Studied by 8 people
circadian rhythm
any biological process that displays endogenous, entrainable oscillation of ~24 hours
ultradian
______ rhythms repeat more than a day; an example is eating
infradian
______ rhythms repeat less than once a day; an example is the menstrual cycle
free-running
an animal maintaining its own personal cycle in the absence of external cues is ________
period
time between 2 similar points of successive cycles
phase shift
a shift of activity produced by a synchronizing stimulus
entrainment
the process of shifting a rhythm
zeitgeber
any cue an animal uses to synchronize its activity with the environment (an example is light)
suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
lesions of the _____, which is a subregion of the hypothalamus, eliminate circadian rhythms — shows cycles of electrical, metabolic, & biochemical activity even when isolated
melatonin
a hormone secreted by the pineal gland during dark phases; synthesized from serotonin, may be used to shift circadian rhythms
retinohypothalamic pathway
certain retinal ganglion cells send their axons along the ______ and synapse directly with the SCN; light information is carried along this pathway to the hypothalamus to entrain rhythms — connects retina with SCN
melanopsin
a special photopigment in certain retinal ganglion cells that makes them sensitive to light; these cells do not rely on rods and cones
absent/dysfunctional
retinal ganglion cells containing melanopsin are ______ in most totally blind people
25
when all external cues are removed, the circadian rhythm of the human sleep cycle is about _____ hours
sleep deprivation study with rats
a carousel apparatus was used with electrodes monitoring brain activity; when the EEG indicated sleep, the floor rotated, causing the sleeping rat to fall into water and wake up. experimental rats typically died after several days, and postmortem studies revealed lesions indicative of extreme stress
3-4
____ hours of sleep deprivation in 1 night leads to increased sleepiness, mood disturbance, and poor performance on tests of vigilance
2-3
_____ days of continuous sleep deprivation leads people to experience microsleeps
creativity
long periods of sleep deprivation may affect ______
alpha
_____ waves consist of a regular oscillation at a frequency of 8-12 Hz; appears in EEG when you relax & close your eyes
vertex spikes
sharp waves seen in EEG
stage 1 sleep
first stage of non-REM sleep; accompanied by slowing of heart rate & relaxation of muscles; lasts several minutes
transition from alpha to theta waves with vertex spikes
2
stage __ sleep is defined by sleep spindles and K complexes, as well as theta waves
3
stage __ sleep is defined by the appearance of delta waves; also called slow wave sleep
sleep spindles
waves of 12-14 Hz related to memory consolidation
SWS, REM
time spent in ____ decreases as the night progresses, while ____ sleep increases
REM
____ sleep involves abrupt, small-amplitude, high-frequency activity similar to the pattern of an awake individual, except the eyes are darting rapidly under the eyelids; all muscles are completely relaxed and show an absence of muscle tone; accompanied by irregular breathing and pulse rate as well as vivid dreams
visual imagery
dreams in REM sleep are characterized by ______, whereas other dreams are more of a thinking type
activation-synthesis theory
our dreams in REM sleep are the random results of which neurons happen to get activated, and our brain strings together these activated elements into a narrative
night terror
a sudden arousal from stage 3 SWS, marked by intense fear and autonomic activation
unilateral
dolphin brains experience ______ sleep because they need to occasionally come up to the surface to breathe
declines, increases
in an elderly person, the total amount of sleep ____, while the number of awakenings _____
stage 3
as age increases, the most dramatic decline is in _____ sleep
growth hormone
the pituitary gland secretes _____ during SWS
immune system
sleep deprivation impairs functioning of the _______
fatal familial insomnia
a defect in the gene for the prion protein leads people to stop sleeping in midlife; these people die 7-24 months after it begins
energy conservation, niche adaptation, body & brain restoration, memory consolidation
biological functions of sleep
ecological niche
unique assortment of environmental opportunities and challenges to which each organism is adapted; specialization for nighttime or daytime is a part of this
isolated forebrain
the ______in Frédéric Bremer’s experiment displayed constant SWS with no indications of wakefulness or REM and showed us that the forebrain alone can generate SWS
basal forebrain
constant SWS appears to be generated by the ______ in the ventral frontal lobe and anterior hypothalamus
tuberomammillary nucleus
neurons in the basal forebrain become active at sleep onset and release GABA to stimulate GABA-A receptors in the ______ in the posterior hypothalamus — maintains that we are either asleep or awake, and not in between
brainstem
the ____ system activates the sleeping forebrain into wakefulness
reticular formation
a diffuse group of cells whose axons and dendrites go in different directions, extending from the medulla through the thalamus; electrical stimulation here activates the forebrain
pontine
the _____ system triggers REM sleep; one important function of this system is to prevent motor neurons from firing
hypothalamic
the _____ system coordinates the other 3 sleep systems to determine which state we’re in
electrooculogram (EOG)
monitors eye movement
electromyogram
measures muscle activity
synchronized
neuron activity is _____ during sleep
beta, alpha
wakefulness is characterized by ____ waves (irregular & low amplitude) and ____ waves (regular & medium frequency)
K-complexes
large waves that show up in stage 2 sleep when a loud noise happens in the environment and your brain is trying to keep you asleep
delta
____ waves are high amplitude and low frequency
PGO waves
a distinctive pattern of high amplitude electrical potentials that is associated with REM sleep
waves of neural activity during REM sleep
pons → LGN → occipital cortex
narcolepsy
frequent, intense attacks of sleep that last 5-30 min and can occur at any time during usual waking hours, several times a day
cataplexy
a sudden loss of muscle tone leading to collapse of the body without loss of consciousness, seen in narcolepsy
orexin
a neuropeptide that normally keeps sleep at bay; loss of these neurons results in narcoleptic symptoms
sleep paralysis
the temporary inability to move or talk either just before dropping off to sleep or just after waking; may be accompanied by sudden sensory hallucinations
sleep enuresis
bed-wetting; associated with SWS
somnambulism
sleepwalking; occurs during SWS
REM behavior disorder (RBD)
characterized by organized behavior by a person who appears to be asleep; usually begins after age 50 and is more common in men
no brainstem inhibition of motor neurons
often followed by symptoms of Parkinson’s and dementia
sleep-onset insomnia
a difficulty in falling asleep
sleep-maintenance insomnia
a difficulty in remaining asleep
sleep state misperception
people report that they didn’t sleep even when the EEG showed signs of sleep and they failed to respond to stimuli
sleep apnea
a disorder that arises from either the progressive relaxation of muscles of the chest, diaphragm, and throat cavity or from changes in the pacemaker respiratory neurons of the brainstem; breathing during sleep may cease for a minute or slow alarmingly, and blood oxygen levels drop
sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
______ may result from sleep apnea as a result of immature systems that normally control respiration
GABA
most modern sleeping pills bind to _____ receptors
half
early in life, ____ of our sleep is REM
isolated brain
the _____ (resulting from severance between medulla and spinal cord) still showed all stages of sleep, meaning the body has no function in switching between stages of sleep
CSF
there is a higher spread of _____ during sleep; clears out waste from the brain that results from degradation products of neural activity during wakefulness
Reverse Hebbian Rule
REM sleep weakens connections when a dream co-activates neighboring neurons
parasomnia
characterized by unusual/abnormal behaviors/movements/experiences occurring during sleep or as a person is transitioning into sleep
retrograde amnesia
loss of memories formed prior to an event
medial temporal lobe
patient HM’s memory deficit seemed to be caused by the loss of the ______
declarative memory
facts and information acquired through learning
delayed non-matching-to-sample task
a test of object recognition that requires monkeys to declare what they remember by identifying which of 2 objects was not seen previously
nondeclarative memory
memory about perceptual/motor procedures
hippocampus & surrounding cortex
in one study of the removal of monkeys’ medial temporal lobe, memory deficits were most pronounced with lesions of the ____
patient NA
______ suffered an accident where a mini sword entered his nostril and damaged his dorsomedial thalamus and mammillary bodies, resulting in profound anterograde amnesia
Korsakoff’s syndrome
a degenerative disease in which damage is found in the mammillary bodies and dorsomedial thalamus, but not in temporal lobe structures like the hippocampus
results in a failure to recognize/sense familiarity with some items, but patients deny anything is wrong with them
main cause: lack of the vitamin thiamine, can result from alcoholism
confabulate
fill a gap in memory with a falsification that one accepts as true
patient KC
due to complete hippocampus damage, this patient could not remember specific life events, but could remember facts about the world, locations of objects in his kitchen, and names of friends and family
episodic memory
detailed autobiographical declarative memory
semantic memory
memory for facts
hippocampus
brain area that mediates conversion of short-term declarative memory into long-term declarative memory
skill learning, priming, and classical conditioning
types of nondeclarative memory
temporal gradient
the closer an event was to the surgery, the less likely it was to be remembered
anterograde amnesia
inability to form new memories
procedural, working
HM’s ____ and ____ memory were still intact
Cohen & Squire
tested participants with advanced forms of amnesia by telling them to mirror-read words; they got better at the same rate of the controls but did not recognize any of the words or remember reading them upside down
Jimmie G
the “lost mariner” who suffered from Korsakoff syndrome
Clive Wearing
a famous orchestra conductor who suffered from Herpes encephalitis, which led to hippocampus damage
skill learning
the process of learning how to perform a challenging task by doing it over and over
basal ganglia
skill learning is impaired in people with ______ damage
priming
a change in the way you process a stimulus because you’ve seen it or something similar previously
cortex
the ____ is important for priming
associative learning
learning that involves relations between events
classical conditioning
______ is a type of associative learning in which an initially neutral stimulus comes to predict an event
cerebellum
circuits in the _______ are crucial for simple eye-blink conditioning
instrumental conditioning
a type of associative learning in which an association is formed between the animal’s behavior and the consequences of that behavior
cognitive map
an understanding of the relative spatial organization of objects
place cells
hippocampal neurons that selectively encode spatial location and fire when the subject occupies a particular location in the environment
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