sleep

Question 1

evolutionary explanation

Answer 1

main function of sleep is to adapt animals to their environmental niche

Question 2

inactivity theory

Answer 2

inactive during times of vulnerability, leading to natural selection overtime

Question 3

energy conservation theory

Answer 3

conserves energy at times we would be inefficient at searching for food.

Question 4

Recovery/repair theory

Answer 4

sleep recovers the brain; without it (sleep deprivation) leads to physiological/psychological deprivations.

Question 5

Explain how light activates the SCN

Answer 5

melanopsin receptors in the eye detect/respond to light and send signals to the SCN. light prevents the pineal gland from producing melatonin (which is ‘biological night’)

Question 6

free running period

Answer 6

when our biological clock runs slightly slow as it is not being entrained to external cues/ zeitgebers.

Question 7

The Glymphatic System

Answer 7

slow waves of neural activity occurring during sleep may have an important role in the process of removing metabolic waste from the brain.

Question 8

REM sleep

Answer 8

‘rapid eye movement’
highly correlated with dreaming
co-occur with immobility of skeletal muscle

Question 9

procedural memory is effected by REM sleep how?

Answer 9

is increased during REM sleep (learning skills/cognitive abilities)
higher % in babies

Question 10

how does rich SWS sleep effect Declarative memory

Answer 10

increased by early or rich SWS sleep
(facts/dates etc)

Question 11

When does REM sleep occur

Answer 11

later half of the sleep schedule
it is also short (between 90 - 120 mins)

Question 12

SWS sleep increases… and REM sleep increases

Answer 12

declarative memory
procedural memory

Question 13

what is procedural memory and declarative memory/?

Answer 13

• learning skills/ cognitive abilities
• facts/ dates etc

Question 14

what happens during SWS?

Answer 14

the hippocampus replays events as sequences of cell firing during sharp-wave ripple (SWR) events (sped up 10-20x)

Sleep spindles co-occur to the sharp wave ripple and reflect engagement of that replayed experience with information in the neocortex

Question 15

what did Thomas Edison propose?

Answer 15

that a technique that woke people during this wake-sleep transition led to creative insights.

Insights are not about the amount of sleep - it is about being in the NREM state -

• 55% = insight w NREM sleep - 20% w control groups

Question 16

functions of the hippocampus

Answer 16

• experience os encoded in the hippocampus
• helps consolidate episodic and declarative memory

Question 17

why might babies spend more time in REM sleep than adults

Answer 17

because REM relates to procedural memory (skills etc) and babies are constantly try to learn new skills - control their limbs etc.

Question 18

at what age do babies begin to get more SWS sleep?

Answer 18

2-3 years = they start to focus on explicit memories (episodic/ semantic)

Question 19

tell me about the experiment with the ‘concentration’ card game and the smells…

Answer 19

while doing the card game a cue was added (specific smell), then they slept with that smell.

SWS improved ability to recall locations of cards
- that smell and SWS facilitated recall of the 1st experience.