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PSYC 207 Midterm 1 > Lecture 6 > Flashcards

Lecture 6 Flashcards

1
Q

Tell me everything you know about A delta fibres?

A

A delta usually carry information about pain in a way that’s fast. Ex: you burn yourself on the stove and you draw away really fast. This is because the neurons that carry this info are very heavy mylenated. (well insulated cable that transmits electircal impulse faster)

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2
Q

Tell me everything you know about C-fibres

A

C fibres are evolutionarily older. They have no myeline sheath around them. Much slower electrical impulse transmission. Why do we have these? Why didn’t we lose these in evolution? Why would you not want to feel pain for a long time if it’s there anyway? Evolution doesn’t usually just get rid of the old. BUT there is also a benefit to having slow pain sensory nerve fibres. You can actually measure the speed of transmission and its slower.

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3
Q

KNOW THE DIAGRAM ON LECTURE 6 PG 6

A
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4
Q

Do A-delta and C fibres both carry electrical signals and chemical signals?

A

yes. Both neurons carry both and they are better at carrying electrical signals but they do carry them. The C fiber carries electrical signals very slowly. An electrical signal as it travels can lose its strength by disapating in this space.

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5
Q

What is an analogy we use to describe C fibres? What analogy do we use to describe A-delta fibres?

A

C fibres are analog. A-delta fibres are like an electrical circuit.

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6
Q

What is the advantage of having slower pain neurons?

A

The advantage of having the slower pain neurons. There’s influence on what effects the hormone can have and the extent to which the chemical substances can influence the excitability of the neuron. The advantage of having the unmyelinated neurons is that they pick up chemical changes in the body more effectively and carry them slowly but more importantly in the body.

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7
Q

Is it necessarily the case that neurons are either firing or not firing?

A

we imagine that neurons are either firing or not firing but this is not necessarily the case because the neurons are equally influenced by the chemical changes that are not binary. The chemical substances (unmyelinated) are more analog and the electric impulses are more digital

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8
Q

If you’re in a stressful situation and you have an injury, why might you not feel the injury?

A

I’m in a stressful situation and I’ve had an injury but I’m not feeling it because the cortisol is down regulating the neurons which makes it less excitable. This means the pain might not reach the cortex.

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9
Q

Why are c-fibres better at picking up chemical changes?

A

because they are not myelinated so instead of the stimuli jumping from node to node, the stimuli covers and ‘soaks’ into the axonal membrane receptors.

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10
Q

What are the 3 types of perception?

A

exteroception, proprioception, and visceroception

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11
Q

What are the 2 types of perception that fall into the interoception umbrella?

A

proprioception, and visceroception

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12
Q

What is exteroception? What are the 2 protocal senses associated with this? What are also associated with this but less so? Are we talking about exteroception when talking about pain perception?

A

Things you perceive from the external world outside of you. Ext is often equated with sensory systems. But this is not the only kind of sensation. The two protocol senses are vision and hearing. Ext is external perception.

Taste smell and touch are also kind of external because the molecules come from the external environment. Taste and smell are also partly internal.

But for the most part these senses have an element of helping us perceive the external world. We are not talking about this when we talk about pain perception.

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13
Q

What is proprioception? Where do the signals come from?

A

the sense of where the one’s own body is in a space.

signals come from joints, tendens, muscles,

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14
Q

What is visceroception? Where do the signals come from?

A

the sense of the physiological condition of the body

Signals come from inner organs (mechano, chemo, thermo, osmoreceptors

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15
Q

What is interoception? Are we taught to ignore or acknowledge interoception? What is an experienced meditator focused on when it comes to interoception?

A

Int can be separates into prop and visc. The internal world of our body is very complex and so are the sensory systems that help us percieve it.

Visc is the sensations that come from our internal organs.

We are trained to ignore interoception through socialization (exL can;t go pee in class etc).

Prop has to do with the sensation from internal joints, muscles, and tendons.

An experienced meditator is focused on training you to become better at sensing sensation of visc but prop is becoming aware of body in space by increasing sensitivity and perception of joints, etc.

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16
Q

What does understanding interoception allow us to understand about the pian during childbirth?

A

This helps us understand how the sensations of labour are very different from things like cutting yourself, burning yourself etc. They are experienced differently, and delivered differently. Different sensory fibres are responsible for the experience. Comparing these creates a false comparison/

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17
Q

You perceive your own body’s labour pain primarily through
a) Exteroception
b) Proprioception
c) Viscerosception
d) Interoception

A

(c) visceroception

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18
Q

In what type of labour would proprioception be triggered?

A

In the case of back labour, proprioception would be triggered. You would have activation of joints, and skeletal muscles around there as well.

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19
Q

You perceive another person’s labour pain primarily through
a) Exteroception
b) Proprioception
c) Viscerosception
d) Interoception

Why?

A

(a) exteroception

This is because we don;t directly percieve out of peoples pain we simulate it. We spontaneously, feel bad when we see people in pain.

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20
Q

What does top processing vs bottom processing tend to relate to?

A

Top processing vs bottom processing tends to relate to physical regions.

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21
Q

What are pain receptors a form of? Is this a form of pain?

A

Pain recpetors are nociception and nociception is not a form of pain because pain is an experience.

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22
Q

KNOW THE DIAGRAM ON LECTURE 6 SLIDE 10

A
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23
Q

KNOW DIAGRAM ON LECTURE 6 SLIDE 11

A
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24
Q

do expectations shape our experience of pain? What can this result in? Explain the diagram related to this.

A

yes.

This cycle can result in fundamentally different knowledge and experiences across people

experience influences knowledge which influences experience. knowledge influences experience, which influences expectations which infuences interpretations which influences knowledge which influences experience which influences explanation which influences knowledge.

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25
Q

What are examples of ways in which expectations can shape our experiences?

A

placebo and nocibo effects .

26
Q

Can experience shape knowledge? how can this later influence beliefs? How coudl this make it difficult to talk to people about childbirth?

A

yes. One of the mechanisms behind these things is you can get an experience of your world from yourself. The experiences become limited because we can never experience everything but the things we do experience form knowledge which is mediated by expectations. Expectations are not just passive things, they influence our life. This cycle of influences is how we can result in different fundamentally different beliefs and things we know about childbirth. Prof said its realy hard to talk to peopel about childbirht because everyone’s knowledge is valid but the experiences were so different its like coming from 2 different planets.

27
Q

What is placebo analgesia?

A

When positive expectations reduce pain

28
Q

Why did the DLPFC get this name? When is it activated?

A

Why is the DLPFC called this? It is on the lateral surface (you can see it on the outside) dorsal comes from the fact that its closer to the top of the brain rather than the bottom of the brain. The term for top of the brain is dorsal (can think of this as a dorsal fin, its technically the back if you’re on all fours). DLPFC is activated when peopel are experiences positive expectations that reduce their pain.

29
Q

What part of the brain is responsible for placebo analgesia? Through what?

A

through expectations,
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)

30
Q

Is placebo common? What profession focuses on it a lot? Why might this practice try to create placebo?

How do placebo effects work? how do positive expectations reduce pain?

A

Placebo is very common and is a huge practice in medical practice.

BUT, in other ways medical practice is about creating placebo because they are a form of intervention if you can create an effect placebo but there is less money in this field so there is less research.

How do placebo effects owrk in the brain (more technical term for placebo effects is placebo analgesia) (anelgesia is the lack of pain).

how do positive expectations reduce pain. What we know about the pain processing mechanisms is that there are at least 3 main parts of the brain that are important for producing placebo effects. They are effecting the sensitivity of the sensory nociceptive fibres. Expectations begin at the level of experience, whatever gives you positive expectations will produce a conscience experience of you expecting things to get better and having you experience less pain.

31
Q

At what level do expectations begin?

A

at the level of experience

32
Q

What are the three ways in which the brain works to produce placebo analgesia? What parts of the brain are associated with each part?

A

expectations (positive) - DLPFC

Increase in endogenous opiods - ACC

Controllign the release of endogenous opiods - PAG

33
Q

What does placebo analgesia lead to the release of? What is responsible for this? Why? Where is this in the hierarchy compared to the DLPFC? How does this further the mechanism for placebo analgesia?

A

endogenous opioids
Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)

We are now getting lower in the heirarchy. The ACC is still a cortical region but its slightly lower than the DCFLP. This has a disproportionate amounr of endogenous opiod receptors. The parts of the brain that have more of these receptors will become more active if you increase your intake of endogenous opiods. Now it isn’t just expectation.

34
Q

What is placebo effect about? Can the placebo effects have a greater effect on the transmission of C fibres than on the transmission of A delta fibres?

A

Placebo effect is about expectations on the release of endogenous opiods.

Yes they should logically. Becuase the fast pain transmission gives you less oportunity to modulare it. If the neuron transmitts slower than the expectation would have a longer period of time to transmit into the C fibres. Visceral transmission would have more modifiable effects to C fibres than somatic pain.

35
Q

Which part of the brain is probably most closely related to the placebo effect?

A

the PAG

36
Q

What is the PAG? What structure is inside of it?

A

This is a constellation of neuronal bodies. It does lots of important things for us, it works in autonomatic ways, connected ot the automatic nervous system. It helps you release endogenous opiods and it is probably most closely related to the placebo effect.

The PAG has an aqueduct inside of the midbrain and brain stem. There is a tiny tube where cerebral/spinal fluid travels up in down the spinal cord. The PAG is the gray matter between neuronal bodies that surrounds the duct that goes up and down.

37
Q

What is around the medial cortex?

A

the brainstem and the corpus collosum

38
Q

What cortex are the brain regions involved with placebo analgesia in?

A

the medial cortex

39
Q

Do we know what the sequence of activation is when it comes to the 3 parts of the brain responsible for placebo analgesia?

A

no. We don’t know the order that the DLPFC, the ACC, and the PAG are activated in

40
Q

What is a simplified version of how placebo analgesia works?

A

The mechanism is effectively these three regions. Positive expectation (activating the DLPFC) is a mental phenomena that leads to an increase in endogenous opiods (released from the ACC, and regulated by the PAG) which reduce pain

41
Q

Can you create a placebo effect on yourself?

A

Women who are pregnant sometimes try to create placebo effects within themselves

42
Q

What is hypnobabies?

A

This is an attempt to create a placebo effect on the pregnant person. Its basically like a hypnosis that what you are going to experience during the birthing experience that tries to go through imaginary senarios and you are imagining yourself not feeling pain.

43
Q

What is Nocebo hyperalgesia?

A

When negative expectations increase pain

44
Q

What is algesia?

A

sensitivity to pain

45
Q

What is hyperalgesia? is it physiologically real?

A

extreme sensitivity to pain.

yes.

46
Q

What is hypoalgesia? is it physiologically real?

A

decreased sensitivity to pain.

yes.

47
Q

What is analgesia?

A

the inability to feel pain. (in practice, often partial)

You can very rarely produce this so often the term analgesia is used wrongly. In practice it is often partial. People often confuse hypoalgesia with analgesia.

48
Q

Is it impossible to produce placebo effect on yourself?

A

its not impossible to produce a placebo effect on yourself but it is very difficult and you need to figure out what works for you. It is much easier to produce a placebo effect through authority (like if you believe in medication), without authority it becomes a little trickier.

49
Q

What are potential sources of nociebo effects in the context of childbirth? (6 things)

A

Interactions with family members and friends
- other people’s fears
- other people’s beliefs

( the fears and beliefs of people we care about influence our expectations. On the other hand, if they are talking positively about things, this could lead to placebo effects)

Interactions with health care providers
- attending prenatal check ups
- being given information about risk

(This can contribute because you are going to get things checked which implies that somethign could be wrong)

50
Q

Do women sometimes attempt to control what social influences they are exposed to? Why? What does this relate to?

A

because this could alter their implicit expectations.

trying to avoid nocebo effects

51
Q

What does the expectation of pain create? What does this do? (3 things)

A

Expecting pain creates a state of anticipatory anxiety, which:

  • increases muscle tension and any related pain
  • increases stress and weakens the body’s own ability to cope with pain (stress can occupy the bodies resources)
  • suppresses endogenous opioids (The expectation ends up effecting parts of the brain that suppress the release of endogenous opioids.)
52
Q

What brain region is associated with expectation when it comes to nocebo hyperalgesia? What is this part of the brain involved in?

A

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)

The DLPFC is involved in working memory (ability to consciously maintain things in mind) when these expectations, they involve working memory. Tis can start the avalanch of impulses on the brain. This is the cortical level

53
Q

KNOW THE DIAGRAM ON LECTURE 6 SLIDE 22

A
54
Q

What is an explanation of the flow chart involved with nocebo hyperalgesia?

A

negative expectations lead to:
- activation of the CCK
- Activation of the HPA
- Deactivation of the NAcc (opioid recpetors, dopamine recpetors)

55
Q

What is the hormone responsible for the anxiety associated with nocebo hyperalgesia? Explain.

A

Cholecystokinin (CCK) an anxiety-promoting hormone, which also has a facilitating effect on pain transmission

56
Q

What is associated with stress in nocebo hyperalgesia? How?

A

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA)
release cortisol, suppress immune system

57
Q

What part of the brain is responsible for suppressing the endogenous opioids in nocebo hyperalgesia?

A

Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc)

58
Q

What does the anticipatory state of anxiety (associated with nocebo hyperalgesia) lead to? how does this relate to C-fibres?

A

The anticipatory state of anxiety leads to the release of CCK. This is an anxiety promoting hormone which is also the hormone that sensitizes can sometimes bath sensory nociceptive fibres that makes them more excitable so now they are transmitting signals more strongly and more likely. Before, the placebo has a stronger effect on the C-fibres, but the nocibo effect can also have much stronger effects on C-fibres.

59
Q

what happens with the NAcc in nocebo hyperalgesia? What value of experiences is this involved in?

A

What happens with the NAcc is that it becomes deactivated and through that the endogenous opiods are being supressed in their release. This is involved in assessing hedonic value of their experiences. This is carried by suppression of endogenous opiods being released.

60
Q

What are the 3 stages to nocebo hyperalgesia?

A

Nocebo hyperalgesia
When negative expectations increase pain

Anxiety:
Cholecystokinin (CCK)
an anxiety-promoting hormone, which also has a facilitating effect on pain transmission

Stress:
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA)
release cortisol, suppress immune system

Suppress endogenous opioids:
Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc)

PSYC 207 Midterm 1 (13 decks)

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