Stress 2 Flashcards
True or False?
The release of Adrenaline acts with noradrenaline
True
What does noradrenaline do?
Noradrenaline prepares the brain & body for action
Define a noradrenaline
A neurotransmitter of the brain that plays an essential role in the regulation of arousal, attention, cognitive function, and stress reactions
Noradrenaline is lowest in …. and highest in….?
Lowest = Sleep
Highest = During stress
Where is noradrenaline primarily released from in the brain?
Locus Coeruleus
What is the brain neurotransmitter that works alongside adrenaline?
Noradrenaline
As a neurotransmitter, Noradrenaline can enhance ….?
Formation and retrieval of memory
True or False?
Early events cannot affect how we respond to stress
False
Early events can affect how we respond to stress
What caused prenatal stress during the end of WW2 (Dutch Hunger Winter)?
- Nazis pushed back against the Dutch
- The Dutch tried to aid the Allies for liberation
- As punishment, Nazis cut off all food
transport (5 months) - After the liberation, there was a sudden increase in food
What was the typical food consumption during the Dutch Hunger Winter?
400-800 calories/day
What were the effects related to health after the Dutch Hunger Winter?
Cohort of people with increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes aged 50 years
What were the effects related to prenatal development and stress after the Dutch Hunger Winter?
- Fetus ‘learns’ that food is scarce
- Metabolism of the fetus has permanent shift = “Metabolic imprinting”
- Afterwards, the fetus becomes good at storing consumed food and retaining salt from its diet
- Developed ‘thrifty’ metabolism
What did Kajantie et al. discover about the link between birthweight and cortisol levels?
The lower the birthweight (adjusted for height), the higher the basal cortisol levels in adults (particularly for premature birth)
What did Kajantie et al. do in their study investigating the link between birthweight and cortisol levels?
1) Large cohort study of 421 men, born 1924-33
2) Birthweight & size was recorded, evaluated cortisol levels aged ~70 years
The lower the birthweight (adjusted for height), the higher the basal cortisol levels in adults (particularly for premature birth)
What does this suggest about stress?
Early exposure to stress programs your stress-reactiveness
When pregnant rats experience significant stress, how are their offspring affected?
Prenatally stressed rats show:
1) Freezing in bright lights, difficulties learning & taking longer to socially interact
2) All evidence of greater anxiety
3) Amygdala shows greater glucocorticoid receptors
What did Plotsky and Meaney do in their study investigating postnatal stress?
1) Maternal separation of rats
2) As adults, the rats showed increased glucocorticoid response to stress and greater fearfulness
Stress in infancy can increase growth hormones and increase adult height
True or False?
False
Stress in infancy can reduce growth hormones and lower adult height
What did Gunnar et al. do in their study investigating Romanian orphanages and stress levels?
1) Compared daytime cortisol measures in children from:
- Romanian orphanages for > 8 months
- Romanian orphanages for <= 4 months
- Canadian children
2) Studied children at 7-8 years old
What did Gunnar et al. discover in their study investigating Romanian orphanages and stress levels?
Cortisol levels of children in Romanian orphanages for > 8 months were higher than the cortisol levels in children who were adopted early and Canadian children
True or False?
Only prenatal events can affect the production & baseline rates of stress hormones (e.g. cortisol)
False
Both prenatal and postnatal events can affect the production & baseline rates of stress-hormones (e.g. cortisol)
True or False?
Perceived threats can trigger a stress response
- HPA axis
- Release of adrenaline & noradrenaline from the adrenal medulla and brain
True
What are the 3 main questions we ask when we’re studying the effects of stress in adults?
1) Which brain areas are involved in perceiving threats?
2) Which brain areas help to regulate these emotions?
3) How can we study stress in adults
(Physical stress or Psychological stress)
What did Nili et al. do in their study investigating stress levels and phobias?
1) Recruited people with snake phobias
2) Put a group of Ps in an MRI scanner with snakes and a control group of Ps with a toy bear
3) Allows the Ps to control the distance from the object (snake or toy bear) on the trolley
4) At each point, Ps chose whether to bring the live snake closer or further away from them
What did Nili et al. discover in their study investigating stress levels and phobias?
1) When either the snake or toy bear was far away, Ps did not care
2) But when choosing to let the snake be closer to them increased brain activity
3) When fearful people chose to advance the snake, amygdala activity was reduced (fear response)
What did Patrick Vuilleumier et al. do in their study investigating how the brain recognises threats in the environment?
1) fMRI study
2) Participants decided:
¤ Are the vertical or horizontal boxes the same
¤ Either faces or houses
¤ Some faces were neutral, others were fearful
What did Patrick Vuilleumier et al. discover in their study investigating how the brain recognises threats in the environment?
Participants were slower at judging houses
if faces happened to be fearful compared to neutral faces
In Vuilleumier et al.’s study, which part of the brain was most active when faces were shown?
Fusiform gyrus
In Vuilleumier et al.’s study, which part of the brain was most active when houses were shown?
Parahippocampal gyrus
What does the Parahippocampal gyrus respond to the most in Vuilleumier et al.’s study?
Houses
What does the Fusiform gyrus respond to the most in Vuilleumier et al.’s study?
Faces
Participants were slower at judging houses
if faces happened to be fearful compared to neutral faces
Why does this happen?
The amygdala was more active when incidentally viewing fearful faces
Facial expressions of fear and anger, which both signal potential threats to an observer, result in significant increases in amygdala activity
This resulted in the Ps focusing more on processing the potentially threatening stimulus (fearful face) over the neutral stimulus (houses)
What are the 3 types of disorders we can look at to examine clinical cases of poor emotion regulation?
1) Post-traumatic stress disorder
2) Social Anxiety Disorder
3) Specific phobia
What did Etkin and Wager do in their analysis investigating brain areas involved in regulating the stress response?
Conducted a meta-analysis of fMRI studies across conditions such as:
1) Post-traumatic stress disorder
2) Social Anxiety Disorder
3) Specific phobia
What did Etkin and Wager’s meta-analysis suggest about Ps brain activity across conditions such as:
1) Post-traumatic stress disorder
2) Social Anxiety Disorder
3) Specific phobia
List 2 observations
Patients showed either:
1) Increased activation in the amygdala (phobia/ social anxiety)
2) Decreased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (PTSD)
The midline of the brain that is in front of the motor cortex is known as…?
Medial prefrontal cortex
The medial prefrontal cortex is involved in…?
Regulating amygdala activities
What did Etkin et al. do in their study investigating emotion regulation?
1) Examined brain responses to anxiety & fear
2) Investigated which brain regions are active when we consciously control our emotional response
Define emotion regulation
Balancing your emotions
‘Bottom-up’ signalling (senses stimuli from the environment and reacts to it) from the Amygdala indicates ….?
Threats in the environment
‘Top-down’ regulation from the medial pre-frontal cortex prevents …?
Bottom-up signalling from triggering constant stress-responses
What prevents bottom-up signaling from triggering constant stress-responses?
‘Top-down’ regulation from the medial prefrontal cortex
Which part of the brain is considered bottom-up signalling?
Amygdala
Which parts of the brain are considered top-down regulation? List 2
1) Anterior cingulate cortex
2) Dorso- Dorso-medial medial prefrontal
How do we investigate how stress affects memory?
By studying stress during:
¤ Encoding
¤ Consolidation
¤ Retrieval
True or False?
Information encoded during stressful events is generally well forgotten (e.g. Nice attacks)
False
Information encoded during stressful events is generally well remembered (e.g. Nice attacks)
Information encoded during stressful events is generally well remembered (e.g. Nice attacks)
Particularly if the info is relevant to …?
The stressor
i.e. learn to avoid the house, after an attack by a dog
True or False?
Memory for stressful events is normally adaptive but dysregulation could result in psychological trauma
Simply = Feeling that traumatic event is recurring
True
E.g. post-traumatic stress disorder, characterised by flashbacks
What did Heckens et al. do in their study investigating stress at encoding?
1) fMRI study
2) Ps were shown film clips (very violent or neutral) and pictures
- When watching violent films; Ps pupil diameter increased and cortisol levels increased
3) Ps were later asked to remember the pictures
What did Heckens et al. discover in their study investigating stress at encoding? List 3 findings
1) Stressful films led to better memory for pictures
2) During stress, there was LOWER activity in the hippocampus at encoding = better memory for those pictures
3) Poor separation of event info from relevant stimuli may overwhelm hippocampal activity
Stressful films led to better memory for pictures
Why does this happen?
During stress, there was LOWER activity in the hippocampus at encoding = better memory for those pictures
What was the physical stressor test done to investigate stress during consolidation?
The cold pressor test
¤ Hand plunged into ice-cold water
What did Cahill et al. do in their study investigating stress during consolidation?
1) Ps were shown neutral and emotional pictures and were asked to remember as many as they can
2) The cold pressor test (Ps hand was plunged into ice-cold water)
3) Investigated how stress AFTER learning
affects memory
What did Cahill et al. discover in their study investigating stress during consolidation?
Stress enhances the consolidation of emotional pictures but not neutral pictures
What was the test done to investigate stress at retrieval?
The Trier Test
What happened in the Trier Test?
- Unexpected 5 min talk/presentation
- Followed by 5 min arithmetic
- Combines feeling of peer evaluation with forced failure
What were the results of the Trier test?
Memory retrieval during stress is impaired
E.g. Guez et al., 2016
True or False?
The hippocampus is involved in memory
True
There’s a high density of ….. receptors in the hippocampus
Glucocorticoid receptors
The sensitivity of the hippocampus to stress hormones may explain ….?
The effects of stress
Some people are better able to cope with stressful events than others.
According to Lazarus, what does it depend on?
Depends on our cognitive appraisal of the situation
What are the 2 main factors that allow some people to cope with stressful events better than others?
1) Primary appraisal
2) Secondary appraisal
Define primary appraisal
How relevant is this situation to my
needs?
Define secondary appraisal
What resources & options do I have for coping with this event?
E.g. Should I blame someone else?
Which appraisal/ stress coping mechanism is this?
How relevant is this situation to my
needs?
Primary
Which appraisal/ stress coping mechanism is this?
What resources & options do I have for coping with this event?
Secondary
What are the 3 types of conflict to appraise stressful situations?
1) Approach-approach conflict
2) Avoidance-avoidance conflict
3) Approach-avoidance conflict
Which is the least stressful conflict?
1) Approach-approach conflict
2) Avoidance-avoidance conflict
3) Approach-avoidance conflict
1) Approach-approach conflict
Give an example of an Approach-approach conflict
Should I go for dinner with friends, or to the cinema with my girlfriend
Give an example of an Avoidance-avoidance conflict
Do your homework, or go to bed without dinner
Give an example of an Approach-avoidance conflict
Should I propose (chance of acceptance or rejection)
Which conflict is this?
Should I propose (chance of acceptance or rejection)
Approach-avoidance conflict
Which conflict is this?
Do your homework, or go to bed without dinner
Avoidance-avoidance conflict
Which conflict is this?
Should I go for dinner with friends, or to the cinema with my girlfriend?
Approach-approach conflict
Define approach-approach conflict
When there’s conflict within a person where he or she needs to decide between two appealing goals
Define approach-avoidance conflict
When there is one goal or event that has both positive and negative effects or characteristics that make the goal appealing and unappealing simultaneously
Simply = When an individual is faced with a decision to pursue or avoid something that has advantages and disadvantages
Define avoidance-avoidance conflict
When a person has difficulty choosing between two unfavourable options
When an individual is faced with a decision to pursue or avoid something that has advantages and disadvantages
Which conflict is this?
Approach-avoidance conflict
When a person has difficulty choosing between two unfavourable options
Which conflict is this?
Avoidance-avoidance conflict
When there’s conflict within a person where he or she needs to decide between two appealing goals
Which conflict is this?
Approach-approach conflict
What did Tice and Baumeister do in their study investigating personality factors & stress-reactivity?
1) Compared stress levels and exam results in students
2) Divided Ps into procrastinators/non-procrastinators groups
What did Tice and Baumeister discover in their study investigating personality factors & stress-reactivity?
Procrastinators had lower stress and lower marks (but changed over time)
According to Whiteman, being submissive allows you to be protective against stressors
Why?
To lower conflict and lower stress levels overall
High submissiveness = ….. heart disease
Lower chance of
What are the 2 factors involved in thrill-seeking?
1) Innervation of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system
Simply = Release of adrenaline/epinephrine within 15 seconds
2) Release of dopamine (greatest release, just prior to the event)
How can you increase dopamine release?
Tickling
Why are there low dopamine releases when we tickle ourselves but higher dopamine releases when others tickle us?
Because tickling yourself is predictable
You know what to expect and somehow your body prepares for it
True or False?
You can never tickle yourself
False
You can tickle yourself, but only when it’s unpredictable.
How can you increase your tickle ratings when tickling yourself?
By inserting a delay into your own tickles (if more than 3/10ths of a second)
True or False?
Stress is greatest in situations that are unpredictable/ lack control
True
What did Schultz do in his study investigating dopamine release in monkeys?
1) Presented monkeys with bell sounds
2) Monkey has to press the lever 10 times
3) 10 seconds later, monkeys were given a desirable food reward
What did Schultz discover in his study investigating dopamine release in monkeys?
1) Dopamine neurons show the biggest response not when the monkey receives a reward but instead, at the sound of the bell
2) Monkeys had this response: “I know that bell, so if I press the lever THEN I’ll get food.
3) Dopamine release from ANTICIPATION of reward rather than receiving the reward itself
How do we increase dopamine release? List 2 ways
- Signal, task, reward = modest dopamine release
- Signal, task, high probability of reward
How do we initiate a modest dopamine release?
Signal, task, reward
How do we initiate a large dopamine release?
Signal, task, high probability of reward
Signal, task, high probability of reward
This increases dopamine release at a:
a) Large level
b) Modest level
a) Large level
Signal, task, reward
This increases dopamine release at a:
a) Large level
b) Modest level
b) Modest level
If the outcome is likely to be good, there is a (small/large) dopamine release
Large
True or False?
Intermittent reinforcement leads to little effects
False
Intermittent reinforcement leads to the greatest effects
True or False?
As with tickling, lack of control & predictability & sense of anticipatory pleasure decreases dopamine release
False
As with tickling, lack of control & predictability & sense of anticipatory pleasure increases dopamine release
What else triggers dopamine release apart from anticipating a good outcome?
Cortisol, specifically the pleasure pathways of dopamine
What did Piazza et al. do in their study investigating stress and dopamine release?
1) Rats pressed levers to receive glucocorticoids
2) Their cortisol and dopamine levels were measured
What did Piazza et al. discover in their study investigating stress and dopamine release?
There was only a moderate rise in dopamine releases as cortisol levels increased
Too much cortisol resulted in dopamine depletion (anhedonia, a symptom of depression)
How is dopamine released? What is the pattern of release?
Dopamine is released in short bursts then returns to baseline (or slightly below)
What are the effects of dopamine release?
Requires greater thrill/ anticipation next time to ensure stress responses or depression do not take over
e.g. Rollercoasters, Dating, Drug abuse
Areas of the brain like the amygdala respond to …..?
Threats in the environment
Our general stress reactivity can be influenced by ……?
Prenatal and postnatal events
Once a stress response is triggered, the body responds via ….?
HPA axis and sympathomedullary system
How we cope and appraise events affects …?
The extent of the stress response
