NSB test 2

the point of equilibrium that the systems returns to

• 1. drive theory
• 2. incentive theory
• 3. arousal theory
• 4. instinct theory

• the body maintains homeostasis in its systems; departure from homeostasis produces arousal or drive 
• EX: hunger thirst, temperature

• motivated by external stimuli, not just normal needs
• EX: money, grades, praise

• people have their preferred level
• EX: sensation seeking

• automatic and unlearned, occurs in all species 
• EX: migration, maternal behavior 

• 1. organs and their local reflexes 
• 2. autonomic and endocrine messengages
• 3. brain-stem regulation 
• 4. hypothalamic integrations
• 5. inputs from higher brain centers

systems of built-in organ reflexes need no higher regulation

2 avenues of descending communication to organs

reflex centers regulate autonomic output to organs

• regulates endocrine messengers 
• coordinate actions of brainstem autonomic nuclei

higher areas of the brain

• bottom
• organs have intrinsic reflex mechanisms to operate when external conditions are constant (sa node)
• organs have ANS loops at spinal cord to aid local regulation

• detecting a state of feedback 
• comparing it to a set point
• excreting the opposite influence

• ectothems: cant regulate body temp internally (reptiles:cold blooded)
• endotherms: regulate their body temp by dilating or constricting blood vessels, adjusting metabolism, sweating (mammals)

• preoptic area of the hypothalamus receives input; initiates temp regulating responses
• EX: panting, sweating, shivering

• we spend 2/3 of our energy maintaining temp
• WHY?
• warm muscles
• proteins are unstable at higher temps 
• certain bacteria grow less feverishly at higher temps

Osmotic

Hypovolemic

• low fluid content in cells;
• water is drawn from cells into blood to copensate for food intake
• signals the median preoptic nucleus to initiate drinking

• blood volume drops;
• sweating, vomiting, diarrhea, blood loss
• detected by receptors in heart and kidneys 
• info from the heart relayed by vagus nerve to the brainstem and hypothalamus 
• the kidneys release the hormone to the renin; signals the median preoptic nucleus 

• lipoprivic hunger
• glucoprivic hunger
• ghrelin

• a deficit in fatty acids
• carried by the vagus nerve to the nucleus of the solitary tract (brainstem) then A.N

• glucose deficit
• carried by the vagus nerve to the nucleus of the solitary tract (brainstem) then A.N

• there is a release of this as the stomach empties
• reaches the nucleus of the solitary tract (brainstem) via bloodstream, then A.N

• digestive
• absorptive
• fasting

• mouth -> stomach food mixes with hydrochloric acid and pepsin to further digest 
• mostly happens in small intestine
• products are absorbed through the intestinal walls (nutrients are transported to the liver by hepatic portal vein)

• body uses nutrients arriving from digestive system 
• rising glucose levels activate the parasympathetic system (release of insulin from pancreas) 
• nutrients are also stored for future use (glucose = glycogen stored in liver and muscles)

• hormone secreted by the pancreas that enables body cells to take up glucose for energy and certain cells to store excess nutrients 
• the ones inside the NS do NOT need insulin (brain priority to glucose) 

glucose levels have fallen and the body must rely on stored nutrients 1. sysmpathetic NS releases glucagon from pancreas, converts livers glycogen to glucose 2. insulin levels are low, glucose is available only to the NS3. glucagon breaks down stored fat into fatty acids and glycerol

glucagon is secreted from the pancreas, which the converts the livers glycogen to glucose 

glycerol is from fats, also converted into glucose (for the brain)

• an increase or decrease in physiological activity accompanied by feelings and often a characteristic behavior or facial expression 
• CLEAR autonomic and somatic NS changes (heart racing, contraction, facial muscles)

• are emotions basic modules that are embedded in our nervous system 
• OR
• are they categories based off contextual cues and life experience

event -> emotion -> action (feeling, face, voice, PNS)

• emotions are categorizations 
• 1. resulting from situational context and embodied knowledge 
• 2. captured by dimensional scales (high/low arousal and pleasant/unpleasant)

• emotional experience resulting from the physiological arousal that precedes it 
• different emotions are the result of different patters of arousal 
• emotion producing stimulus -> physiological response -> feeling of emotion

• physio-arousal contributes only to emotions intensity (swinging bridges and sexual attraction) 
• identity of the emotion is based on the cognitive assessment of the situation
• emotion producing stimulus -> social and environmental influences -> feeling of emotion

posed expressions could produce intended emotion and distinct pattern of physiological arousal

• posing facial expression affects how we interpret the environment 
• stimulus is painful when making a sad face
• boxtox decreases bad moods/anger (less amygdala activity)

network of structures arranged around the top of the brain stem, carries out several functions in emotion, motivated behavior, learning

• cingulate gyrus
• septal nuclei
• prefrontal coretx 
• amygdala
• hippocampus
• parahipocampal gyrus 
• mamillary body
• hypothalamus
• fornix

combine emotional, attentional and bodily information to bring about conscious emotional experience

• stimulation produces a sense of pleasure, accompanied by sexual fantasies and arousal (rats self-stimulate)
• EX: illness to seduction 

primary control over the ANS; produces a variety of emotional expressions (racing heart, rage, fear, pleasure)

• most associated with emotion (connected to frontal lobes)
• recieves input from all senses
• sends info to hypothalamus and brainstem
• larger role in negative than positive emotions (anxiety reducing drugs act on amygdala) 
• most important for the expression of emotional responses provoked by fear producing stimuli

• specifying goals for emotion 
• necessary for making judgments about behavior and its consequences 
• abnormalities associated with depression and aggression

• people are no longer affected by the neural machinery that underlies emotion 
• critical emotion input for making social and personal decisions is likely to suffer (unable to restrain violent urges, depression, schizophrenia)
• EX: gambling task (SCR)

facial and behavioral responses

• physciological elements
• EX: heart rate, cortisol response, blushing

cognitive appraisals, feelings

left frontal: positive emotions, damage (express anxiety & sadness)

right front: negative emotions (more prominent overall) damage (trouble recognizing emotion in facial expressions and tons of voice, euphoric)

substance that changes the body or its functioning

minics or enhances effects of a neurotransmitter

• occupy the receptors, blacking access by the transmitter
• reduce neurotransmitter production or release

• preoccupation with obtaining a drug
• compulsive use of drug in spite of adverse consequences 
• high tendency to relapse after quitting
• ventral tegmental area is involved

• negative reaction that occurs when drug use is stopped
• periventricular gray is involved

• individual becomes less responsive to the drug
• increasing amounts of drug to produce same results 
• significant reason to overdose

• derived from the opium poppy
• cause:
• 1. analgesia, pain relief 
• 2. hypnotic, sleep inducing effects 
• 3. euphoria, strong feelings of happiness

morphine: treat pain of wounds, surgery and cancer 

heroin: synthesized from morphine (sold OTC in late 1800's, now illegal in US)

• and association develops between tolerance and the environments of use
• different setting, more likely to overdose

• opiate drugs mimic endogenous (generated within the body) endorphin's 
• produce additional positive effect by indirectly stimulating dopamine pathways (pain relief)

an opiate antagonist that was use clinically to reverse opiate intoxication

• drugs that reduce NS activity (alcohol,barbiturates)
• cause;
• sedation
• anxiety reduciton
• hypnotic effects

• acute effects; coma, death =shutting down brain stem
• chronic effects; brain damage, Korsakoffs syndrome (vitamin b1 deficiency and memory loss), cirrhosis of the liver 
• withdrawals; delirium tremens, hallucinations, delusions, confusion, seizures, possible death 
• fetal alcohol syndrome

• inhibits glutamate (excitatory transmitter) account for seizures during withdrawals
• increases binding of GABA (inhibitory transmitter) 
• combination of these 2 receptors: sedation, anxiety reduction, muscle relaxation, inhibition of cognitive and motor skills

• safer for treatment of anxiety and insomnia
• act on GABA receptors
• depressant effects due to changes in activity of hippocampus, brainstem, and cortex 
• ex: valium, xanax, halcion, rohypnol 

• blocks reuptake of dopamine and serotonin at synapses, potentiating their effect 
• Causes; euphoria, decreased appetite, increased alertness, relieves fatigue

• reduced PFC activity:
• behavioral inhibition
• decision making assessment of emotional value of stimuli 
• one of the most addictive drugs due to intensity of initial euphoria 

• increases dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine
• similar to amphetamines (produce euphoria, increase confidence & concentration)
• extremely addictive

• primary psychoactive and addictive agent in tobacco
• Stimulates nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
• activates muscles to cause twitching in PNS
• alertness and faster response to stimulation in CNS 
• causes; cancers, buergers disease, reduced birth weight

• produces arousal, increased alertness and decreased sleepiness (80% of americans drink coffee)
• blocks receptors for neuromodulator adensosine (increasing release of dopamine and acetylcholine) contributing to arousal

• accompanying cognitive or preceptual distortions
• often refereed to as hallucinogenic (sensory perceptions and details are intensified)

• resembles serotonin and stimulates receptors
• significantly alters perception, mood and psychological processes
• used experimentally to treat alcoholics and psychiatric patients 

• lessen the effects of the psychedelic LSD
• EX: prozac and zoloft 

• primarily serotinergic (increased sensory perception and emotional responsiveness) 
• higher doses can produce hallucinatory effects 
• chronic use may cause impairment in serotnin functioning, leading to cognitive deficits (memory loss)
• SSRI's can reduce the effects of MDMA

• -Dried and crushed leaves and flowers of the Indians hemp plant, cannabis sativa 
• -Major psychoactive ingredient is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), binds  to receptors for endogenous cannabiniods
• -Mild to moderate analgesic effects and can be used to treat pain
• -May cause hippocampus & aymgdala reductions

• rats will self inject morphine into the ventral tegmental area which indicates the area is involved with addiction
• however blocking opiate recpetors there doesn't produce withdrawal

• rats will not press a lever to inject morphine into the periventricular gray, so it is NOT involved in addiction 
• once rats are addicted, blocking opiate receptors in the preiventricular gray produces signs of withdrawal

• major reward system
• structures: nucleus accumbens, medial frorebrain bundle, ventral tegmental area (VTA)
• all abused drugs increase dopamine in the VTA
• dopamine system is implicated in the rewarding effects of drugs, food, sex and electrical stimulation (gambling)

• cell specialized to respond to a particular form of energy (sound)
• function is to convert that energy into a neural response

• energy for specialized receptor 
• pattern of the info contained in the stimulus makes it meaningful
• EX: pressing your eyeball and seeing a circular spot

• number of cycles or waves of alternating compression and decompression of the vibrating medium that occurs in a second (hertz) 
• provides perception of pitch 
• pure tone: one frequency 
• complex sounds: composed of multiple frequencies

• physical energy in a sound, loudness is the term for our experience of sound energy
• most sensitive to 2000-4000 Hz (most speech)

• A and B= pure tones (same frequency, different amplitudes)
• C and D= pure tones (same frequency, different amplitudes)
• A and C= same amplitudes, different frequencies 
• B and D= same amplitudes, different frequencies 
• E and F= complex sounds

• captures sounds and amplifies by funneling into auditory canal
• selects for sounds in front & to side of us, partially blocking behind

• cochlea(where the auditory stimulus is converted to neural energy): 
• stirrup
• vestibular canal
• tympanic canal 
• cochlear canal

stirrup send vibrations throughout the cochlea and to the organ of corti (sound analyzing structure)

• 4 rows of specialized cells called hair cells (receptors for auditory stimulation)
• very sensitive cells (Vibration bends the hair cells, opening potassium and calcium channels)
• inner hair cells (3500) receive ~95% of the auditory neurons and they provide the majority of the info about auditory stimulation 
• outer hair cells (12000) amplify signal produced by weak sounds and provide adjustable frequency selectivity

• auditory neurons (sound) ->
• brain stem nuclei ->
• inferior colliculi ->
• medial geniculate nucleus of thalamus -> auditory cortex

• auditory coretx ->
• parietal lobes (spatial location of sounds) ->
• frontal lobes (directing eye movements & planning movements) 
• auditory "where" system 

• temporal lobe ->
• frontal lobes (identifying sounds)
• auditory "what" system 

• sort out meaningful sounds embedded in a confusing background of sounds 
• selective attention enhances some sounds and suppresses others
• occurs in the the ventral "what" area

• Binaural cues permits us to locate sounds quickly and accurately
• there is a difference in intensity when the sound is coming from one side of the head or the other 
• there is also a difference in the time of arrival at the two ears (sound directly to the left or the right ear takes about 0.5 ms to travel the additional distance to the second ear)

• was discovered when paul broca studied a stroke patient with injury in the frontal area 
• nonfluent speech, trouble finding words, articulation problems, lack of grammatical/function words 
• ability to translate info into speech patterns is compromised (expressive aphasia)

• trouble understanding spoken and written language from damage to a portion of the posterior left temporal lobe 
• as much difficulty producing language as understanding it 
• speech is fluent but meaningless ("word salad")

• effort to explain how broca's area and wernicke's area interact to produce language 
• answering a spoken question (auditory coretx  -> wernicke's area -> broca's area -> communicates with the facial area of the motor cortex to produce speech
• reading aloud ( angular gyrus -> wernicke's area -> broca's area)

• disruption of pathways in the angular gyrus
• alexia: inability to read 
• agraphia: inability to write
• these pathways connect the visual projection area with the auditory and visual association areas

• contributes prosody to speech (use of tone, emphasis and rhythm to convey meaning) 
• important in understanding info from language that is not specifically communicated by words (if the meaning is figurative rather than literal)

• Broca’s area
• facial motor area
• primary auditory cortex
• wernicke’s area
• primary visual cortex
• angular gyrus

• iris
• pupil
• cornea
• lens
• ciliary muscle 
• sclera
• retina
• fovera
• optic nerve

• front: cornea -> iris -> pupil -> ciliary muscle -> lens
• back: sclera-> retina -> fovea -> optic nerve
• 

• contain photopigments, which break down from light 
• most active in darkness (sodium channels are open, receptor releases glutamate -> inhibits bipolar cells)
• light hits photopigment (sodium channels close, decrease in glutamate release) 
• Rods and Cones

Area of retina that receives its input is the cell’s

• contain rhodopsin
• sensitive to light levels
• function well in dim light
• large receptive fields
• most rods in periphery

• contain iodopsin (requires bright light)
• work in daylight and nonfunctional in dim light 
• 3 types of iodopsin distinguish different wavelengths
• small receptive field, results in good visual activity
• most cones in fovea

optic nerve projects to the two hemispheres so that info from the right visual field goes to the left visual cortex and vice versa.

• discrepancy in the location of an objects image on the two retina's 
• distant objects cast image toward nasal side of retina
• closer objects cast image toward temporal part of retina

• that just three color processes account for all the colors we are able to distinguish 
• primary colors (red, green, blue)
• EX: tv and computer screens are an application of trichromatic color mixing 

• attempts to explain color vision in terms of opposing neural processes
• complementary colors: colors that cancel each other out to produce gray or white 
• DID NOT HAVE SOLID PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS

stare at a red stimulus for a minute and you will begin to see a green edge around it; then look at a white all or sheet of paper and you will see a green version of the object

• Hurvich and Jameson
• 3 kinds of color receptors :red, green, blue
• combine in opponent process fashion a the ganglion cells to produce 4 color processes (red, green, yellow, blue)

• true color blindness: lack cones (poor visual activity, light sensitive)
• partial color blindness: red-green blindness (cant distinguish the difference in colors), can't perceive blue

• detection of boundaries and features 
• visual cortex contains a retinotopic map

• each neurons activity inhibits the activity of its neighbors and in turn its activity is inhibited by them 
• sharpens the contrast between darker and lighter boundaries

• color perception 
• projects than to the inferior teporal cortex, providing object recognition 
• visual "what" processor 
• People with damage here can see objects, reach for them, & walk around them, but can’t identify them

• movement
• projects then to the posterior parietal area, provides location of objects in space 
• visual "where" processor
• People with damage here can
• identify objects, but they have trouble orienting their gaze toward objects