Psychopharmacology Flashcards
Brain stem
hindbrain and midbrain
In terms of evolution, is the oldest part of the brain
Forebrain
subcortical structures & cerebral cortex
Hindbrain
just above the spinal cord
medulla, pons, & cerebellum
Medulla
-medulla oblongata
responsible for the involuntary mouth and throat movements( swallowing, coughing, and sneezing)
regulates functions that are essential for survival(respiration, heart rate, and blood pressure)
Pons
connects the two halves of the cerebellum
helps coordinate movements on the two sides of the body
relays messages between the cerebellum and cerebral cortex
- role in respiration and the regulation of deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
Cerebellum
coordinates voluntary movements
responsible for maintaining posture and balance
involved in some non-motor cognitive functions including attention, linguistic processing, and visuospatial abilities
Damage to the cerebellum
ataxia (look drunk)
-a lack of muscle control
-impaired balance and coordination
- slurred speech
-nystagmus (jerky eye movements)
- blurred or double vision
.
Procedural memory
running, playing a musical instrument, driving a car
Implicit memory
memories that operate on an unconscious, automatic level
Midbrain
- connects the hindbrain to the forebrain
- reticular formation & substantia nigra.
Reticular Formation
-network of neurons that extend from the medulla into the midbrain
Functions of the Reticular Formation
-regulation of muscle tone
- coordination of eye movements
- control of pain.
reticular activating system (RAS)
Aka the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS)
-mediates consciousness and arousal
-controls the sleep/wake cycle
-alerts the cerebral cortex to incoming sensory signals
Damage to the RAS
Lesions =acomatose state
-direct electrical stimulation or stimulation by sensory input=
awaken a sleeping person and cause an awake person to become more alert
Substantia Nigra
- reward-seeking
- drug addiction
-motor control ( through its connection to the basal ganglia)
Damage to Substantia Nigra
Degeneration of dopamine-producing cells=slowed movement, tremors, rigidity, and other motor symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease.
Subcortical Forebrain Structures
- basal ganglia
-amygdala
-thalamus
-hypothalamus - hippocampus
Hypothalamus
-maintains the body’s homeostasis
-regulating body temperature
-blood pressure
- heart and respiration rates
- thirst and hunger
-growth
-sexual activity
- reproduction
- body’s response to stress
- contributesto emotions, memory, and circadian rhythms
Hypothalamus & emotions
- electrical stimulation of or damageto different areas of the hypothalamus can elicit aggressive behavior and rage or produce crying or laughter (studies)
Mammillary bodies
-play a role in memory
suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN),
- serves as the body’s biological clock
-regulates the sleep-wake cycle and other circadian rhythms
hypothalamus’s influence on the pituitary gland
-produces hormones that stimulate or inhibit the release of hormones produced by the anterior pituitary.
Hypothalamus & puberty
-initiates the development of secondary sex characteristics
- regulates the maturation andmaintenance of the reproductive system by secreting gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)
- sends oxytocin and vasopressin (also known as antidiuretic hormone) to theposterior pituitary, which stores these hormones and then secretes them into the bloodstream at appropriate times
gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)
- stimulates the anterior pituitary to secrete gonadotropins that regulate the functions of the testes and ovaries.
antidiuretic hormone
-oxytocin
- vasopressin
Oxytocin
- posterior pituitary= stimulates uterine contractions during childbirth and lactation after childbirth
vasopressin
- regulates water balance in the body by controlling the amount of water reabsorption in the kidney
Function of antidiuretic hormones
-social bonding
- affiliation
-trust
- cooperation
-social recognition
- sexual behavior
- social memory
- aggression
-psychosocial stress
Oxytocin & stress
Elevated levels of oxytocin inhibit hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system responses to stress
-which reduces blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol levels
Oxytocin & autism/deficit in social-emo cognition
beneficial effects for people who have autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and other disorders that involve deficits in recognizing emotions in the facial expressions of other people and other aspects of social-emotional cognition
Oxytocin & healthy adults (studies)
- the effects of oxytocin on recognition of emotions in facial expressions has produced inconsistent results
-most studies have found beneficial effects, but these effects are often insignificant or are present for only certain emotions
Oxytocin studies
- high oxytocin levels in healthy adults can have adverse effects.
Cardoso, Ellenbogen, & Linnen (2014) found that increasing oxytocin levels in healthy adult subjects using intranasal administration impaired their ability to accurately identify the intensity of facial expressions of emotion in other people because it caused the subjects to be overly sensitive to facial expressions (especially expressions of disgust and surprise)
Thalamus
-“relay station”
- receives and then transmits sensory informationtothe cortex for all of the senses except smell.
Function of Thalamus
- coordination of sensory and motor functioning
-language
- speech
- declarative memory
Damage to Thalamus
Korsakoff syndrome
Korsakoff Syndrome
- thiamine deficiency, often the result of chronic alcoholism and that damages neurons in the thalamus and mammillary bodies
Symptoms of Korsakoff
-anterograde amnesia
-retrograde amnesia
- confabulation
confabulation
filling memory gaps (especially gaps in episodic memory) with false information that the person seems to believe is true.
Basal Ganglia
- caudate nucleus
-putamen
-nucleus accumbens
-globus pallidus
striatum
-caudate nucleus
- putamen
-nucleus accumbens
- receive input from the cerebral cortex
globus pallidus
- transmits information to the thalamus.
Function of the Basal Ganglia
- initiation and control of voluntary movements
-procedural
-habit learning
- cognitive functioning (e.g., attention and decision-making)
- emotion
Basal ganglia damage
- mood disorders
-schizophrenia
-ADHD
-OCD
-Tourette’s disorder
- Huntington’s disease
- Parkinson’s disease
Limbic System
-amygdala
-cingulate cortex
-hippocampus
emotion
Amygdala function
-important role in the experience of emotions, recognition of fear and other emotions in facial expressions
- acquisition of conditioned fear responses
-evaluationof the emotional significance of events
- attachment of emotions to memories
- formation of flash bulb memories
flashbulb memories
-vivid and enduring memories for surprising and shocking events
PTSD & Amygdala
-studies have found abnormal functioning of the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VPC)
- Hyperactivity in the amygdala plays a key role in producing the distressing memories and other symptoms of PTSD, and hypoactivity of the VPC reduces its normal regulation of activity in the amygdala
Kluver- Bucy Syndrome
- bilateral lesioning of the amygdala, hippocampus, and temporal lobes in rhesus monkeys produced a set of symptoms
- hyperphagia
-hyperorality
-reduced fear
-hypersexuality
-visual agnosia ( psychic blindness). - hippocampus is part of the Papez circuit, which is responsible for emotions and consists of mammillary nuclei in the hypothalamus, the cingulate cortex, and several other structures, and they proposed that lesioning the hippocampus interrupted this circuit, which means it also interrupted the normal functioning of the other structures in this circuit.
Cingulate Cortex
- cingulate gyrus
- cingulate sulcus
- motivation
- memory
-emotions, including emotional reactions to pain.
damage to the cingulate cortex
-experience pain but are not emotionally distressed by it
major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder
Abnormalities in:
- cingulate cortex
- prefrontal cortex
-orbitofrontal cortex
-hippocampus - amygdala
- thalamus
Hippocampus
-more in memory and less in emotions than the other limbic system structures
-responsible for transferring declarative memories from short-term to long-term memory
- plays an important role in spatial memory
spatial memory
memory for the spatial characteristics of the environment
damage to the hippocampus
- research linking the degeneration of cells in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex (an area adjacent to the hippocampus) to the impairments in episodic memory and spatial navigation associated with Alzheimer’s disease
Hippocampus & cortisol
- acute or chronic increases in cortisol levels in the hippocampus as the result of stress or other condition (e.g., Cushing’s syndrome, administration of cortisone) impairs the retrieval of declarative memories
Disorders associated with hippocampal abnormalities
-major depressive disorder
-bipolar disorder
-schizophrenia
-PTSD
Studies on PTSD and hippocampus
-the more extreme the traumatic stress and the more severe the person’s symptoms, the more likely the person would have a smaller-than-normal hippocampus
-some studies suggest that exposure to traumatic stress causes a reduction in hippocampal volume, while others suggest that reduced hippocampal volume is a risk factor for developing PTSD after exposure to traumatic stress
Damage to the Medulla
Brain injury and certain diseases/drugs (opioids) can disrupt its functioningand result in death
Cerebral Cortex
outer layer of the brain
-right and left hemisphere with 4 lobes
4 lobes of the cerebral cortex
frontal
temporal
parietal
occipital
Frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex
-Broca’s area
- the prefrontal cortex
- supplementary motor cortex
- premotor cortex
- primary motor cortex
Broca’s area
-majorlanguagearea
-dominant (usuallyl) frontal lobe
Damage to Broca’s area
-Broca’s aphasia
Broca’s aphasia
-AKA expressive aphasia and nonfluent aphasia
-slow, labored speech that consists primarily of nouns and verbs
- impaired repetition and anomia
- comprehension of written and spokenlanguage is relatively intact
anomia
-inability to recall the names of familiar objects
