Exam 2 Andies study guide KNOWT VERSION

What are drugs?

Medicine or other substance that changes the body's functioning

Agonist

A drug or other substance that mimics or enhances the effects of a neurotransmitter

Antagonist

A drug or other substance that may occupy a receptor without activating it (blocking the transmitter from binding to the receptor) or decrease availability of neurotransmitter (by reducing production or release of it)

What effects can drugs have?

Drug effects can vary, typically arouse or relax OR expand/dull senses.

Psychoactive drug

Drugs with a psychological effect such as anxiety relief or hallucinations

Tolerance

Person becomes less responsive to drug and requires more of the drug to get same effects, resulting from compensatory adaptation in the nervous system.

Withdrawal

Negative reaction when drug use is stopped, due to nervous system adaptation. Ceasing use typically inverses effects of drugs.

Dependence

The need to keep taking a drug to avoid withdrawal, can be physical or psychological.

Addiction

Preoccupation with obtaining a drug, compulsive use, and a tendency to relapse after quitting

Opiates

Drugs derived from the opium poppy

What are the effects of opiates?

Analgesic, hypnotic, and euphoric effects. Morphine is generally the only opiate still in use today.

What are the effects of cocaine?

Produces euphoria, decreases appetite, increases alertness, and relieves fatigue

How does cocaine affect neurotransmitters?

Blocks reuptake of dopamine and serotonin at synapses, potentiating their effects

What can happen with chronic cocaine use?

Chronic users are highly comorbid for multi-drug abuse and psychological disorders like depression, anxiety, and paranoia. Dampening effects on fetal development including IQ, language development, and focus if taken while pregnant.

What are the effects of depressant?

Sedative, anxiolytic, and hypnotic

How do depressants affect neurotransmitters?

Depressants reduce central nervous system activity, with benzodiazepines acting specifically on GABA.

What can happen with chronic depressant use?

dependance due to the anxiolytic and euphoric effects, which could potentially lead to Cirrhosis and Delirium Tremens in the case of alcohol

Do depressants have any interactions with other drugs?

Benzodiazepines can interact with alcohol to slow heart rate to the point of death.

What are the effects of psychedelic drugs?

Cause perceptual distortions in the user, believe to "expand senses", increased insight by users, called hallucinogenic but more frequently causes ecstasy.

How do psychedelics affect neurotransmitters?

Some stimulate serotonin receptors, some mimc amphetamine and catecholamine neurotransmitters, some inhibit the N-methyl-d-aspirate type of glutamate receptors.

What can happen with chronic use of psychedelics?

Can cause hyperactivity and hyperthermia, some high doses may be toxic to serotonergic neurons, possibly produces disorientation and hallucinations similar to schizophrenia

What are the different motivation theories?

Drive theory that the body maintains the condition of homeostasis, incentive theory that people motivated by external stimuli- not just internal needs, and arousal theory that people behave in ways that keep them at their preferred level of stimulation.

How does the body regulate temperature?

energy reserved to maintain a nearly constant temperature automatically. Hot weather results in sweating, reduced metabolism, and dilation of blood vessels to regulate temperature and cold weather results in shivering, increased metabolism, and constriction of blood vessels.

What structure in the brain regulates temperature?

Hypothalamus

What hormones and brain structures are involved in thirst?

The angiotensin II hormone informs the brain of the drop in blood volume, stimulating the Subfornical Organ (SFO) and Organum Vasvulosum Lamina Terminalis (OVLT) with the information being integrated by the Median Preoptic Nucleus (MnPO)

Types of thirst

Osmotic thirst due to fluid content decreasing inside the body's cells and hypovolemic thirst due to loss of extracellular water

What are the different taste primaries?

sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami.

What is a learned aversion?

Avoidance of food associated with illness or poor nutrition

What is sensory specific satiety?

Increased consumption of a particular food item leading to the food item becoming less appealing.

What is homeostasis?

The process by which living organisms maintain a steady internal environment, and the regulation of fluctuations within an organism's body to maintain this state.

What happens during the digestive process?

Food is broken down manually in the mouth, mixed with gastric juices in the stomach, and transformed into waste in the intestine- this is also where the majority of nutrients is absorbed.

What part of the nervous system is involved in digestion?

the Area Postrema, an area outside of the blood brain barrier that induces vomiting if activated by toxins, is involved in digestion.

What happens in each phase of the feeding cycle?

In the absorption phase, the body lives off of the nutrients arriving from the digestive system, and in the fasting phase blood glucose drops and the body falls back on energy stores

What hormone contributes to hunger?

Ghrelin

How does hunger differ from different drives?

The set point is wildly variable, and resource demands change with exercise, stress, and growth. Hunger involves a need for variety of different and specific nutrients.

What is anorexia?

Eating disorder known as the starving disease, food intake is restricted in order to maintain weight at a low level that could potentially threaten health.

What is bulimia?

Weight control managed by bingeing and purging cycles.

What is obesity?

Excess body fat with associated health risks.

Emotion

An increase or decrease in physiological activity accompanied by feelings that are characteristic of an emotion, ie characteristic behavior or facial expression.

What importance does the prefrontal cortex have in behavior, judgements, and consequences?

The prefrontal cortex is necessary for making judgements about behavior and consequences, if damaged these functions will be affected.

What is the autonomic nervous system's involvement in emotion?

The autonomic nervous system essentially is the start and stop function of emotion, with the sympathetic system preparing for fight or flight and parasympathetic reducing activity and conserving and restoring energy.

Theories of emotion

James-Lange Theory - Emotional experience results from physiological arousal that precedes it and different emotions are the results of different patterns of arousal

Cannon-Bard Theory - identity of the emotion is based on the cognitive assessment of the situation and physiological arousal contributes only to the emotion's intensity

Integrative embodiment theory of emotions - Maintains that bodily sensations are critical components of emotion, and the perceptions are integrated with cognitive information.

What are mirror neurons?

Neurons that fire both when we engage in a specific act and while observing the same act in others.m

What are the prefrontal cortex and amygdala's involvement in emotion?

Amygdala is involved in a variety of emotion but mainly known for fear and anxiety, and the prefrontal cortex receives this information and decided whether to produce a given behavior.

What is the ACC?

Anterior cingulate cortex - Brain structure best known for its role in attention, decision making, and impulse control that plays a major role in emotion, thought to use information from AIC to generate action

What is the AIC?

Anterior insular cortex - responds to all subjective feelings including emotion, considered to be the location of emotional awareness

How can damage to the amygdala affect a person?

the person will not react fearfully to traditionally scary stimuli and may even lean into compulsions to interact with the stimuli

How does bilateral amygdala damage in humans affect them?

May not experience fear from traditionally scary stimuli, but can still experience panic attacks in situations that induce internal fear. Many live in assisted care facilities.

What are the stress hormones? How are they released and what are their effects?

Cortisol produces additional physical stress responses, such as increased metabolism and blood supply to skeletal muscles. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are also stress hormones.

What is chronic stress?

Prolonged periods of stress response activation in the body, leading to memory interference, appetite changes, diminished sexual desires, depleted energy, disrupted mood, compromised immune system, and worsened concentration.

What is sudden cardiac death?

When excessive sympathetic activity that accompanies stress sends the heart into fibrillation contracting so rapidly that it pumps little or no blood.

How is pain an adaptive emotion?

pain can act as a signal that we need to adapt our behavior/actions to prevent bodily injury. Ie; changing posture to alleviate back pain after a mild pain signal.

How can pain intermingle with emotion?

Pain someone inflicts on you intentionally hurts more than pain you experience accidentally.

How does culture influence pain?

Suffering is moderated by what pain means to the patient, and this is something that can vary by a persons background and their culture. Spiritual devotion can influence pain so highly that it is not felt by the person because of their mentality around pain.

What are the neural structures involved in pain?

The somatosensory cortex and the limbic system, including the AIC and ACC.

What is congenital insensitivity to pain?

A genetic condition of the peripheral nervous system in which people are unable to sense pain

Types of aggression

Predatory aggression: Aggression that occurs when an animal attacks and kills its preyor when a human makes a premeditated, unprovoked attack on another

Affective aggression: Aggression characterized by its impulsiveness and emotionalarousal

Proactive or instrumental aggression: Aggression that is unprovoked and emotionless,and is intended to bring about some gain for the aggressor, for example, to intimidate,dominate, or rob the victim.

Reactive or impulsive aggression: Aggression that occurs in response to a threat, real or imagined, and is characterized by heightened emotionality

Testosterone and aggression

Testosterone is present in animals and both male and female human aggression. leads to poor emotional regulation, decreased fearfulness, reduced trust, and increase reward sensitivity and risk taking. Increased dominance behaviors in animals and is associated with violent crimes.

Serotonin and aggression

Serotonin is conventionally inhibitory and suppresses movitaved behaviors. Research suggests role in aggression is no different, however low serotonin encourages aggression.

Cortisol and aggression

Cortisol is inhibitory to aggression.

What is the MAOA gene?

Gene encodes the Monoamine oxidase A enzyme that degrades serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. Associated with impulsive aggression.