PSYC Midterm 3 Flashcards
Stages of Sleep + Length + Types of Waves + Features
Awake: alpha at rest (8-12/s), Beta alert (13+/s)
REM (Rapid Eye Movement) 5-6 times:
- Found as biologically critical from REM deprivation studies –> many intense REM bounce-backs
Non-REM (NREM) Sleep: short thought-like repetitive dreams about everyday tasks,
- Stage 1 (5-10min): theta waves (4-7/s), 50% brain activity down, hypnagogic imagery; scrambled dream-like images that flit in & out of consciousness, myoclonic jerks from limbs as if being startled or falling, confused
- Stage 2 (65% of sleep): waves slow, sleep spindles; sudden bursts of electric activity & k-complexes; sharply rising & falling waves, heart rate, body temp, muscles, eye movement slow, decr. or cease
- Stage 3: delta waves (2/s), deeper slower, necessity to feel fully rested
Circadian Rhythm + Free Running Rhythm + Effects of Disruption
Circadian Rhythms/Brain’s Biological Clock: scheduled by environmental cues alertness, changes in biological processes including body temperature, brain waves, drowsiness & hormones releases. Melatonin is key to regulating circadian rhythms
Free Running Rhythm: rhythm even when not exposed to environmental cues, shows that circadian rhythm+sleep is hardwired into biological system
Disruption disturbs sleep and increases the risk of injuries, fatal accidents, and health problems, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Recuperation vs Adaptation Theories
Recuperation Theories of Sleep: sleep restores homeostasis, a constant state of being (energy levels, repair, fighting infection), being awake disrupts this, long-term memory, problem solving, insight, neural development & connectivity
Adaptation Theories of Sleep: no physiological reason, result of 24hr timing mechanism protection from accidents & predators conserving energy
Comparative Studies of Animals on Sleep
Serves a Physiological Function: not just to protect from predators
- Gazelles have shorter sleep to be more aware of flat open environment, Dolphin sleep with half brain awake
Not only for Higher Order Human Function: not just to release emotions or mental health
Needed for Survival, not in great amounts: less during mating, migration, short supply
No Strong Relationship between Sleep Length & body size, energy expenditure, body temp
- Relation with Food Chain: apex can sleep as long as it wants, herbivores sleep less
How Much Do We Need to Sleep?
Newborn 19hr, Student 9hr, Adult+Elders 7hr
Types of Sleep Loss + Feature Effects
Total Sleep Deprivation: skipping entire night’s sleep → efficiency to get to stage 3 sleep
- Next sleep regains most of stage 3, more slow wave sleep 6-8hr especially during naps, less stage 1&2, waking during stage 3 causes sleepiness except for REM
(Chronic) Sleep Restriction: less sleep normal or optimal → less self awareness
- Moderate 3-4hr sleep led to 3 effects: (1)increase in sleepiness, falling asleep quickly if given the chance, (2) disturbances on written tests of mood, (3) poor vigilance
(Chronic) Sleep Disruption: repeated disruptions, length fine
Sleep Loss on Health
Physical Health: impaired immune system, increased heart rate (SNS activation), hormone dysregulation, inability to handle stress, weight gain, diabetes
Mental Health: cognitive impairment, memory lapses, hallucinations
Emotional Health: irritability, general anxiety, inability to handle stress , depression
Confound of Stress: lab studies are not under normal sleeping conditions
Ex. Experimental & control rat on a disk, results show sleep deprivation attributed to stress
Mortality: greater risk if sleep is less than 7hr or more than 8hr
Characteristics of REM Sleep
- Spinal cord receives signals from
- Pons for paralysis of limbs, loss of muscle tone
- Low high amplitude frequency
- EEG similar to waking
- Increases waking levels in many brain structures
- General increase in autonomic nervous system activity, heart rate, blood pressure, rapid irregular breathing
- Some muscle activity & clitoral or penile erection
- Vivid dreaming emotional, illogical prone to shifts in plot
3 Common Beliefs about Dreaming
- External Stimuli can be incorporated into dreams → most aren’t & don’t cause behavioral responses except for pressure & water
- Sleep Walking & Talking occurs during dreams → Misconceptions
- Dreaming only Occurs During REM → Misconception, occurs 1,2, 3 less vividly, shorter thought-like, forebrain lesion abolishes dreaming but REM still occurs, brainstem lesion abolishes REM but dreaming still occurs
3 Theories on Function of REM + Criticisms
- Improve + Maintain Mental Health
- Processing Memories
- Default Theory: breaks between NREM, maintains alertness to external environment, prepares for wakefulness as it is prominent at end of sleep
Criticism: lots of support but does not explain how antidepressants blocking REM don’t cause major issues
Effect of Depriving REM & NREM
Depriving REM Labs: constantly woken during REM → increased amount of REM sleep during study & subsequent nights
Depriving NREM Labs: constantly woken during deep sleep –> a sharp rebound of slow wave sleep during subsequent nights
4 Theories on Why We Dream
- Freud’s Dream Protection Theory: reveals hidden wishes & desires by disabling ego (mental sensor repressing sexual aggressive instincts) & transforming impulses into symbols representing wish fulfillment
- A dream about getting a flat tire (manifest content=detail) might signify anxiety about a loss of status at one’s job (latent content=hidden meaning)
- Criticisms: dreams should be more positive, sexual ones are occasional
- Activation Synthesis Hypothesis: brain trying to make sense of it’s own sleep-related random activity originating from forebrain, brain activation, random neural signals, high levels of activity in brain stem are necessary. Blindness, cultural factors impact subject matter of dreams.
- Criticisms: driven by motivational & emotional control centers of forebrain as logical executive parts snooze supported by how the damage to forebrain eliminates dreams entirely even when brainstem works, refuting activation-synthesis belief that brainstem plays exclusive role in dreaming
- Neurocognitive Theory: dreams are simulations in which we imaginatively place ourselves in different mental scenarios and explore possible outcomes, rehearse, prepare & avoid threats
- Attempting to Organize Unconsciously Reactivated Memories: organizing reactivations into narratives
- Virtual Trainer: major role in early development (stimulation & simulation) & throughout life (simulation for prediction)
- Attempting to Organize Unconsciously Reactivated Memories: organizing reactivations into narratives
- Dream Continuity Hypothesis: dream mirrors our life circumstances, thoughts, concerns
Lucid Dreams
Lucid Dreams: aware that one is dreaming & can affect the course of the dream (ex. Prearranged signals to communicate), cerebral cortex associated with self-perceptions and evaluating thoughts and feelings rev up with activity
3 Mysteries of REM
- How do organisms benefit taxing energy spent for REM
- Drugs suppressing REM have no large effects
- Babies have a lot of REM
Sleep Disorders
Hypersomnia: disorders of excessive sleep or sleepiness
Kleine-Levin Syndrome: 15-21 hr/day
- Narcolepsy (few brain cells that produce orexin): severe daytime sleepiness at inappropriate times seconds-minutes immediately into REM, cataplexy-loss of muscle tone during wakefulness, sleep paralysis-can’t move as falling asleep or waking up, hypnagogic hallucinations-dreaming while awake
Insomnia: all disorders of initiating or maintaining sleep most are iatrogenic-physician created & stress, correlation with depression, chronic pain & conditions
- Sleep Apnea: blockage of airways during sleep, snoring gasping stop breathing higher risk of weight gain, fatigue, hearing loss, death, lack of oxygen, irregular heartbeat,
- Periodic Limb Movement Syndrome: limbs (usually legs) twitch or move during sleep
- Restless Leg Syndrome: tension or uneasiness in legs that prevents sleep
- Night Terrors: few mins of screaming, crying, perspiring, confused, wide-eyed
- Sleep Walking (somnambulist): walking while asleep, sleep deprived individuals more commonly (sexsomnia, sexual acts while asleep)
Psychoactive Drugs
Influence the subjective experience & behavior by acting on the central nervous system, contains chemicals similar to those found naturally in our brains that alter consciousness by changing chemical processes in neurons. Assumed to affect physiological functions & exogenous: outside of body rather than endogenous (insulin)/
Methods of administration and absorption
Ingestion: easy + safe, unpredictable effects (ex. Beer, edibles)
Injection: speedy + predictable effects, speedy effects+infection potential (intramuscularly, intravenously, subcutaneously)
Inhalation: speedy effects, unpredictable effects+damage to lungs
Absorption/Mucous Membranes: damages membranes
How Drugs Affect CNS
Neuron membranes diffuse throughout CNS to excite or inhibit
Binding + affecting a particular synaptic receptor, influences synthesis, transport, release, or deactivation of particular NT
Influencing chain of chemical reactions elicited in postsynaptic neurons by activation of receptors
Drug Metabolism & Elimination
Drug Metabolism: conversion of active drugs into non-active forms, usually by liver enzymes, so it can no longer pass through the blood brain barrier
Drug Excretion: elimination from the body
Tolerance vs Sensitization
Drug Tolerance: repeated exposures produce a diminished effect or requires an increased dose to maintain a constant effect through neural adaptation that counteracts the effect of drug
Drug Sensitization: repeated exposures produce a heightened drug effect or requires a smaller dose to maintain a constant effect
Note:
Cross-Tolerance: drug produces tolerance/sensitization to other drugs that acts by same mechanism
Tolerance/Sensitization develops to some effects of a drug but not others
Conditioned Compensatory Response: physiological changes that occur as a result of conditioned cues associated with a particular drug, increasing the tolerance for the drug. Less tolerant if unexpectedly stimulus occurs
Withdrawal
Withdrawal Syndrome: adverse physiological reaction due to sudden removal of a drug that has been used for a significant period of time
Opposite effects of drugs occurs when individuals are physically dependent on drug where neural adaptation is still strong & occurring
Severity depends on: type of drug, duration + degree of exposure, speed of drug’s removal
Classical Conditioning on Tolerance & Withdrawal (Hint Draw Design)
Association with environment with drug use, conditioning more tolerance when using drug in conditioned environment. Big injection kills more rats in new environment.
Withdrawal effects can be present without the drug itself, just by the environment cues. (See drawings)
Substance Use Disorder + Addiction
Substance use disorder: recurrent significant impairment or distress associated with one or more drugs
Addicts: habitual drug users who continue to use a drug despite its adverse effects & despite their repeated efforts to stop using
Mental set—beliefs and expectancies about the effects of drugs—the settings in which people take these drugs, and their cultural heritage and genetic endowment all play a part in accounting for the highs and lows of drug use
5 Models of Addiction + General Criticism
- Moral Model: addiction is a choice made by individuals with low moral standards. Treatment = Punishment
- Criticisms: those with high morals have addictions too - Disease (Biomedical) Model: addiction is a disease, incurable, progressive & possibly fatal if left untreated.
- Criticisms: exposures doesn’t always lead to addiction, abstinence might not be necessary, spontaneous “recovery”, removes personal responsibility - Environmental Contributions: addicts are missing the affects/feelings they are seeking from drugs in their environment shown through “Rat Park”, when all needs are addressed rats choose not to drink sugar laced water
- Criticisms: oversimplification of cur, some drugs can be addictive, humans aren’t rates, bio+physio influences unaddressed - Behavioral Learning Models:
- Classical Conditioning: association of environmental cues with pleasant feeling from drug use
- Operant Conditioning: positive (+good feelings) & negative (-bad feelings) reinforcement of alcohol
- Observation/Modelling: learning from observing others + Cultural Socio Economic Factors - Cognitive Behavioral Models: expectancy effects depending on substance, setting → expected behavior is enacted
- Balanced Placebo Design:
Expectancies are often more important than the physiological effects of alcohol in influencing social behaviors.
