Week 9 Flashcards
What is the innate phenomenon that tells birds to fly north in the spring?
Endogenous circannual rhythm
What evidence indicates that humans have an internal biological clock?
Studies of humans that live in light controlled environments demonstrate alertness when they would usually be waking up.
What is circadian rhythm?
Daily body rhythm
What is a zeitgebers?
Stimulus that resets circadian rhythm.
Most obvious one is light.
Why do people at the eastern edge of a time zone awaken earlier than those at the western edge on their weekends and holidays?
The sun rises earlier at the eastern edge than at the western edge. Evidently, the sun controls waking–sleeping schedules even when people follow the same clock time for their work schedule.
How does stress cause damage to the hippocampus?
Stress elevates blood levels of the adrenal hormone cortisol; prolonged elevations of cortisol damage neurons in the hippocampus, a brain area important for memory.
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Is the tendency to stay up later during adolescence culture specific?
No, has been observed in every culture that has been studied.
The same trend occurs in rats, monkeys, and other species.
How might being a morning person or an evening person affect morality?
Morning people are more honest in the morning, evening people are more honest in the even.
How might being an evening person affect schooling?
Evening people do worse at their morning classes, even if they are above average intelligence.
What is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)?
A part of the hypothalamus.
Provides main control of circadian rhythms.
- How does light reset the biological clock?
- A branch of the optic nerve, the retinohypothalamic path, conveys information about light to the SCN. The
axons comprising that path originate from special ganglion cells that respond to light by themselves, even if they do not receive input from rods or cones.
- People who are blind because of cortical damage can still synchronize
their circadian rhythm to the local pattern of day and
night. Why?
- If the retina is intact, melanopsin-containing ganglion cells can still send
messages to the SCN, resetting its rhythm.
What are the two genes responsible for circadian rhythm?
Period (PER)
Timeless (TIM)
How do people with PER mutations differ from normal?
They have shorter circadian rhythm
- How do the proteins TIM and PER relate to sleepiness in Drosophila?
- The proteins TIM and PER remain low during most of the day and begin to increase toward evening. They reach
high levels at night, promoting sleep. They also feed back to inhibit the genes that produce them, so that their level declines toward morning.
How is the pineal gland related to sleep?
Releases the hormone melatonin. Melatonin is usually released at night about 2-3 hours before sleep and causes drowsiness.
- Workers on certain submarines work 6 hours, relax 6 hours, and then sleep 6 hours. After weeks on this schedule, what happens to their circadian rhythm?
A. It adjusts to produce an 18-hour rhythm.
B. It continues producing the usual 24-hour rhythm.
C. It produces a rhythm intermediate between 18 and 24 hours.
D. It stops producing any rhythm at all.
B. It continues producing the usual 24-hour rhythm.
- Why do people in Antarctica during the winter often find it difficult to work together?
A. Their work schedules keep them so busy that they cannot sleep enough.
B. Their circadian rhythms drift out of phase with one another.
C. After living together in close quarters for so long, they start to irritate one another.
D. They get homesick.
B. Their circadian rhythms drift out of phase with one another.
- For most young adults, what happens to mood as a function of time of day?
A. Mood tends to be most pleasant early in the morning.
B. Mood tends to be most pleasant around noon.
C. Mood tends to be most pleasant in late afternoon or early evening.
D. Mood fluctuates, but on average is about the same for one time as for another.
C. Mood tends to be most pleasant in late afternoon or early evening.
- Why do people in eastern Germany awaken earlier, on average, than those in western Germany?
A. The sun rises earlier in eastern Germany.
B. Eastern Germany is in a different time zone.
C. A gene that inactivates melatonin is more common in eastern Germany.
D. A gene that inactivates melatonin is more common in western Germany.
A. The sun rises earlier in eastern Germany.
- Why do many high school students get worse test grades in the morning than in the afternoon?
A. Most schools schedule the math and science courses mainly in the morning.
B. Teenagers tend to stay up late and awaken late.
C. Many teenagers do not eat a healthy breakfast.
D. Many high schools are not adequately heated during the morning.
B. Teenagers tend to stay up late and awaken late.
- What evidence most strongly indicates that the SCN produces the circadian rhythm itself?
A. Damage to the SCN disrupts the circadian rhythm.
B. SCN cells isolated from the body continue to produce a circadian rhythm.
C. Animals with a faster circadian rhythm have a larger SCN.
D. The SCN increases its activity during wakeful periods and decreases it during sleep.
B. SCN cells isolated from the body continue to produce a circadian rhythm.
- Light can reset the SCN’s rhythm even after damage to all rods and cones. Why?
A. The SCN itself responds to light.
B. The SCN receives input from the pineal gland.
C. The SCN receives input from skin cells that respond to light.
D. The SCN receives input from ganglion cells that respond to light.
D. The SCN receives input from ganglion cells that respond to light.
- If you want to get to sleep on time, what should you avoid?
A. Long-wavelength light late in the evening
B. Short-wavelength light late in the evening
C. Long-wavelength light early in the morning
D. Short-wavelength light early in the morning
B. Short-wavelength light late in the evening
- After the proteins TIM and PER reach a high level during the day, what causes their level to decrease at night?
A. High levels of the proteins inhibit the genes that produce these proteins.
B. The genes that produce these proteins become less active when temperature drops.
C. Rapid production of the proteins depleted the supply of the amino acids needed to make them.
D. Decreased light stimulation decreases excitatory transmission throughout the nervous system.
A. High levels of the proteins inhibit the genes that produce these proteins.
- When is melatonin mostly released?
A. At night, for all species
B. During the day, for all species
C. At night for species active at night; during the day for species active during the day
D. At night for species active during the day; during the day for species active at night
A. At night, for all species
What’s the difference between sleep, coma, vegetative state, minimally conscious state, and brain death?
Sleep
Actively produced by the brain.
Decreased brain activity and response to stimuli
Coma
Extended period of unconsciousness caused by head trauma, stroke, or disease.
Vegetative state
Alternates between periods of sleep and moderate arousal, but even during more aroused state the person shows no awareness of surroundings or purposeful behaviour.
Breathing is regular, and painful stimulus shows autonomic responses.
Minimally conscious state
One stage higher than vegetative; brief periods of purposeful actions and limited amount of speech recognition.
Brain death
No sign of brain activity and no response to any stimulus
How does an electroencephalograph (EEG) work?
Records an average of the electrical potentials of the cells and fibres in the brain areas nearest to each electrode on the scalp.
What is a polysomnograph?
Combination of EEG and eye-movement records
What are alpha waves characteristic of?
Relaxation, not of all wakefulness
What name is given to a sharp wave associated with temporary inhibition of neuronal firing?
K-complex
What name is given to a burst of 12-14 Hz waves for at least half a second?
Sleep spindle
What causes sleep spindles?
Oscilating interactions between cells in the thalamus and the cortex.
They increase in number after new learning. The number of sleep spindles correlates positively with improvement in types of memory.
What happens during slow-wave sleep?
What do they indicate?
Heart rate, breathing rate, and brain activity decrease. Slow, large-amplitude waves become more common.
Neuronal activity is highly syncronised.
What does an EEG show during REM sleep?
Irregular, low-voltage fast waves that indicate increased neuronal activity.
How is REM both light and deep sleep?
Irregular, low-voltage fast waves indicate light sleep.
Postural muscles of the body, including those that support the head, are more relaxed, indicating deep sleep.
What does the sleep cycle look like?
- Stage 1
- Stage 2
- Slow-wave
- After an hour, cycle from slow-wave to Stage 2
- REM
When is REM more likely to occur?
Later in the night
How does sleep differ between age groups?
Why?
Older adults have less slow-wave sleep and more awakenings during the night.
Awakenings correlate with loss of cells in the hypothalamus and a tendency towards cognitive decline.
Is REM the same thing as dreaming?
No. REM dreams are more likely than NREM to include visual imagery and complicated plots, and people woken during REM are more like to remember their dreams. However dreaming is reported in other stages of sleep as well.
- How can an investigator determine whether a sleeper is in REM sleep?
- Examine EEG pattern and eye movements.
- During which part of a night’s sleep is REM most common?
- REM becomes most common toward the end of the night’s sleep.
How does a cut through the midbrain decrease arousal?
Damages the reticular formation, a structure that extends from the medulla into the forebrain.