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Stress, Arousal and Regulation of Behaviour (Stress (Nervous System…
Stress, Arousal and Regulation of Behaviour
Stress
Stress is the adjustment to the situation and the stressor is the events or situation which causes people to adjust. It tends to cause negative emotional and psychological respond. You can have physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioural response. It is very unlikely that you will have just one.
Nervous System
Autonomic - carries messages between the central nervous system and the internal organs. Although the brain controls all our processes it is things out of our control like digestion and pupil dilation
Sympathetic - fight or flight response. Triggered during GAS stage one. Hypothalamus activates this system. SNS stimulates adrenaline glands which then secretes adrenaline and noradrenine, This activates organs increases blood pressure, increases muscle tension
Parasympathetic - conservation of energy. It becomes active after removal of the stimuli that causes the SNS to work
Physical stress response
Hans Selye General Adaption Syndrome (GAS) - suggested that there is a sequence of physical response whenever we exert effort to any stressor. 1.Alarm reaction (mild is sympathetic tries to does with it but if not fight or flight response 2. Resistance. 3. Exhaustion - resisting for a long time will repleat resources and end up in a state of physical exhaustion. This means you are likely to catch a cold because of lower immune system
Limbic System and HPA
The limbic system is loosely defined. Widespread group of uncle that form a network involving emotion and memory. When therein a threat the hypothalamus sends to the piturity gland which sends to adrenal gland above the kidney which activates HP access which inhibits certain areas and activates others.
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Effects of stress
Cognitive - reduced concentration and ability to remember correctly; rumination thinking (thinking the worse of the situation); impact decision making; low mental flexibility (one response and try it over and over, no out of the box thinking); acting impulsively
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Emotion
transitory positive or negative experience. Accompanied with learned and reflexive physical responses.
James Long Peripheral Theory - how psychological account relate to emotional response."You are afraid because you run" - what this theory says instead of you are afraid then run. This theory says that the autonomic arousal and skeletal action come first then the emotion.
Polygraph - widely used in physiological psychology. Measures respiration, blood pressure, heart rate and EEG. Measures sympathetic nervous system arousal. Each emotion has its own unique physiological features that you can recognise.
Cannon's Central Theory - Emerged from criticism of James Lang Theory. He said that "you run and you are afraid at the same time". Signals are sent to the ANS and cerebral cortex at the same time but independly of each other.
Consciousness
Awareness of external stimuli and one's mental activity. It is a continuem that you are always on the line of between fully conscious and completely unconscious.
State of consciousness - range from deep sleep to alert wakefulness. Active vs passive state. Altered state of consciousness means you or anther person would notice a difference in your psychological activity or behaviour, your self control may also change
States
Some of the different states are: psychoactive drug; sleep; hypnosis; depressants; stimulants; opiates; hallucinogens; meditation
Hypnosis - only 10% of people are completely resistant to hypnosis. 10-15 minutes of verbal suggestion and you have to ignore everything but that. It has been proven to change brain activity and alpha waves. Produces relaxation response so good for pain management
Meditation - creates altered state of consciousness called 'trance'. Attention is focused on one thing, an object, a word or a sound. It creates a passive attitude which allows you to organise your thought and attention inwardly and focus on the sound of your own breathing. There is a decrease in breathing, heart rate, muscle tension, blood pressure and oxygen consumption.There is an increase in dopamine levels. Blood flow to thalamus and frontal lobes increase but the rest decreases.
Sleep
It is measured using an electroencephalograph or a EEG and it measures brain activity and waves. An awake person has a high frequency and low amplitude. Each stage of sleep has its own unique brain waves. Brain waves slow down through the stages so they aren't as close together and the amplitude gets higher. It takes about half an hour to get from stage one to stage four. Pass through the stages between four and six times. Each cycle lasts about forty minutes.
Stage 1 - slowing of heart rate, reduction of muscular tension, dowdy and blood pressure drops
Stage 2 - Unresponsive to external environment and eyes begin to roll back under closed eyelids.K complexes only occur in stage 2, they suppress arousal to to stimuli that aren't dangerous such as a clock chiming. Also spindles can occur in this stage which is a sudden burst of brain activity. The brain is trying to inhibit some kind of process so that the sleeper can stay asleep.
Stage 3 and 4 - called slow wave sleep with slow deep breathing. Calm regular heart beats and reduced blood pressure
REM Sleep
Paradoxical sleep - brain activity and psychological arousal resemble wakefulness. Muscles are paralysed otherwise you would be acting out your dreams.
Function - restore sensitivity. Creating and soliciting nerve cell connections. Consolidating memories and new skills.
Dreaming - no one is sure why we dream or how we dream. Some people dream in colour and some people dream in black and white; some with sound and some without. The narrative comes at the end as you are trying to make sense of it.
Start with about 50% of REM sleep then it reduces to 25% and only needing 6 hours sleep when you get to seventy whereas at birth is is about 16 hours. Most people it will be between 7-8 hours
The function is so that you can rest, mainly for mental activity rather than physical. Being deprived can cause very serious side effects such as: hallucinations; irritability; problems concentrating; increase in temperature and metabolic rate; eventually death.
Disorders
Insomnia - can affect up to 20% of the population. these people find it very hard to get to sleep or get to sleep. Can be a warning sign for other problems such as depression or pain. Insomniacs are three times more likely to suffer with depression and anxiety. Difficult to investigate as they usually sleep better in a sleep lab.
Narcolepsy - 'sleep attacks' and starts between the ages of fifteen and twenty five. A very emotional situation will just suddenly change into REM sleep. They will just collapse on the spot. When they wake up they are unable to move for a short period. Fall asleep for a short time and wake up refreshed.
Sleep Aproceh - leads to excess day time tiredness. Increased levels of Co2 in the blood leads to 'awakenings' in the night. They stop breathing which wake them up, can be as many times as one hundred times in the night. Associated with cardiovascular disease and snoring.
Eating
Glucose in blood increases causing brain cells to be stimulated then the parasympathetic system is activated. More insulin secreted by pancreas for glucose uptake in cells via receptors (but not brain cells).
Storage
short term - glucose as glycogen(carbohydrate) stored in muscles and liver to be turned into glucose which is the main fuel for the brain
Long term - fat is triglychloride and fatty acids are stored under the skin and around fatty organs.
Starvation - sympathetic system activated in glucose in blood decreases and free fatty acids increase in blood because of activation of: pancreas (stops secreting insulin and starts to secrete glucose from liver and muscle stores); adipose tissue (break down fats); adrenal medulla (feeling jittery).