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Biological Psychology with Research Methods > Motivation and eating > Flashcards

Motivation and eating Flashcards

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1
Q

What is motivation?

A

What initiates, directs, and maintains our behaviours.

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2
Q

What are the 5 major motivation theories?

A

Non-related to eating:

  • Instinct theories - behaviour is motivated by innate instinct which is activated by environmental stimuli.
  • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - basic survival needs are complete first before we are motivated to satisfy higher level needs.
  • Arousal theory - Behaviour is motivated by the need to achieve optimum levels of arousal.

Related to eating:

  • Drive-reduction theory - motivation originates from the biological need to maintain equilibrium
  • Incentive theory - behaviour is motivated by internal and external incentives or rewards.
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3
Q

What are instincts?

A
  • Unlearned
  • Innate
  • Automatic
  • Hard to define
  • Trigger behaviours that aid survival
  • Can’t explain all behaviours and are difficult to test

Example - a baby sucking on a nipple or finger places pressure on the roof of their mouth.

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4
Q

What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

A
  1. Physiological needs
  2. Safety and security
  3. Love and belonging
  4. Self esteem
  5. Self - actualisation
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5
Q

What are problems with Maslow’s theory?

A
  • Hierarchy is not linear, people often have several needs at once
  • Hard to test
  • Culturally specific - some do not aspire towards self actualisation
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6
Q

What may you do to increase arousal levels?

A
  • Do sports
  • Socialise
  • Watch an action film
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7
Q

What do you do to decrease arousal levels?

A
  • Read a book

- Take a bath

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8
Q

What problems are there with the arousal theory?

A

Different people have differing levels of arousal - do different things to relax.

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9
Q

How do levels of arousal associate with performance?

A

When completing a complex task we perform better with low-medium arousal whereas on a simple task it is better we have between medium and high arousal.

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10
Q

What are our two arousal systems?

A
  • Autonomic nervous system - arouses the body.

- Cortical arousal system - arouses the brain.

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11
Q

What does the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) do?

A

This regulates wakefulness and sleep-wake transitions. The ARAS connects the reticular formation to the cortex via the thalamus, and damage to these brainstem nuclei causes a coma.

The ARAS regulates arousal and attention in the cortex by modulating neurotransmitter systems.

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12
Q

What are the 3 phases of digestion?

A
  1. Cephalic/reflex phase
  2. Gastric/absorptive phase
  3. Intestinal phase
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13
Q

What is the cephalic phase of digestion?

A

It is initiated by the smell, sight, thought, or taste of food and is modulated by appetite.

Cortical stimulation triggers salivation and gastric secretions.

Preparatory processes

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14
Q

What is the gastric phase?

A

This is triggered by food in the stomach.

There is a distention of the stomach and rise of pH, release of stomach HCl which activates muscle contractions.

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15
Q

What is the intestinal phase?

A

Speeds or slows rate at which stomach empties to allow duodenum to process the partly digested food before receiving more from stomach.

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16
Q

What cells absorb energy in carbohydrates, fats, and proteins?

A
  • Carbs - glucose
  • Fats - Lipids
  • Protein - Amino acids
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17
Q

What 3 forms is energy stored in in the body?

A
  1. Fat - the preferred form of storage
  2. Glycogen - made and stored primarily in the liver and muscle and used to maintain blood sugar levels
  3. Protein - is broken down and used for energy when other stores are depleted.
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18
Q

What is the glucostatic hypothesis?

A

Low blood glucose/glycogen levels cause increased appetite which triggers eating.

Rising insulin levels tell you that you are full and peak a few hours after you have eaten.

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19
Q

What is insulin?

A

This is produced in the pancreas and acts to reduce appetite.

20
Q

How does diabetes work?

A

Insulin levels remain constantly low, blood glucose is too high so cells can’t make use of it which increases appetite and food intake. The glucose is exerted rather than used so fat stores are used up instead which induces weight loss.

21
Q

What is ghrelin?

A

This is a peptide hormone made by the stomach. Levels of ghrelin increase between meals and fall after food is consumed. Ghrelin is an appetite stimulant.

22
Q

What is PYY?

A

PYY is produced by the gastrointestinal tract. Following food intake, PYY is released into circulation and peaks 1-2 hours later. PYY concentrations are proportional to meal energy content. PYY suppresses appetite, however it is easy to overeat on a fatty meal because it takes a while to signal to the brain that you are full.

23
Q

What is leptin?

A

This is an appetite suppressant. This is produced by adipose tissue (fat), stomach, and other organs. Leptin levels are positively correlated with the amount of body fat mass and do not appear to be driven by meal patterns and instead follow a daily rhythm, peaking between early morning and midnight.
Lack of leptin leads to morbid obesity in mice.

24
Q

What is the lipostatic hypothesis?

A

Levels of body fat regulate consumption of food to maintain a stable bodyweight.

25
Q

How is leptin associated with obesity?

A

It leads to a decreased sensitivity to leptin and insulin rather than a lack of.

26
Q

What is the role of the hypothalamus?

A

It performs a variety of regulatory functions, particularly the autonomic nervous system )including metabolic processes. The hypothalamus contains receptors for many peptide hormones.

  • It receives sensory information from the stomach, intestines
  • It is sensitive to leptin, ghrelin, insulin
27
Q

What is set point theory?

A

When we fall below ideal weight our body will increase hunger and decrease energy expenditure. If we go above our set point the hypothalamus tells us to stop eating and raises our metabolic rate to burn any excess food.

28
Q

What are the problems with set point theory?

A

There are more factors which can affect body weight and body composition. Set point can be moved upwards depending on societal factors such as abundance of food, sedentary lifestyles, and labour saving technologies. People can also lower set point through dietary and exercise changes.
This then arose the theory of a settling point which is a dynamic equilibrium between biological and environmental factors.

29
Q

What is positive incentive theory?

A

This theory states that we are motivated to eat not by internal energy deficits but instead by the anticipated pleasure of eating. It emphasises external stimuli such as the time of day, the sight and smell of food, and the social context.

30
Q

What emphasises how much we eat?

A
  • Package size
  • Stockpiling and multipacks
  • Size of bowl and utensils
  • Environment - lighting, music, temperature
  • Effort
  • Social influence
31
Q

What evidence is there for positive incentive theory?

A

Weingarten (1983) - Presented rats with food at regular time intervals either following a light, or the light was just turned on at random times throughout the day. When given free choice of food, they would only eat when the light was presented if in condition where it was seen before food.

Rolls, Rolls and Rowe (1982) - Variety of food on offer increases eating, more pasta was consumed when there was a variety of pasta shapes on offer.

32
Q

What is sensory specific satiety (SSS)?

A

Decrease in the pleasantness/consumption of a food once you have eaten it to satiety - eg. the idea of a dessert stomach.

As you eat one food, your positive-incentive value for all food decreases, but it declines strongly for that particular food.

33
Q

What is the reward circuit (mesolimbic dopamine pathway)?

A

Projects from ventral tegmental area to:

  • Amygdala
  • Hippocampus
  • Nucleus accumbens
34
Q

What does the mesocortical dopamine pathway project to?

A

This pathway projects solely to the frontal cortex.

35
Q

Is food addictive?

A

Cocaine addiction reduces D2 receptors so the dopamine response becomes blunted with increased use. A similar effect has been seen in rodent studies where they are given a high caloric diet

36
Q

What are the representations of taste that develop during the first few stages of taste processing?

A

Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami

37
Q

Where do taste and smell pathways converge?

A

In the amygdala and orbifrontal cortex - this is how flavour is represented. In the orbifrontal cortex you have different neurons that react to different flavours.

38
Q

What did the chocolate craving study by Rolls and McCabe show?

A

The striatum and orbifrontal cortex are activated more strongly to the sight of a food that you particularly like.

39
Q

What is anorexia nervosa?

A
  • Persistent restriction of energy intake leading to significantly low body weight
  • Intense fear of gaining weight, or persistent behaviours that interfere with gaining weight
  • Disturbance in appearance of body weight and lack of recognition of the seriousness of current low body weight
40
Q

What is bulimia?

A
  • Recurrent episodes of binge eating
  • Eating more than most within a discrete time period
  • A sense of lack of control over eating
  • Compensatory behaviour to prevent weight gain eg. vomiting, laxatives, excessive exercise, fasting
  • self evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape/weight
41
Q

What is a binge eating disorder?

A

Eating more rapidly than normal, feeling uncomfortably full, eating when not hungry, eating alone, and feeling disgusted with oneself afterwards.

42
Q

What is hypothalamus dysfunction theory? (Biological explanation for anorexia)

A
  • Disturbed hypothalamic function means lack of weight thermostat and other impaired hypothalamic functions like thermoregulatory control
  • Grey matter atrophy in anorexia (poor control over body temperature)
  • BMI is positively correlated with grey matter in the hypothalamus
43
Q

What is the biochemical imbalance theory? (Biological explanation for anorexia)

A

The dopamine system may be hypersensitive in anorexia. This has been seen as amphetamines lead to anxiety in anorexia compared to euphoria in healthy controls. This could explain why food related dopamine causes anxiety instead of pleasure in people with anorexia.

44
Q

What does the biopsychosocial approach say could interact to cause anorexia?

A

Genetic:

  • Inherited personality traits
  • Genes that affect hunger, satiety, and body weight

Psychological:

  • Low self esteem
  • Need for self control
  • Unhealthy body image

Sociocultural:

  • Thin body ideal
  • Influences from the media, family, and friends
  • Abundant food supply
45
Q

What is a biological explanation of Bulimia Nervosa?

A

The reward circuit is affected, the striatum and amygdala brain activity has no down regulation once food is consumed so the hunger state is retained and people are still hungry even when they have eaten.

46
Q

What is Prader-Willi syndrome and how is it caused?

A

This is an example of a binge eating disorder, for which the genetic cause is that chromosome 15 is missing genetic information. This disrupts the functioning of the hypothalamus and several neurotransmitters involved in eating.

Symptoms:

  • Insatiable eating
  • Slow metabolism
  • Other physiological and neurological symptoms such as small hands and feet, weak muscles, tantrums, compulsivity

Results in obesity and many people die in early adulthood.

Biological Psychology with Research Methods (6 decks)

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