise in data.

Question 35

Non-experimental method

Correlational method

Answer 35

Only correlation
There is no true independent variable - there is no way of controlling it (ex: age)
Positive or negative correlation

Question 36

Experimental method

Answer 36

I.V. and D.V.
Random assignment
Causality - covariation of cause and effect
Temporal precedence
No more plausible alternative explanation (Should not have a confounding variable)

Question 37

Clinical drug studies should have a

Answer 37

Placebo as control (exception: if treatment already exists)

Question 38

Treatment arms

Answer 38

Different levels of the independent variable

Question 39

Blinded procedures

Single blind study

Answer 39

Participant does not have info. Reduces demand characteristics.

Question 40

Blinded procedures

Double blind study

Answer 40

Neither the participant nor the researcher knows the info. No research bias.

Question 41

Blinded procedures

Open label

Answer 41

Everyone knows the dose or placebo. Usual for dangerous drugs.

Question 42

Vehicle condition

Answer 42

When the control is 0 dose. Rats don’t have expectations on drugs. Not a placebo.

Question 43

Animals are used for psychopharmacological research.

Answer 43

To understand basic mechanisms. They have high predictive value. When there are no viable alternatives.

Question 44

Clinical trials

Answer 44

Phases of the experiment with different goals, dose, duration of treatment and participants involved.