Lecture 28: Metaplasticity Flashcards
Why have mortality rates increased for white Americans?
increasing death rates from drug and alcohol poisonings, suicide, and chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis
What is the biggest drug problem?
alcohol
especially dependence-related issues
What are chronic alcohol-related diseases?
cancer, neuropsychiatric diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, GI diseases and conditions arising during the perinatal period
What are the chronic effects of alcohol abuse?
reduced brain weight, reduced white matter volume and thiamine deficiency
What is the role of the prefrontal cortex?
temporal structuring of behaviour, abstraction, social cognition, working memory, memory of the future, counterfactual imagination, executive function, rationality and values
What are early life experiences critical to?
normal adult social functioning
What does time spent in orphanages with conditions of social deprivation correlate with?
incidence of neurocognitive impairment
What occurs when a monkey is reared in isolation from its mother?
the monkey is incapable of normal social and exploratory behaviour
What do the systems mediating adult social cognition require?
activation of tactile-based attachment and nurturing experiences
What is retinal disparity proportional to?
distance from eyes (depth)
What are monocular cues indicators of?
powerful depth indicators (but they can be misleading)
What does child abuse increase the risk of?
greatly increases the risk of developing mood and anxiety disorders
What do animal models of neglect reveal?
the critical importance of mono / indol-amine system activity
What is HPA overactivity a common finding in?
depressed patients
What is the HPA excited by and what is it inhibited by?
excited by the amygdala and inhibited by excitation of the hippocampus
