Psychology of Drugs and Attention Lecture Notes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering drug classes, addiction mechanisms, treatments, and theories of attention based on the lecture notes.

Benzodiazepines

A commonly prescribed suppressant used as sleep aids or anti-anxiety medications that enhance the brain’s response to $GABA$ by opening GABA-activated chloride channels, making neurons more negatively charged.

Opiates

A class of drugs used to treat pain and anxiety (e.g., Heroine and morphine) that act at the body’s receptor sites for endorphins and lead to euphoria; they are distinct from depressants which act on $GABA$ receptors.

Caffeine

A stimulant that inhibits adenosine receptors and can disrupt sleep.

Nicotine

A stimulant that disrupts sleep and suppresses appetite; at high levels, it can cause muscles to relax and release stress-reducing neurotransmitters.

Cocaine

A strong stimulant that releases large amounts of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, depleting the brain’s supply and causing an intense crash when it wears off.

Amphetamines and Methamphetamines

Stimulants that trigger the release of dopamine, causing euphoria for up to $8$ hours; long-term use may result in the loss of ability to maintain normal dopamine levels.

Ecstasy

A synthetic drug acting as both a stimulant and hallucinogen; it increases dopamine and serotonin but can damage serotonin-producing neurons.

LSD

A hallucinogen that interferes with serotonin and causes visual hallucinations.

Marijuana

A mild hallucinogen where the main active chemical is $THC$; it heightens sensory sensitivity, reduces inhibition, and impairs motor coordination.

Homeostasis

The process by which the body maintains stable internal conditions like temperature, heartbeat, and metabolism.

Oral Route of Entry

Ingesting a drug, which is one of the slowest routes because it must pass through the GI tract, taking approximately a half hour to take effect.

Inhalation Route of Entry

Breathing or smoking a drug, which goes straight to the brain and takes effect in about $10$ seconds.

Injection Route of Entry

The most direct route, specifically intravenous, where the drug goes right into a vein and takes effect within seconds.

Transdermal Route of Entry

Absorption of a drug through the skin (e.g., a nicotine patch) where the drug is released into the bloodstream over several hours.

Intramuscular Route of Entry

A route where a drug is stuck into a muscle; it can deliver drugs quickly (like an Epipen) or slowly (like vaccines).

Ventral tegmental area ($VTA$)

A region in the midbrain where dopamine is produced as part of the reward pathway.

Mesolimbic pathway

A brain circuit involved in reward and addiction that includes the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and hippocampus.

Tolerance

A state where a user requires higher doses of a drug to achieves the same effect because the brain shuts down receptors in response to long-term stimulation.

Withdrawal

The period of negative physical and psychological symptoms (like anxiety or depression) that occurs when a person stops using a drug after prolonged use.

Substance-induced disorders

Disorders resulting from drug use that affect mood (mania/depression), anxiety, sleep, sexual function, or cause psychosis.

Methadone

A medication used to treat opiate addiction that activates opiate receptors slowly, dampening the high and reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms.

Cognitive behavioural therapy ($CBT$)

A treatment for addiction that addresses both cognitive and behavioral components by helping patients recognize problematic situations and develop coping strategies.

Motivational interviewing

A therapeutic approach involving a few sessions to help a patient find intrinsic motivation to change.

Divided Attention

The attempt to do two things at once, which usually results in switching between tasks rather than simultaneous execution.

Selective Attention

The process of reacting to certain stimuli while ignoring others occurring simultaneously.

Exogenous cues

External stimuli that capture attention without internal effort, such as bright colors, loud noises, or the 'pop-out effect.'

Endogenous cues

Internalized cues that require knowledge and intent to follow, such as a mouse arrow or the cocktail party effect.

Inattentional blindness

The failure to notice things in the visual field when attention is directed elsewhere within that field.

Change blindness

The failure to notice changes in the environment.

Broadbent’s Early Selection Theory

A theory suggesting that environmental info enters a sensory register and is immediately passed through a selective filter before perceptual processes assign meaning.

Deutch & Deutch’s Late Selection Theory

A theory proposing that all information is processed for meaning before a selective filter determines what passed into conscious awareness.

Treisman’s Attenuation Theory

A theory suggesting an 'attenuator' weakens but does not eliminate unattended input, allowing some meaning to be assigned to high-priority items like one's own name.

Spotlight model of attention

A model of selective attention suggesting we take in info from all five senses but only 'illuminate' and focus on specific information.

Priming

A phenomenon where exposure to one stimulus affects the response to another stimulus, such as the unconscious ability to respond to one's own name.