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Biopsychology (Year 1) > Sleep > Flashcards

Sleep Flashcards

1
Q

What is the function of biological rhythms?

A
  • Allow organisms to adapt to the day/night cycle

- Appear to control nearly all behaviours and physiological processes

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2
Q

What are zeitgebers?

A

Exogenous factors that indicate times of day

- Environmental events that entrain biological rhythms

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3
Q

Where can ultradian rhythms be found?

A

In the pattern of human sleep

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4
Q

What does the ultradian sleep cycle alternate between?

A

REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non-rapid)

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5
Q

How many stages does the sleep cycle have?

A

5

- Repeats every 90 mins

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6
Q

What is stage 1-2 of the sleep cycle?

A

‘Light sleep’

  • Brainwave patterns become slower and more rhythmic
  • Alpha waves turn to theta waves
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7
Q

What is stage 3-4 of sleep?

A

‘Deep sleep’

  • Slow wave sleep
  • Slower delta waves
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8
Q

What is stage 5 of sleep?

A

REM

  • Paralysed body
  • Brain activity resembles that of an awake person
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9
Q

What are examples of slow circannual rhythms?

A

Hibernation and migration

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10
Q

How long is a circadian/infradian/ultradian rhythm?

A

Circadian - 24 hours
Infradian - More than 24 hours
Ultradian - Less than 24 hours at night

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11
Q

What is one familiar daily circadian rhythm?

A

Sleep-wake cycle

- Daily light-dark changes are produced by the daily rotation of the earth on its axis

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12
Q

Why is there need for a biological clock?

A

To govern the sleep-wake cycle, despite external changes in light levels

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13
Q

When light is detected by the eye, where is the message about brightness sent to?

A

Suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN)

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14
Q

How does the SCN use the brightness info?

A

To coordinate the activity of the entire circadian system

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15
Q

What is the primary input of the sleep-wake cycle?

A

Light

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16
Q

How does homeostasis also determine the sleep-wake cycle?

A
  • Long period awake = need for sleep due to energy consumption
  • Homeostatis drive for sleep increases throughout the day
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17
Q

How does our body temperature change during sleep?

A

During sleep our temperature drops, and it rises toward the end of our sleep cycle

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18
Q

Who discovered individual differences in cycles?

A

Duffy et al.

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19
Q

Who discovered that the absence of external cues significantly altered CR?

A

Siffre

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20
Q

How long does the daily sleep-wake cycle last without external cues?

A

26 hours

- Normally, it matches the day-night cycle (24 hours)

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21
Q

What is the main zeitgeber for the circadian rhythm?

A

Light

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22
Q

What does a 24 hour sleep-wake cycle suggest?

A

Endogenous rhythmicity is not the only factor that contributes to circadian periods

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23
Q

What does jet lag result from?

A

Disruption to the biological clock

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24
Q

When is jet lag more pronounced?

A

Travelling west to east

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25
What does seasonal affective disorder show?
The importance of light in entraining circadian rhythms | - In N. Hemisphere, over 60% report depression and anxiety in winter
26
What is one explanation of SAD?
Lack of light signals hibernation | - ‘Happy lamp’
27
Where does recent evidence suggest the endogenous circadian clock is located?
In the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) f the hypothalamus
28
What did Miles et al. Discover when studying a blind man’s sleep patterns?
His daily rhythm was 24.9 hours - Not influenced by light - Innate biological clock?
29
Where does the SCN receive direct I put from?
The retina, allowing light to direct the rhythmic activity of SCN
30
What is the retino-hypothalamic tract?
Bunch of fibres that connect retina to hypothalamus
31
What did Bailey find in patients with brain tumours close to hypothalamus?
Suffer from odd sleep-wake cycles
32
How do we know that the SCN also acts as a pacemaker for other rhythms?
Animals with damage to the SCN continue to eat, drink, exercise and sleep, but at haphazard times
33
What happens when the SCN is removed?
The usual sleep/wake cycle disappears
34
Where does SCN regulate melatonin production from?
Pineal gland
35
What happens during the dark phase of the day-night cycle?
Pineal gland secretes melatonin through indirect action of the SCN
36
What is a controversial treatment for jet lag?
Melatonin
37
Why may the SCN also act on the adrenal glands?
To release mood and alertness altering hormones e.g. cortisol
38
How do circadian rhythms change according to age?
Adolescence causes the melatonin release to be delayed for about an hour (later bedtimes)
39
What is the primary measure of sleep stages?
EEG
40
What is our EEG activity whilst awake?
Low amplitude, high frequency
41
What is our EEG activity whilst asleep?
High amplitude, low frequency
42
What does burst of REM sleep cause on the EEG?
Low amplitude, high frequency (like the waking pattern)
43
What happens during NREM sleep?
- Body temp. Declines - Heart rate decreases - Levels of growth hormone increase
44
When is sleep walking thought to occur?
During NREM sleep
45
What are insomnia/sleep apnea disorders of?
NREM sleep
46
What is sleepwalking?
Acting out of complex behaviour while sleeping
47
When does sleepwalking occur?
When a person is roused incompletely and at the wrong point, in the delta-wave stage stages, and the person becomes stuck in a limbo between sleep and waking
48
What do EEG readings of sleepwalkers show?
Combination of delta waves and higher-frequency “wakeful” waves
49
Why won’t a sleepwalker remember anything?
They have no conscious awareness
50
What parts of the brain are active and which parts are dormant during sleepwalking?
Cerebellum (automatic movement and coordination) is active, frontal and parietal lobes (reasoning and conscious control of movement) are dormant
51
What happens during REM sleep?
- We become paralysed - Body temp. Increases - EEG resembles waking pattern (low amplitude, high frequency)
52
When are we most likely to report that we have been dreaming?
During REM sleep
53
What is sleep paralysis?
When a person enters REM sleep, but has partly awakened | - Body is completely paralysed
54
What happens to brain activity during dreaming?
Highest in occipital areas but lower in inferior frontal areas - High visual imagery experienced, but with chaotic organisation of events
55
What causes a random collection of images from memory stores during dreaming?
Cerebral cortex is bombarded by signals from the brainstem
56
What are the 3 main functions ascribed to sleep?
1) Biological adaptation 2) Body restoration 3) Memory consolidation
57
How is energy conservation a function of sleep?
Helps in coping with times when food is scarce - We are awake when we can gather food - Because our night vision is so poor, it makes sense for us to sleep at night
58
How is predator avoidance a function of sleep?
Amount of sleep is influenced by whether an animal is predator or prey - Predator = sleep at ease - Prey = must remain alert
59
How is sleep a restorative process?
Require sleep to rejuvenate our bodies
60
Why is the ‘restorative process’ theory weakly supported?
- Energetic activity prior to sleep encourages us to go to sleep earlier, but not sleep longer - Sleep deprivation studies have not identified any function for which sleep is essential
61
What happens if we don’t sleep?
Recent studies on rats show an immune response similar to that seen in stress is mounted to sleep deprivation (seen as a hostile threat) - Leads to increase in NOS enzyme (plays a role in prompting recovery sleep)
62
How does sleeping play a role in memory?
Studies have shown that the areas of the brain that are active prior to sleep are also active during REM sleep (dreaming) - Sleep usually increases after a session of learning - Sleep deprivation has been shown to impair memory formation
63
What part of the brain puts us to sleep?
Anterior hypothalamus (preoptic area)
64
How does the posterior hypothalamus promote wakefulness?
Reticular Activating system of the brainstem | - Explains how sensory information can wake us from our sleep
65
What does damage to the RAS result in?
Coma
66
What are the neurons that control sleep a part of?
Our regulatory neurotransmitter system
67
What neurons fire during waking (enhancing awake state)?
NE Serotonin ACh neurons
68
What controls the rhythmic behaviour of the thalamus?
Regulatory systems
69
What does the rhythmic behaviour of the thalamus control?
EEG rhythms of the cortex
70
What do slow EEG rhythms do?
Block the flow of sensory information to the cortex
71
Why is descending rhythm activity required?
To inhibit motor neurons during dreaming
72
Neurotransmitter for locus corerulus
NE
73
Neurotransmitter for raphe nucleus
Serotonin
74
Neurotransmitter for brain stem and basal forebrain
ACh
75
Where does control of REM sleep come from?
Regulation in the brain stem, at the pons
76
What happens to the firing rates of the locus corerulus and the Raphael nuclei during REM?
Decrease to nothing
77
What happens to the Ach neurons during REM?
Ach neurons in the pons increase firing
78
What also has a direct link to the regulation of sleep?
Immune response to infection
79
When do nightmares occur?
NREM sleep

Biopsychology (Year 1) (8 decks)

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