bio psych quiz 1

• Endogenous cycles

  • Biological processes alter periodically although external conditions remain constant
• Endogenous circannual rythm

  • “Generated from within”
  • About a year
  • Self-generated rhythm that lasts about a year
• Endogenous circadian rhythm

  • Lasts about a day
  • About a day
• Zeitgebers

  • Time givers
  • Sunlight is the most important cue for our internal clock
  • The master zeitgeber
• Jetlag

  • A disruption of circadian rhythms due to crossing time zones
• Phase-advance

  • Bedtime and wake-up time will move earlier in the day
• Phase-delay

  • Bedtime and wake-up time will move later in the day
• Adrenal hormone cortisol

  • Can damage neurons in the hippocampus
• Shiftwork

  • Those sleeping in the morning or early afternoon tend to have shorter sleep durations even after extended wakefulness
• 150-180 lux

  • Moderatelty effective in resetting the circadian rhythm 
• Short-wavelength (blue)

  • More effective in resetting the circadian rhythm than long-wavelength light
• Larks

  • Morning people
  • Peak in productivity early
  • Become more moral and honest in the morning
• Owl 

  • Evening people
  • Peak later in the day
  • Lower test scores, engage in risky behaviors, and reports lower overall happiness
• Curt Richter

  • Introduced the concept of a biological clock
• Biological clock

  • Generating internal rhythms
  • Resistant to various disruptions
  • A robust and resilient mechanism
• Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

  • “Above optic chiasm”
  • Part of the hypothalamus
  • Governs sleep and body temperature rhythms
  • Autonomously generates circadian rhythms
• Retinohypothalamic path

  • Connects the retina to the SCN
• Melanopsin

  • Unique retinal ganglion cells with the photopigment
  • Enable light-induced resetting
  • Sensitive to short-wavelength (blue) light
• PER and TIM 

  • Circadian rhythms are regulated
  • Producing proteins promoting sleep
• Melatonin

  • Released by pineal gland
  • Induces sleepiness in diurnal and wakefulness in nocturnal animals
• Sleep

  • Takes roughly one-third of your time
  • Essential for many brain functions
  • Acts as a housekeeper, removing toxins from your brain that build-up while you are awake
  • Influences metabolism, immune function, mood, and disease resistance
• Sleep and other interruptions of consciousness

  • coma
  • vegetative state
  • brain death
• Coma

  • Extended period of unconsciousness caused by truamataic head injury, stroke, brain tumor, drug or alcohol intoxication 
  • Have low brain activity through out the day
  • Little or no response to stimuli
• Vegetative state

  • When a person is awake yet displays no symptoms of cosciousness
  • Caused by severe brain damage
  • Minimally conscious state
  • Supportive care is the primary treatment
• Brain death 

  • Permanent loss of all brain funtioning, including the brainstem
  • Caused by trauma to the brain
• 4 stages of sleep

  • NREM STAGE N1
  • NREM STAGE N2
  • NREM STAGE 3
  • REM STAGE R
• NREM STAGE N1

  • Falling asleep
  • Heartbeat, breathing, eye movements slow down
  • Muscles begin to relax
  • Lasts for a few minutes
• NREM STAGE N2

  • Light sleep
  • Heartbeat and breathing slow down further
  • No eye movements
  • Body temperature drops
  • K-complex “sleep spindles”
  • Lasts for about 25 minutes
• NREM STAGE N3

  • Slow wave sleep
  • Deepest sleep state
  • Heartbeat and bnreathing are at their slowest rate
  • No eye movements
  • Body is fully relaxed
  • Delta brain eaves are present
  • Tissue repair and growth, and cell regeneration
  • Immune system strengthens
• REM STAGE R

  • Primary dreaming stage
  • Eye movements become rapid
  • Breathing and heart rate increases
  • Limb muscles become temporarily paralyzed 
  • Brain activity is markedly increased
  • Memory consolidation
• Paradoxical or REM sleep

  • Is is deep sleep in some ways and light in other
  • Increased in neuronal activity
  • Erections in males and vaginal mostening in females
  • Intermittent characteristics such as facial twitches and eye movements
• Reticular formation

  • A structure that extends from the medulla intor the forebrain
• Pontomesencephalon

  • Maintains arousal during wakefulness and increases it in response to new challenging tasks
• Locus coereleus

  • A small structure in the pons
  • Emits burts of impulses in response to meaningful events
• Histamine

  • Produces excitatory effects throughout the brain
• Antihistamine drugs

  • Often used for allergies
  • Counteract histamines and produce drowsiness
• Orexin

  • Neurotransmitter for staying awake
• Basal forebrain cells

  • Provide axonss that neuron is active
• GABA

  • Responsible for sleep
• PET scan

  • Determine which areas increased or decreased in activity during REM