Psychopathology & Memory Flashcards
Delusions
False beliefs held in spit of contrary evidence
Paralytic dementia
Was actually syphillis
Positive symptoms
Abnormal behaviours that are gained eg. hallucinations
Negative symptoms
Loss of normal function eg. depression
Cognitive impairment
Changes in memory, attention, social perception
Concordance rate
Probability of a pair of individuals having the same genetics given that one has them
Concordance rate for schizophrenia in identical twins
50%
Other possible causes of schizophrenia
Lower birth weight, more physiological distress and more sensitive behaviour
People with schizophrenia often display _____ with smooth movement of the eyes and ______ motor coordination
difficulty impaired
Stressors that could cause schizophrenia
-Transition from childhood to adulthood
-Prenatal stress, maternal illnesses
-City living
Brain abnormalities in patient with schizophrenia
-Enlarged lateral cerebral ventricles
-Cortical abnormalities such as:
>Structure and function of the corpus callosum
>Accelerated cortical thinning
Hypofrontality hypothesis
Frontal lobes are underachieve in people with schizophrenia
Lobotomy
The surgical separation of the frontal lobes from the rest of the brain
Chlorpromazine
An antipsychotic that reduced positive symptoms of schizophrenia and lead to dopamine hypothesis
Dopamine hypothesis
Schizophrenia is caused by an excess of either dopamine release or dopamine receptors
Drawbacks to dopamine hypothesis
Drugs block dopamine receptors faster than symptoms are reduced and some effective treatments increase dopamine levels.
First generation (typical) antipsychotics
Block postsynaptic dopamine receptors (D2)
Second generation (atypical) antipsychotics
Lower affinity for dopamine receptors, their highest affinity is for another transmitter receptor
Clozapine
Blocks serotonin receptors
Dyskinesia side effects
Initial, maladaptive motor symptoms, disappear when the dose is reduced
Tardive dyskinesia side effects
Occurs after longtime use of the drug; repetitive, involuntary movements that are irreversible
Supersensitivity psychosis
An increase in positive symptoms of schizophrenia upon discontinuation of an antipsychotic drug
Glutamate hypothesis
Schizophrenia is caused by an under activation of glutamate receptors
Characteristics of depression
-Unhappy mood
-Loss of interests
-Changes in appetite and sleep
-Difficulty in concentration
-Restless agitation
-Pessimism and thoughts of death
Brain changes with depression
Increased activation in frontal lobes during cognitive tasks and amygdala during emotional processing. Decreased blood flow to areas controlling attention. Lastly cortex of right hemisphere is thinner
Electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT)
When other treatments are not working then a strong electrical current is passed through the brain causing a seizure
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)
More modern than ECT, alters cortical electrical activity, multiple treatments
Monamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI)
Raise the levels of monamine at the synapses. Monoamine inactivates norepinephrine dopamine, and serotonin
Tricyclics
Antidepressant that inhibits the reuptake of monoamines
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s)
Blocks the reuptake of serotonin in the brain
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
Can be as effective as SSRI’s and are more effective used together
How is sleep altered by depression?
Stage 3 sleep is reduced, patients enter REM quickly and have more REM at the start of the night
Bipolar disorder
Characterized by periods of depression alternating with periods of expansive mood (mania)
Rapid-cycling
Consists of four or more cycles per year
Brain changes in bipolar disorder
Similar to schizophrenia, enlarged ventricles and reduced grey matter
Lithium
An effective treatment for bipolar that increases gray matter in the brain
Phobic disorders
Intense irrational fears centred on an object, activity or situation
Panic disorders
Recurrent transient attacks of intense fearfulness
Generalized anxiety disorder
Persistent, excessive anxiety and worry
Treatments for anxiety
Benzodiazepines which bind to GABA receptors and enhance the inhibitory action
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Unpleasant memories repeatedly plague the individual including amnesia, short term memory changes, flashbacks
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
An anxiety disorder in which an individual experiences recurrent unwanted thoughts and engages in repetitive behaviours without reason or the ability to stop
Routine acts become…
Compulsions (behaviours)
Recurrent thoughts become…
Obsessions (thoughts)
Learning
The process of acquiring new information
Memory
The ability to store and retrieve information
Retrograde amensia
Loss of memories formed before onset of amnesia
Anterograde amnesia
The inability to form memories after the onset of a disorder
Hippocampus
Seems to be associated with amnesia
Sensory register
Information through our senses
Short term memory
18 seconds, 7 plus or minus 2 items of capacity
Long term memory
Unlimited duration, capacity and coding is semantic
Explicit memory
Conscious
Implicit memory
Unconscious
Declarative memory
Facts and events (“what” questions)
Non declarative (procedural) memory
Skills and tasks (“how” questions)
Episodic memory
Events and experiences (like an episode)
Semantic memory
Facts and knowledge
Delayed non-matching-to-sample-task
A test that requires monkeys to declare what they remember by identifying things they have previously NOT seen
Skill learning
Non declarative memory challenging task learning through repetition. Impaired by damage to basal ganglia
Priming
Non declarative: A change in stimulus processing due to prior exposure to the stimulus
Associative learning
The association between two stimuli or between stimulus and a response
Hippocampus
Important in spatial learning
Place cells
Active when moving toward a particular location
Encoding
Sensory information to working memory
Consolidation
Information may be consolidated into long-term storage
Retrieval
Stored information is retrieved
Reconsolidation
The return of a memory trace to stable, long-term storage after recall
Hebbian synapses
When two neurons are repeatedly activated together their synaptic connection will become stronger. They could act together to store memory traces
Tetanus
A brief high frequency burst of electrical stimuli is applied to presynaptic neurons
Long term potentiation (LTP)
A stable and lasting increase in the effectiveness of synapses
