Levels of Consciousness Flashcards
Ao1: What is Restoration Theory?
This was created by Oswald and is a dual function theory about why we sleep. It theorises that we have slow wave sleep (SWS) for the purpose of body repair, as during SWS a growth hormone is produced, and that rapid eye movement sleep (REM) is for the purpose of brain restoration.
Ao1: What 5 predictions come from restoration theory?
1) A lack of sleep will cause deficit in cognitive functioning.
2) We will have rebound after lack of sleep, depending on what type of sleep you missed out on.
3) After brain injury or surgery you will have increased REM sleep.
4) After illness or physical injury you will have increased SWS sleep.
5) After exercise you will sleep for longer.
Ao2: What happened to Peter Tripp?
He didn’t sleep for 201 hours and during this time he had hypnagogic hallucinations and was incredibly aggressive. He then slept for 24 hours after this and was never the same again.
Ao2: What does Peter Tripp suggest about sleep?
Tripp had permanent deficit in cognitive functioning which has lasted for the rest of his life. This shows how important sleep is and how a lack of it can cause permanent problems for our mental health.
Ao2: How does Randy Gardener contradict the conclusion from Peter Tripp?
Gardener didn’t sleep for 11 days and afterwards only slept for 14 hours and had no serious deficit in cognitive functioning. This completely contradicts Tripp as it suggests that you can have lack of sleep without a deficit.
Ao2: What is a problem with both Peter Tripp and Randy GArdener?
These are both case studies, so only done on one person. This means the conclusions cannot be generalised to the general population as we do not know that everyone would react the same way to both of these.
Ao2: What did Shapiro et al find?
They found that marathon runners slept for an extra hour after running a marathon the same day.
Ao2: What does Shapiro et al’s study suggest about sleep?
That when we exercise we do need more sleep for body and brain restoration. So restorations predictions may be correct.
Ao2: What did Horne and Minard find and how does this contradict Shapiro et al’s study?
They found that when normal people completed exhausting tasks, they did not have any extra sleep they just fell asleep faster.
Ao2: What is good about Horne and Minard’s study?
It is far more representative than Shapiro et al as they only looked at marathon runners who are particular types of people who do training like this every day. The people horne and Minard chose should have been more tired as they are not used to the exercise.
Ao2: Why is Shapiro’s study still valid?
Marathon runners are going to be a lot more competitive than people doing exhausting tasks which means they would have put a lot more effort and energy in. Running a marathon is also a lot more tiring than an exhausting tasks, therefore this still supports the restoration theories prediction.
Ao1: What is Evolutionary theory?
This is based on the process of natural selection to explain why we sleep. This is when an organism has a characteristic which is advantageous in avoiding selection pressures. This helps the organism to survive and pass on the advantageous characteristics to their offspring.
Ao1: what three predictions come from evolutionary theory?
1) Sleep is for the conservation of energy.
2) Sleep changes based foraging requirements.
3) Sleep is for predator avoidance.
Ao2: What did Zeppelin and Rechtshaffen find?
They found that small animals slept for longer, this would be because they have a higher metabolic rate and therefore need to sleep for longer to conserve their energy.
Ao2: What animal contradicts Zeppelin and Rechtshaffen?
The sloth as it sleeps for an average of 20 hours per day and is a large animal. However, it does not have a predator, this shows that the relationship between conservation and predators is a complex one.
Ao2: What did Capellini et al find?
Capellini et al did a more a more controlled study or Zeppelin and Rechtshaffen and found a negative correlation between metabolic rate and sleep.
Ao2: How does Capellini et al contradict Zeppelin and Rechtshaffen?
Capellini et al found something very different to Z and R which suggests that maybe we are wrong to say that sleep is evolutionary to conserve energy.
Ao2: What is a problem with Capellini et al’s research?
It probably should have looked at total hours of non-REM sleep instead of total hours of sleep because of the fact that REM sleep is very tiring as you can see from EEG scans.
Ao2: How long do animals who are exposed usually sleep for and why?
They usually sleep for a small amount of time as they need to be alert at all times to avoid predators.
Ao2: What did DeCoursey discover about predator avoidance and sleep?
DeCoursey removes the SCN from chipmunks and introduced them to the wild. She found they they were slowly killed by Weasels, their predator, as they were no longer had a circadian rhythm so the Weasels were better able to hear them in their burrows.
Ao2: What does DeCoursey’s investigation suggest about sleep and predator avoidance?
That for some animals it is definitely and advantageous behaviour to sleep as it helps them to avoid predators.
Ao2: What evidence contradicts the prediction of predator avoidance?
Animals who live socially do not sleep any longer even though their is a reduced level of danger from predators. This makes us realise the the relationship between sleep and predators is very complex and maybe evolutionary theory is far too reductionist to explain sleep on its own.
Ao2: Is restoration theory able to explain the complexities of sleep on its own?
It does do a very good job but sometimes sleeping patterns do not coincide with the predictions made of restoration theory.
Ao2: Is evolutionary theory able to explain the complexities of sleep on its own?
No, it is far too reductionist, we can clearly see that the sleep and the predictions of evolutionary theory are not as clear cut as that they do intermix.
Ao2: What did Horne propose for theories of sleep?
Horne combined both restoration theory and evolutionary theory by creating two types of sleep. Core is SWS sleep and is required for essential body and brain processed. Optional is REM sleep which happens when conserving energy or during unproductive hours.
Ao1: What is Insomnia?
Insomnia is described as a changing of sleeping pattern over a certain period of time.
Ao1: What is chronic Insomnia?
This is when your sleeping pattern has changed for a month or more.
Ao1: What is transient Insomnia?
This is when your sleeping pattern has changed for a temporary amount of time, usually about 2 to 4 weeks.
Ao1: What is secondary insomnia?
This is when the insomnia is a result of something in your life, for example you may have insomnia if you are a shift worker, or if the conditions in your house are not good for sleeping in. Insomnia is a symptom.
Ao1: What is primary insomnia?
It is not caused by anything in particular, it is not a symptom of something it is just there. It may have had a cause at one point but now that cause has gone.
Ao1: What was Nofzinger et al’s explanation?
Nofzinger used PET scans to find there was an overactivity in the brain stem, the hypothalamus and the basal forebrain and they believed this to be the cause of the insomnia.
Ao2: What is good about Nofzinger et al’s findings about insomnia?
They have used a scientific method which means that the findings are objective. We know that Nofzinger hasn’t just made his theory up as he has the PET scans to support him.
Ao2: What is a problem with validity arises from Nofzinger et al’s research?
It was conducted in a slap lab which will have been an unnatural environment for the participants. This means that it is likely that the insomnia could have been caused by being in this unnatural environment, therefore reducing ecological validity.
Ao2: Why is it hard to make a conclusion from Nofzinger et al’s research into insomnia?
Because we don’t know what has actually caused this overactivity in the brain. Is it genes or the environment? Did the insomnia cause the overactivity or did the overactivity cause the insomnia?
Ao1: What was Gontzas et al’s explanation and finding’s?
He found high levels of the stress hormones ACTH and cortisol and believed this was the cause for the insomnia.
Ao2: What is good about Gontzas et al’s research?
Gonztas used a matched pairs design which meant that participant variables would have been eliminated as they are matched with another person. This also gets rid of things like order effects so the participants cannot work out what the researcher is trying to find.
Ao2: What is a problem with Gonzta’s research?
They only had a sample of 11 participants which is very limited therefore making it hard to generalise to the general population as we don’t really know if we would find the same.
Ao2: What practical application has raised from Gonzta’s research?
We ended up making Tremazepam which is a relevant used to help insomniac’s.
