Van Den Oever - Results, Conclusions and Evaluation

What was the name of the first result?

behavioural evidence of relapse

What was the behavioural evidence of relapse?

after a period of abstinence or extinction from herion rats that were exposed to drug associated cues demostrated a significantly great amount of drug seeking behaviour

What was the consludion on the behavioural evidence of relapse?

exposure of an organism to drug associated cues triggers drug seeking behaviour causing relapse

What are the implications of the conclusion on the behavioural evidence of relapse?

recovering drug addicts should be removed from drug associated cues which is what (the) Priory centres and other rehabilitation centres try to do but this is not enough meaning something else affects relapse

What is the name for the second result?

comparison of synapses in (the) mPFC

What result arose from the comparison of synapses in the mPFC?

after a period of abstinence or extinction from heroin rats that were exposed to drug associated cues has lower than normal levels of AMPA receptors in the mPFC

What was the level of AMPA receptors in rats reexposed to heroin associated cues? Why?

lower than normal due to self regulation

What was the level of AMPA receptors in rats not reexposed to heroin associated cues?

normal

What was the level of AMPA receptors in rats taking sucrose? Why?

normal as sugar is a natural reward

What conclusion was made after the comparison of synapses in the mPFC?

drug associated cues inhibit synaptic transmission process for glutamate in the mPFC

What do lower levels of AMPA receptors signify?

lower levels of glutamate so lower levels of excitation in (the) dopamine reward system

How do neurons lose receptors?

endocytosis

What is endocytosis?

the process by which neurons reduce (the) amount of receptors whereby receptors are engulfed in a membrane and taken into (the) neuron resulting in a reduced amount of activity

What was the follow up procedure?

using (a) new set of rats two groups were trained to self adinister heroin and both were exposed to drug associated cues however one group was injected with a drug that prevented endocytosis in (the) mPFC

What was the result of the follow up procedure?

rats not injected showed greater levels of drug seeking behaviour

What was the conclusion from the follow up procedure/

lack of synaptic activity in the glutamate system after reexposure to drug associated cues leads to (a) loss of inhibitory control over drug seeking behaviour

What are the implications of the follow up procedure?

synapses in (the) mPFC could be a potential target for therapeutic drugs to treat addiction which would help reduce relapse in (the) presence of drug associated cues

Why is Van Den Oever's study deterministic and reductionist?

assumption that addiction is biological suggesting relapse is beyond addicts control and ignores environmental and situational factors

What is a strength of Van den Oevers study regarding generalisability? (answer PEEC)

crucial areas of the brain for drug addiction are similar in rats compared to humans meaning (the) results can be more generalisable to human addiction such as reward pathways between the midbrain and PFC and also rats have complex social interactions although not as complex as humans. however althought the brain areas are similar to one another there is a social element to human addiction

What is a weakness of Van den Oevers study regarding generalisability? (answer PEEC)

sample consisted of rats so is not representative to humans as rat brain is very different to human brain such as the mPFC in rats is much smaller than humans which could influence the way synapses change when reexposed to heroin cues. however (the) use of rats allows (a) greater control and would be unethical to use humans

What is a strength of Van den Oevers study regarding reliability? (answer PEEC)

standardised procedures ensure all rats have similar experience making it more replicable and reliable such as all rats were trained with same audiovisual cues and same length of abstinence (21 days) meaning study has high scientific credibility

What is a strength of Van den Oevers study regarding application? (answer PEEC)

useful practical application for preventing relapse as heroin has (a) very high relapse rate with relapse causing serious negative consequences to individual and society such as drug therapy could be developed to block changes in synapses as a result of reexposure to heroin cues. however (it is) unclear whether same mechanisms are involved in human addiction compared to rats

What is a strength of Van den Oevers study regarding validity? (answer PEEC)

control group and other controls of extraneous variables clarify (the) role of heroin cues in (the) changes in (the) synapses increasing accuracy and validity such as (the) control group was trained to selfadminister sucrose to show that heroin was necessary for changes in synapses. therefore further development of drug therapies can focus on (the) role of heroin in neurobiological changes in (the) brain

What is a weakness of Van den Oevers study regarding validity? (answer PEEC)

reductionist as limited in explanation of (the) causes of relapse into heroin seeking behaviour by looking at changes in (the) synapses of (the) mPFC but did not consider other factors such as social factors. however reductionism is scientific as allows focus on biological factors but reductionism limits potential usefulness

What is a strength of Van den Oevers study regarding etthics? (answer PEEC)

sample consisted of rats meaning (that) humans were protected from harm as humans would have to be addicted to heroin and their brain removed. however it causes harm to rats so unethical

What is a weakness of Van den Oevers study regarding ethics? (answer PEEC)

rats were harmed so damages reputation of Psychology such as catheters inserted into bloodstream, trained to selfadminister heroin, killed to analyse brain. however costs are outweighed by potential benefits to society as development of this drug coud prevent relapse