Term
| What is the Papez Circuit? |
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Definition
| In 1937, James Papez (neurologist) introduced the belief that the neural basis for experiencing emotion began in the hypothalamus, but then passed to the anterior thalamus via the mammillary bodies and then to the cingulate cortex. Papez believed the pathway split into two: one route going to the frontal cortex where the emotion was made conscious, and the other back to the hypothalamus via a polysynaptic limbic route involving the hippocampus and fornix (known as Papez circuit) and its function is to link the behavioral expression of emotion with its subjective feeling |
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Term
| What is Kluver-Bucy Syndrome? |
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Definition
| In the 1930s, Heinrich Kluver and Paul Bucy found that bilateral removal of the temporal lobes, including the amygdala and parts of the hippocampus, led to individuals showing no sign of fear or rage, hypersexualization, an obsession with touching things (including harmful objects), and did not seem to recognize objects unless they were able to put them in their mouths. This became known as Kluver-Bucy syndrome |
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Term
| What are the effects of fear? What is the relationship between the amygdala and fear? |
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Definition
| The amygdala has been examined in electrical stimulation studies. Feelings of fear and anxiety are much more likely than aggression and violent behavior in people when the amygdala is stimulated. Aggression only occurs if the individual has a violent nature or background. The lateral nuclei of the amygdala appears to play an important role in the acquisition and storage of memory associated with fear conditioning. The lateral amygdala is involved in emotional conditioning and in helping the animal to evaluate the significance of fearful associations with events in its environment |
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Term
| What kinds of behaviors occur if the frontal lobes are damaged? |
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Definition
| Damage to theses regions is more likely to affect social interaction, personality, and emotional responding.Many functions that are uniquely human, such as intentionality, self-awareness and abstract thinking are also impaired with damage to the frontal lobes |
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Term
| Know the regions of the frontal lobes and why they are important |
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Definition
| The frontal lobes consist of several different regionsThe motor cortex lies in the postcentral gyrus, and anterior to this region is the premotor cortex and supplementary motor areaTwo other areas with motor functions are the frontal eye fields, which control voluntary eye movements, and Broca’s area, which is involved in the production of language.The rest of the frontal cortex is made up of the prefrontal cortex, which receives a massive projection from the dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus (DMT). |
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Term
| Know Hans Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome |
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Definition
| 1.Alarm reaction- the initial fight-flight response produced by the sympathetic nervous system. It is also accompanied by increased secretion of adrenaline and noradrenaline from the adrenal medulla 2.Resistance stage- if the stressor is prolonged and the animal cannot maintain the high level of physiological arousal produced by the alarm reaction, it will have to alter its metabolism in order to produce a new homeostatic balance. The most notable change at this stage is that the hypothalamus stimulates the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from the anterior pituitary gland. |
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Term
| Know Hans Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome |
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Definition
| 2. This is released into the bloodstream where it causes the secretion of glucocorticoid hormones from the adrenal cortex (including hydrocortisone, corticosterone, and cortisol, which all have metabolic effects on the body such as increasing the tone of the sympathetic nervous system, and convert fats and proteins into sugars to help the body with increased energy needs, and reduce non-essential functioning of the immune system by slowing down antibody formation and decreasing white blood cell formation) |
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Term
| Know Hans Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome |
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Definition
| 3.Exhaustion stage- if the stressor is prolonged or frequently repeated, the organism will be unable to maintain the increased level of energy expenditure, and its physiological resources will slowly but surely become depleted. There will be reduced strength and energy, with increased susceptibility to illness such as ulcers, cardiovascular disease and depression. Additional stressors may now result in serious ill health or death. |
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Term
| Know what the different types of anxiety disorders are |
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Definition
| Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterized by such high levels of psychological worry and stress that the individual may not be able to work or leave their house. Simple Phobias involve a clearly defined dreaded object or situation. Social Phobia- a person is highly anxious about engaging in social interaction. Panic Disorder- include attacks of intense terror accompanied by physical symptoms such as feelings of choking, increased heart rate and breathing rate, shortness of breath, tightening in the chest, feeling outside of your body, and slowing down of time. Agoraphobia- fear of having a panic attack in public places. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder- characterized by the intrusion of unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and/or patterns of strange and ritualistic behaviors (compulsions) that the person recognizes as being irrational. |
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Term
| How do benzodiazepines work |
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Definition
| Benzodiazepines enhanced the inhibition of motor neurons which passed out of the spinal cord to the body’s skeletal muscles. Benzodiazepines were suspected of potentiating the action of GABA. GABA is now recognized as the most common inhibitory neurotransmitter throughout the central nervous system. Benzodiazepine receptors are found throughout the brain, with the highest numbers located in the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, cerebellum and limbic system (especially the amygdala). The distribution helps to explain the cognitive, muscle relaxant, and emotional (fear-reducing) effects of the benzodiazepines, respectively.The body’s natural substances that bind to benzodiazepine receptors which include beta-carbolines and diazepam-binding inhibitor appear to increase anxiety rather than reduce it. They may be chemicals that help produce fear |
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Term
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Definition
| Learning can be defined as the acquisition of new information, while memory is the capacity for storing and retrieving this material. |
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Term
| Why is Karl Lashley important to the field of clinical neuropsychology? Know his views on memory and learning |
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Definition
| Lashley concluded that memories were stored diffusely throughout the cerebral cortex (he called this mass action). He also proposed that all parts of the association cortex play an equal role in their storage of certain memories, and that no structure was crucial. •Lashley concluded that for higher-order processes such as learning or memory, the brain functioned as a unit, and contained no specific region that was solely responsible for storing the engram |
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Term
| Why is Donald Hebb important? Know his views on learning |
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Definition
| Most famous work is The Organization of Behavior (1949), which attempts to explain how the structure of the brain gives rise to thought. Hebb proposed that there was a larger neural circuit, or cell assembly, which contained large chains of reconnecting neurons and which he saw as being distributed throughout the brain. Hebb’s theory supported Lashley and it provided an explanation of how individual neurons might be modified to encode and store memory |
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Term
| What do we know about enriched brains and learning/problem solving? |
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Definition
| Enriched environments promote better learning and problem solving, and could provide viable therapy for patients with brain injuries•Evidence suggests that environment enrichment is more effective than either formal training or physical exercise in the recovery of learning capacity following physical injury. |
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Term
| What is long-term potentiation (LTP) and what brain structures are implicated in LTP? What causes LTP? |
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Definition
| Hebb speculated more than 50 years ago that memory must involve permanent changes in the structure of neurons, which resulted from activity “reverberating” in neural circuits after learning had initially occurred. phenomenon Hebb was talking about as long-term potentiation (LTP). thalamus, motor cortex, cerebellum, and amygdala. The first stage is believed to involve the release of glutamate from the perforant path, which crosses the synaptic gap and binds to receptors located on the dendrites of the postsynaptic cells. |
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Term
| Who was HM and why is he important? |
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Definition
| Researchers have long known that damage to certain brain regions in humans produces an inability to learn new information or to recall old memories (amnesia)•The most famous case of amnesia was a case that came about in the 1950s, known only as HM.•HM had had his hippocampus removed bilaterally in a surgical operation to treat epilepsy. Although the operation reduced his seizures, it left HM without the ability to form new memories, rendering him unable to permanently remember anything since the day of the surgery. |
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Term
| Know the what declarative memory and procedural memory are and how they differ |
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Definition
| Per them, declarative memory is knowledge which we use to think with, or talk about. Aka semantic and episodic memory that has been learned over the years, and which can be “declared” into consciousness•Procedural memory is largely, non-conscious, nonverbal, and accessible only through the performance of certain behaviors, such as typing on a keyboard. Research suggests that this type of memory is dependent on subcortical structures- most notably the caudate nucleus and putamen regions of the basal ganglia |
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Term
| What are PET and fMRI? How are they useful techniques? |
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Definition
| Positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques allow the activity of the brain to be directly observed as it performs mental tasks.•Both procedures can be used to measure the fluctuations of blood flow and oxygen consumption within a given brain region over a second-by-second timescale. This provides a measure of the level of neural activity in that area. |
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Term
| What is Korsakoff’s Syndrome? What is the neural basis for Korsakoff’s syndrome? |
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Definition
| The most common form of amnesia seen in clinical practice is Korsakoff’s syndrome (described by Korsakoff in 1889)•Korsakoff’s syndrome is predominantly found in alcoholics and develops as a result of thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency due to poor diet and long-term reliance on alcohol. •This type of amnesia is associated with some degree of generalized brain shrinkage, damage is most frequently found in the diencephalon, which includes the thalamus and hypothalamus (the diencephalon) |
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Term
| How do Temporal lobe amnesia and Korsakoff’s syndrome differ? |
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Definition
| Both are characterized by anterograde amnesia, but the symptoms of confabulation and confusion are not normally found in temporal lobe amnesia•Emotionally, the individual with Korsakoff’s syndrome is often emotionally flat and apathetic, whereas the temporal lobe amnesiac typically shows normal or appropriate emotions•While people with diencephalic amnesia take a long time to learn new information, they forget at normal rates. This is in contrast to those with damage to the medial temporal lobes, who forget very rapidly. |
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Term
| Who was NA and why is he important? |
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Definition
| The accident caused NA to suffer permanent anterograde amnesia (although not as severe as HM’s)•NA still needs constant supervision and lives at home•In 1979, researchers performed a CAT scan on NA’s head and found that the foil had terminated in the left-sided dorsomedial thalamus. Later MRI study showed that damage had also occurred to the mammillary bodies and the pathway connecting these structures to the anterior thalamus•The similarity in the symptoms of HM and NA suggest that the medial temporal lobes and diencephalon may be part of a much larger brain system involved in memory |
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Term
| What are the two regions of the brain associated with human amnesia? |
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Definition
| the medial temporal lobes and the diencephalon |
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Term
| What is the Yakovlev circuit and how is the dorsomedial thalamus implicated in amnesia? |
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Definition
| The dorsomedial thalamus forms part of a different system, sometimes referred to as the Yakovlev circuit, whose focal point is the amygdala•The amygdala sends fibers to the dorsomedial thalamus, which in turn projects to the prefrontal cortex. The circuit is then completed with the prefrontal cortex projecting back to the amygdala. •The amygdala-frontal cortex pathway is particularly important for learning about fearful events |
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Term
| What are episodic and semantic memories? How do they differ? |
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Definition
| Episodic memory refers to memory for dates and times (episodes of life)•Semantic memory is our store of facts and information (our basic knowledge of the world) |
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Term
| How is the parahippocampal region important for memory? |
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Definition
| It receives fibers from the prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex and temporal cortex, and relays this information to the hippocampus via the perforant pathway. In turn, the hippocampus completes the loop by sending projections back to the cortical regions through the entorhinal cortex |
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Term
| What were the two reasons that David Olton gave about why his rats were inefficient at completing the maze? |
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Definition
| 1.The first explanation was that the hippocampal lesioned rat had a deficit of working memory 2.The second explanation was that the animals were getting “lost” because they were unable to form a cognitive or spatial map of their environment |
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Term
| How did John O’Keefe use place cells to explain his theory? |
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Definition
| John O’Keefe found in his recording of electrical activity in individual cells of the hippocampus that as the animal moved away to a new location, the neuron would stop firing. However, if the rat returned to the old location at a later point, the neuron would start to fire again.•O’Keefe called these place cells |
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Term
| What is Morris’s cognitive mapping theory? |
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Definition
| developed a spatial memory task that required rats to swim a water maze.•Morris found that it took just a few trials for normal animals to swim directly to the platform. In contrast, the hippocampal lesioned rats were unable to learn the location of the platform after 40 days of training•The failure of the lesioned rats to perform the task provides strong support for the cognitive mapping theory, but it contradicts the work of David Olton.•The reason for this difference is not understood |
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Term
| What did Zola-Morgan and Squire’s research find about Mishkin’s research? |
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Definition
| Zola-Morgan and Squire found that cortical tissue surrounding the hippocampus and amygdala, such as the perirhinal cortex, which lies close to the amygdala, and the parahippocampal gyrus and entorhinal cortex, which adjoin the hippocampus, were all damaged in some degree by Mishkin’s attempts to produced combined lesions. |
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Term
| Know what the first brain area to be implicated in language is? How did Bouillaud and Aubertin contribute to this finding? |
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Definition
| the frontal lobes. Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud’s observations led him to conclude that frontal damage stopped the person from speaking clearly, although they could express themselves with gestures and writing. They did not have problems with comprehending language either.In 1861, Simon Aubertin described the case of a man who had shot away part of his frontal cranium in a failed suicide attempt that exposed his brain. if he pressed a spatula against the exposed brain while the man was speaking, the speech was halted. However, when the compression was lessened, speech resumed. |
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Term
| Know who Paul Broca was. What was his contribution to what we know about language? |
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Definition
French scientist and doctor Paul Broca
When Leborgne died, Broca undertook an autopsy on his brain and found a large cavity about the size of an egg located towards the back of the frontal lobes in the left hemisphere.It was the first convincing evidence linking an area of the frontal lobes with language. Following this discovery, Broca performed autopsies on 8 other patients all had damage to the same area of the frontal lobes. This region has now become known as Broca’s area, and is located just in front of the motor cortex that controls the muscles of the vocal cord and mouth. |
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Term
| What is Broca’s aphasia? What are the symptoms? |
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Definition
| Language is slow, labored and lacking in grammarSpeech tends to be composed of simple nouns, verbs, and adjectives (aka telegraphic speech)Speech often lacks the rhythm, intonation and inflection of normal language (abnormal prosody)Difficulty finding the right word (anomia), which produces long pauses during speechThe aphasic is also likely to have articulation difficulties, making them difficult to understand. This often causes the person to become very frustrated when attempting to communicate with others |
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Term
| Know who Carl Wernicke was. What was his contribution to what we know about language? |
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Definition
| a German neurologist. described a type of aphasia (now known as Wernicke’s aphasia) that was linked with damage to a region of the temporal lobes in the left hemisphere |
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Term
| What is Wernicke’s aphasia? What are the symptoms? |
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Definition
| Wernicke’s aphasia does not interfere with the rhythm and grammar of speech, so that people with this condition can articulate words quickly and fluently, but unfortunately the speech is devoid of meaningSuperficially, the speech may sound normal and grammatically correct, it is devoid of sensible contentLanguage is composed of either inappropriate words (paraphasias) or ones that do not exist (neologisms) |
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Term
| Why is Wernicke’s area important? |
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Definition
| Wernicke’s area appears to be involved in the translation of auditory information arriving directly from the earsIt translates sound into verbal codes so that the brain can recognize it as language. Thus, Wernicke’s aphasia is sometimes known as sensory aphasia or receptive aphasiaBecause of the marked deficit of comprehension, Wernicke’s area must also be involved in understanding the speech it is receiving.Thus, Wernicke’s area, or perhaps more accurately, a network of other areas interconnected with it, encodes the verbal sound into units of language, and establishes its meaning |
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Term
| What are alexia and agraphia? What part(s) of the brain are important in these conditions? |
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Definition
| on two cases of individuals who had acquired another type of language deficit- difficulty reading (alexia) and writing (agraphia). angular gyrus, posterior portion of the corpus callosum |
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Term
| What was Wernicke’s theory about language? |
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Definition
| Wernicke’s theory viewed language comprehension and production as being dependent on the left hemisphere of the brain. |
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Term
| What was the Wernicke-Geschwind model? |
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Definition
| Wernicke’s theory was extended by the work of Norman Geschwind in 1965. Geschwind’s insight was to realize that many different types of aphasic disorders could be predicted from lesions to the main language centers proposed by Wernicke, and the pathways connecting them.This became known as the Wernicke-Geschwind Model |
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Term
| What is the arcuate fasciculus and why is it important? |
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Definition
| The pathway between Wernicke’s and Broca’s area is known as the arcuate fasciculus. People with damage to the arcuate fasciculus have no difficulty understanding language, or producing speech. However, they are impaired in repeating certain words and sentences. A person may be able to repeat concrete words, but is unable to repeat abstract or nonwords. |
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Term
| What is global aphasia? What are the symptoms? |
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Definition
| The severest deficit is global aphasia where the person loses the ability both to comprehend language and to produce it in any meaningful waySpeech may deteriorate into unintelligible jargon aphasiaThe person is unable to repeat words accurately and has great difficulty reading and writingCombines the deficits of all the aphasias. People with global aphasia can communicate, as they express feelings and wishes through facial, vocal and other physical gestures |
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Term
| What is transcortical sensory aphasia? What are the symptoms? |
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Definition
| Similar to Wernicke’s aphasia with the person exhibiting fluent but unintelligible speech, accompanied by poor comprehensionThe main difference between TSA and Wernicke’s aphasia lies in the ability of the transcortical sensory aphasic to repeat verbal stimuli.People with this condition can repeat words and nonwords spoken to them, and even identify grammatical errors in spoken languageThey may have little understanding of what they are saying, which may result in echolalia (where a person continually repeats words or phrases just spoken to them) |
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Term
| What is transcortical motor aphasia? What are the symptoms? |
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Definition
| The motor equivalent of transcortical sensory aphasia.A person with TMA often will not initiate speech, and when speech does occur it is nonfluent, dysprosodic and full of grammatical errors.Typically produces short utterances of only one or two wordsA person with TMA can repeat words and name objectsThey normally have good language comprehensionThis type of aphasia is associated with damage to the supplementary motor cortex |
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Term
| What is anomic aphasia (aka deep dysphasia)? What are the symptoms? |
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Definition
| Rare language disorder is anomic aphasia (aka deep dysphasia)The person has difficulty finding the right word, and will often substitute related but inappropriate onesVerbal comprehension is good, but the substitution of alternative words may make speech difficult to follow or understand. Patients with this type of aphasia often report forgetting the word just presented to them, although they may retain its meaningBelieved to involve the temporal lobes, possibly at its junction with the occipital lobes |
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Term
| What were the major findings of Ojemann’s research? |
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Definition
| Ojemann’s mapping work shows that the most important regions involved in language comprehension and production are actually found to either side of the Sylvian Fissure, which is the fissure that extends along the lateral aspect of each hemisphere for about half its length, and borders parts of the temporal, parietal, and frontal lobesHis research shows that the brain uses separate cortical areas for storing names of objects in two different languages |
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Term
| Know the problems with the Wernicke-Geschwind model. |
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Definition
| Hughlings-Jackson stated “to locate the damage which destroys speech and to locate speech are two different things.” Another problem with the Wernicke-Geschwind model is that it fails to take into account the role of subcortical regions in language processing |
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Term
| What is dyslexia? What are the different types of dyslexia? |
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Definition
| Dyslexia is an inability to read correctly despite normal intelligence, motivation, and schooling. Word-form dyslexia: the individual does not immediately recognize words, but can do so if given time to read out the letters one by oneIndividuals with this form of dyslexia have difficulties reading words but not individual lettersPhonological dyslexia: the person can identify familiar words but is unable to make their soundCan make reading unfamiliar or unusual words very difficultCaused by an inability to relate the characters of written language to the phonological sounds that they represent |
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Term
| Know the two strategies we use to read |
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Definition
| whole-word reading and phonological reading.In whole-word reading we recognize a word by its immediate visual form or shape, whereas in phonological reading we identify a word through its distinctive sound |
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Term
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Definition
| Reading difficulties tend to run in families, which implies a genetic componentIt is clear that the genetic basis of dyslexia is complex, with no single gene being responsibleAt least six different chromosomes are known to exist which contain genes that affect reading ability |
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Term
| What is the corpus callosum and why is it important? |
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Definition
| which is the massive white fiber bundle (in fact the largest fiber bundle) in the human brain that connects the two hemispheres |
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Term
| What did we learn from Roger Sperry’s “split-brain” studies? |
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Definition
| The results of these studies clarified that the left hemisphere was involved in language, while the right hemisphere could understand simple speech and recognize certain words, but was usually unable to produce any verbal response to confirm this knowledgeThe right hemisphere’s language ability is approximately the same as that found in a 6-year-old |
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Term
| Know what brain functions are associated with the left and right hemispheres and what behaviors result from damage to each of these regions |
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Definition
| Patients with damage to their left hemisphere exhibited feelings of despair, hopelessness and anger, and/or catastrophic-dysphoric reactionPatients with right hemisphere damage tended to be placid and indifferent to their injury, even when it caused paralysis |
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Term
| What is Wada testing and why is it important? |
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Definition
| The Wada test is a procedure first discovered when physician Juan Wada was asked to treat a man with a serious bullet wound to one side of the brain that caused status epilepticus In his desperation to stop the seizures, Wada injected a short-acting anesthetic (sodium amytal) into the carotid arteries located at the side of the neck, which carries blood from the heart to the brain. The right and left arteries feed their own respective hemispheres, so it became possible to anesthetize one side of the brain to temporarily cause its loss of function, while leaving the other hemisphere to work normally. The patient’s seizures stopped immediately. |
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Term
| Know what CAT scans, PET scans, and MRI scans are and just a little about their pros and cons |
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Definition
| computerized axial tomography (CAT)This involved passing a large number of narrow-beam x-rays through the brain with a ray gun that moved around the person’s head. PET involves the use of short-lasting radioactive substances which are injected into the bloodstream of the subject and which emit positrons. The positrons are detected by a scanner which provides a 3-D representation of the chemical distribution in the body or brain. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides highly detailed pictures of the inner structures of the human brain, but it does so without the use of potentially harmful ionizing radiation |
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Term
| Where do musical abilities reside in the brain |
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Definition
| Music is predominantly a right hemisphere function of the brain |
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Term
| What are the different types of depression? |
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Definition
| There may be no obvious reason for the depression to occur (endogenous depression)Its severity may be out of proportion to the events that triggered it (reactive depression). Depression may be associated with high levels of anxiety (neurotic depression) or delusional behavior (psychotic depression). |
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Term
| Know the symptoms of clinical depression |
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Definition
| The clinically depressed person is likely not only to feel sad, tearful and miserable, but also to have negative thoughts, including low self-esteem and a sense of helplessness. This is likely to be accompanied by degrees of energy loss or psychomotor retardation, where even the simplest chore is daunting. There may be a number of physical problems including sleep disturbance, appetite loss, sexual difficulties, muscle weakness and aches and painsThe person may experience emotional apathy: unable to wash, cook or look after themselves |
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Term
| Know the difference between unipolar depression and bipolar depression. Also know what dysthymia and cyclothymia are. |
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Definition
| Unipolar depression- the person suffers exclusively from prolonged periods of sadness and despondencyBipolar depression- the person undergoes alternating periods of depression and mania |
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Term
| What are the base rates for unipolar depression and bipolar depression? |
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Definition
| Unipolar depression- the person suffers exclusively from prolonged periods of sadness and despondencyBipolar depression- the person undergoes alternating periods of depression and mania |
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Term
| How were antidepressant medications developed? This should include an understanding of how iproniazid inhibits the monoamine oxidase enzyme |
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Definition
| it was discovered on accident in ww2 to treat tuberculosis. This enzyme is located primarily in the nerve terminals which breaks down and inactivates monoamines in the brain (such as noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin). When monoamine oxidase is inhibited by iproniazid, higher levels of monoamines were released into the synapse. This resulted in increased levels of these neurotransmitters in the brain. This implied that depression was caused by reduced levels of these neurotransmitters. |
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Term
| How does reserpine cause depressive symptoms? |
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Definition
| reserpine depleted the brain of catecholamines (neurotransmitters that contain a catechol nucleus) which included the monoamines noradrenaline and dopamine.reserpine caused these neurotransmitters to “leak out” from protective synaptic vesicles in the nerve terminals, enabling them to be broken down by monoamine oxidase. Thus, reserpine had an opposite neurochemical effect to iproniazid |
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Term
| What are the dangers of MAOIs? |
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Definition
| Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are now only chosen when other treatments for depression have failed because they produce a number of side effects due to their interaction with foods containing tyramine (i.e. cheese, red wine, chocolate, and beer).MAOIs interfere with the metabolic processing of tyramine in the liver. Thus, MAOIs used with the aforementioned foods causes hypertension, leading to severe headache, increased body temperature, and intracranial bleeding. In some cases, the interaction has been fatal. |
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Term
| What were the findings of Jules Axelrod’s research? |
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Definition
| Jules Axlerod showed that the presynaptic noradrenergic neuron has a mechanism for pumping excess transmitter back into its terminals to regulate the amount of noradrenaline in the synapse (reuptake pump). In 1961, Axelrod showed that imipramine inhibited the reuptake process (also shown to block serotonin reuptake) by attaching itself to the pump and stopping it from taking noradrenaline in the synapse back into the neuron. |
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Term
| What are the side effects of TADs? |
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Definition
| they have anticholinergic actions in the peripheral nervous system, which can produce dry mouth, constipation, blurred vision, dizziness and palpitations. They can also act on the heart to produce irregular heartbeats and hypotension.Headache and fine muscular tremors are also commonCan be lethal when taken in an overdose. This is of great concern given that depressed people are more likely to commit suicide than other groups of people. |
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Term
| Know the catecholamine theory of depression |
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Definition
| argues that depression was the result of “relative deficiency” (reduced neurotransmission) of catecholamines, particularly noradrenaline, at synaptic sites in the brain. He suggested that mania was due to an increased release of these neurotransmitters |
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Term
| Know the monoamine theory of depression |
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Definition
| has replaced the catecholamine theorySince serotonin is an indolamine and not a catecholamine, monoamine is a more appropriate nameProposes that depression is due to a deficiency in one or another of three monoamines, namely serotonin, noradrenaline and/or dopamine |
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Term
| Know the receptor sensitivity theory of depression |
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Definition
| attention began to switch from neurotransmitter levels to focus on receptorsOne reason for this development was the problem in explaining why it took so long for antidepressant drugs to start workingIt became apparent that it was not the direct pharmacological action of the antidepressant which was causing the improvements in mood, but a secondary or longer-acting change taking place in the monoaminergic neurons |
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Term
| Why are SSRIs preferred over MAOIs and TADs? |
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Definition
| SSRIs are not superior to TADs in terms of their antidepressive efficacy, but they are safer (especially in overdose), tolerated well by the elderly, and have a broader range of usesTreat panic disorder, OCD, bulimia, and alcohol withdrawalSSRIs have gained a reputation for making patients “feel good about themselves,” which often leads to increased productivity and self-esteem |
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Term
| What is the permissive hypothesis? |
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Definition
| The permissive hypothesis proposes that low levels of serotonin “permit” abnormal levels of noradrenaline to produce either depression or mania |
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Term
| Know why the locus coeruleus and the dorsal raphe are important in depression and anxiety |
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Definition
| The locus coeruleus, which is the main source of noradrenergic fibers to the forebrain, and the dorsal raphe, which is the main source of serotonergic fibers are located close together in the brainstemThe dorsal raphe has been shown to be the target of noradrenergic fibers from the locus coeruleusSerotonergic drugs are known to change the firing rate of cells in the locus coeruleus |
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Term
| How is the HPA axis implicated in depression? |
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Definition
| People suffering from clinical depression often show a number of hormonal irregularities, including elevated levels of cortisolCortisol is a glucocorticoid whose secretion is controlled by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis |
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Term
| What effects does cortisol have on the human body? |
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Definition
| The main function of cortisol is to maintain the correct chemical balance of the body in the face of change and adversityCortisol increases the production of blood glucose to provide greater energy during periods of acute or prolonged stressCortisol speeds up the body’s metabolism for energy needs, which affects just about every organ and tissue in the body. Inhibits the immune system, decreases inflammatory reactions, and affects gene transcription in the nuclei of cells |
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Term
| What is Addison’s disease? What is Cushing’s disease? |
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Definition
| Addison’s disease- weight loss, muscle weakness, fatigue and low blood pressure along with psychological symptoms including memory disturbance, apathy and altered moodAssociated with hyperthyroidismDepressed people show elevated cortisol levels because their illness is a highly stressful conditionPossible dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axisDepression is one of the first symptoms to appear in Cushing’s diseaseHypersecretion of cortisol from the adrenal cortexAssociated with hypothyroidism |
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Term
| How do antidepressants affect the HPA axis? |
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Definition
| Antidepressants may exert part of their effect by helping to restore the normal functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis |
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Term
| What do we know about genetics and environment and depression? |
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Definition
| he way in which an individual responds to aversive and stressful events is influenced by their genetic make-up, but it also shows that a gene has an effect on depression only if that individual is exposed to particular life eventsA susceptibility to depression requires the right set of environmental events for it to be expressed and the effects of the gene may be masked where environmental conditions are benign. |
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Term
| How is lithium helpful in bipolar disorder? What are the risks to lithium use? How does lithium work? |
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Definition
| Cade gave lithium to bipolar patients and found that it quickly stabilized their moods and calmed them down. Possible side effects: weight gain, nausea, diarrhea, thirst, hand tremor, and fatigueRisk for renal damage with long-term treatment, which requires careful monitoring. |
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Term
| What are the alternative medication treatments to lithium? |
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Definition
| carbamazepine (Tegretol, Carbatrol). valproic acid (Depakene) and divalproex sodium (Depakote) are similar to carbamazepine |
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Term
| What is schizophrenia? What are the symptoms? |
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Definition
| There is ONE personality that is overpowered by disturbances of mental function, emotion, and behavior. Features: bizarre delusions, belief that they are being controlled by others, or being persecuted; the whole personality may become deluded so that the schizophrenic believes that they are somebody else, or that they have a divine mission to fulfill. |
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Term
| Know what the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia are |
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Definition
| Positive symptoms: those that reflect overactive brain function such as hallucinations, delusions, confused thinking and exaggerated emotionsNegative symptoms: those that seem to reflect underaroused brain function and include poverty of thought or speech, blunted affect and social withdrawal. |
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Term
| Know the base rates for schizophrenia |
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Definition
| In most cases, schizophrenia is an acute condition which shows considerable fluctuation in severity across life, with periods of remission. However, it can be chronic and this form is often characterized by negative symptoms including lack of drive, social withdrawal, and emotional apathy. |
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Term
| How were antipsychotics developed? |
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Definition
| A French doctor named Henri Laborit was charged with testing these compounds and it led to the discovery of chlorpromazine, which produced strong calming properties without loss of consciousness. It reduced the symptoms of schizophrenia rather than causing sedation. |
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