Week 2 - Stress Psychophysiology

Question 1

Describe the biomedical model and the biopsychosocial model of health.

Answer 1

Biomedical model –> the traditional model of health which poses that health and illness are dichotomous states and health is primarily a product of biological factors.

Biopsychosocial model –> more recent model of health which poses that health is product of biological, social, and psychological factors; also holds that health and illness are not dichotomous, but rather, are on a continuum

Question 2

Define behavioral pathogens and behavioral immunogens.

Answer 2

Behavioral pathogens are risk-taking behaviors. Behavioral immunogens are health-enhancing behaviors.

Question 3

What kind of treatment approaches does the biomedical model use, and what kind of treatment approaches does the biopsychosocial model use?

Answer 3

Biomedical –> physical
Biopsychosocial –> physical, behavioral, and/or psychological

Question 4

What type of model is the biomedical model, and what type of model is the biopsychosocial model?

Answer 4

Biomedical model –> linear
Biopsychosocial –> continuum

Question 5

Define what health psychology is.

Answer 5

Health psychology is a specialty area of psychology that aims to promote health and treat illnesses.

Question 6

Explain how stress and health are a two way street.

Answer 6

Poor health can cause stress, and stress can cause poor health.

Question 7

Explain how stress and health are a two way street.

Answer 7

Poor health can cause stress, and stress can cause poor health.

Question 8

What are the three most effective ways to manage stress?

Answer 8

(1) live a healthy lifestyle
(2) exercise
(3) don’t drink alcohol

Question 9

Describe the Yerkes-Dodson Curve/Law.

Answer 9

this law identifies the relationship between our performance in activities and physiological arousal. Optimal performance for us is in the mid/moderate range of physiological arousal. Anything below or above this made reduce our performance.

Question 10

What is it called when repeated exposure to a stimulus causes us to adjust our physiological arousal to it?

Answer 10

Habituation.

Question 11

When there is disruption in our body’s homeostasis, what kind of things would our body try to do to get back to to homeostasis?

Answer 11

(1) alter physiological processes within the body, such as sweating when it is hot
(2) create behavioral responses, such as opening a window when we are hot

Question 12

What two axes are activated during the fight/flight response?

Answer 12

SAM & HPA

Question 13

The CNS is made up of the ______ and _________. The PNS has two systems, which is the __________ system and the ___________ system.

Answer 13

brain; spinal cord
autonomic; somatic

Question 14

What are the two subsystems of the autonomic nervous system and what do they do?

Answer 14

sympathetic and parasympathetic. These systems activate voluntary movements, innervating skeletal muscles, the skin, and sense organs

Question 15

What is the brain and spinal cord in the CNS responsible for?

Answer 15

innervating the organ systems of the body (viscera)

Question 16

Which subsystem of the autonomic nervous system is associated with physiological arousal in response to threat, also known as the fight or flight response?

Answer 16

Sympathetic nervous system

Question 17

Which subsystem of the autonomic nervous system is associated with resting and recovering after the threat is gone?

Answer 17

Parasympathetic

Question 18

Which part of the brain is the largest and makes up grey matter?

Answer 18

The cerebral cortex

Question 19

What are the folds of the brain called and what are the grooves called?

Answer 19

the folds are called the gyrus and the grooves are called the sulci

Question 20

Describe what white matter is made up of.

Answer 20

consists of fibers that connect different regions of grey matter together, allowing them to communicate with one another.

Question 21

What is the part of the brain called that is a large bundle of fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres of the brain? Is this part grey matter or white matter?

Answer 21

Corpus Collosum; white matter

Question 22

What part of the brain is responsible for processing emotional information, extinguishing conditioned fear, and regulating emotional responses?

Answer 22

the ACC (Anterior cingulate cortex)

Question 23

What are the three parts of the brain stem and what are they responsible for?

Answer 23

(1) Medulla –> controls and regulates autonomic processes (ie. heart beat, blood pressure) as well physiological responses during the fight/flight response
(2) Pons –> connects the cerebral cortex to the cerebellum
(3) Midbrain –> controls sensory and motor activities playing important role in voluntary movement

Question 24

What two brain areas make up the diencephalon? What are these two parts responsible for?

Answer 24

(1) Thalamus –> initial processing of sensory information all 5 of our senses) before it goes to the cortex for further processing

(2) Hypothalamus –> regulates internal body states through its communication with the pituitary gland to release certain hormones; influencing our motivational behaviour; controlling body temperature

Question 25

What are the main parts of the brain that the limbic system is made up of?

Answer 25

(1) hippocampus
(2) thalamus
(3) hypothalamus
(4) amygdala
(5) cingulate gyrus (ACC)

Question 26

How do your amygdala and hippocampus play a role in fear conditioning?

Answer 26

Hippocampus is implicated in memory so your past experiences are the work of your hippocampus, and the amygdala is responsible for anxiety/fear. So the hippocampus provides the context behind the fear and the amygdala provides the emotion.

Question 27

Differentiate between efferent neurons and afferent neurons in the PNS’ Somatic nervous system.

Answer 27

Efferent –> sends signals from the brain to the periphery
Afferent –> sends signals from the periphery to the brain

Question 28

What part of the brain is the central control system for the endocrine system? What is one of the primary target organs of this part?

Answer 28

Hypothalamus (specifically the paraventricular nucleus inside of it). The hypothalamus mainly targets the adrenal glands to release hormones.

Question 29

Differentiate between the adrenal glands, the adrenal cortex, and the adrenal medulla inner core.

Answer 29

Adrenal glands –> sit on top of the kidneys
Adrenal cortex –> the outer layer of the adrenal glands, responsible for producing glucocorticoids (ie. cortisol)
Adrenal medulla inner core –> sits inside the adrenal glands, responsible for secreting catecholamines (ie. E & NE)

Question 30

Describe the SAM Axis, as well as what epinephrine and norepinephrine do.

Answer 30

SAM stands for sympathetic-adrenal-medulla axis and forms one of the primary systems of the fight/flight response.

Step 1 –> PVN of the hypothalamus sends signal to the adrenal medulla (that sits on top of the kidneys)
Step 2 –> adrenal medulla secretes catecholamines E & NE

Epinephrine (aka adrenaline) –> increases heart rate and dilates blood vessels to send blood away from the outer periphery and digestive systems into the brain and skeletal muscles (so we can have the mobility to move)

Norepinephrine –> has a lot of the same effects as epinephrine

Question 31

Differentiate between the roles of epinephrine and norepinephrine.

Answer 31

Epinephrine
- released in greater amounts by adrenal medulla
- effect lasts for less time on the target cells
- released more when mentally stressed
- more closely associated with fear

Norepinephrine
- released in smaller amounts by adrenal medulla
- effects lasts longer on the target cells
- released more when physically stressed
- more closely associated with anger

Question 32

Describe the HPA axis.

Answer 32

HPA stands for hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and is a primary system of the fight/flight response (like the SAM axis)

Step 1 –> PVN inside hypothalamus notices homeostatic disruption
Step 2 –> hypothalamus triggers pituitary gland to secrete CRH into the anterior pituitary
Step 3 –> CRH stimulates anterior pituitary to secrete ACTH & beta-endorphins (natural opiate that has strong paint-relieving effects) into bloodstream
Step 4 –> ACTH stimulates adrenal cortex to release glucocorticoids (such as cortisol)

Question 33

Describe the negative feedback loop regarding cortisol.

Answer 33

The negative feedback loop is when the body stops producing cortisol because there is too much.