Psych Exam 4

Front 1

Psychophysiology

Back 1

psychophysiological studies attempt to correlate physiological changes with behavior (including covert or “cognitive” behaviors)
•Measures include heart rate, respiration, skin conductance, eye movements

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polygraph

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electrodes examining physiological changes (relevant question vs. control question)

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alpha waves

Back 3

*associated with being awake
*regular, 8-12 per second high amplitude waves

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delta waves

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associated with being asleep

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ERP

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event related potentials
*any measured brain response that is directly the result of a thought or perception

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P300

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waves that are event related potentials that often occur when an individual is encountered with a meaningful stimulus (300 milliseconds after the stimulus)

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CT Scan (x-ray)

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computer assisted and increases contrast / still not the greatest imaging ability / has danger of X-ray

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MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)

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image is superior to CT / uses interaction of strong magnetic field with hydrogen atom orientation / magnet momentarily aligns atoms and they can snap back to original orientation when magnet is off – releases energy that can be detected / no radiation needed!

Front 9

PET (position emission tomography)

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radioactive substance injected into bloodstream / measure where it ends up in the brain during an activity/ can overlay PET on MRI / however, more recent technique may be superior (fMRI)
*limitation: not a structural scan
1. Radioactive 2-deoxyglucose: accumulates in most active neurons / therefore a measure of “most active neurons”
2. Radioactive water: radioactivity now in blood goes where most blood goes / therefore a measure of cerebral blood flow / most active area with most blood flow?

Front 10

fMRI (functional MRI)

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uses the technique of MRI to visualize structure / in addition, the perturbation of oxygen provides a measure of blood flow (oxygenated blood) / gives both structure and function in the images

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aspiration lesion

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suction used to carefully remove brain tissue, generally cortex / leaves underlying white matter intact / “de-cortication”

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radio-frequency lesion

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heat from current destroys tissue

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knife-cuts lesion

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tiny cut of a pathway (tract) / may limit lesion to axons of passage (treats epilepsy)

Front 14

cryogenic blockade lesion

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*tiny refrigerated tip placed in region of interest, slows neural activity in that region
*temporarily de-activates *affects all neurons in region, both at the site and the axons of passage
*reversible

Front 15

chemical lesion

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either permanent or reversible
1. Permanent: neurotoxin either administered directly to the site of interest (most frequently used technique) or administered systematically / often site directed are excitotoxins / affect axons of passage (may or may not) **stroke / these stimulate glutamate receptors excessively (seizures and lesions?) / MPTP is a compound that selectively kills dopamine containing neurons in the substantia nigra (accidentally derived from a synthetic opioid)
2. Reversible: compound administered to site of interest, and for minutes to hours it deactivates the ability of neurons to produce action potentials / either by hyperpolarizing or by blocking sodium channels / can inactivate axons of passage

Front 16

permanent lesion

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*neurotoxin either administered directly to the site of interest (most frequently used technique) or administered systematically
*often site directed are excitotoxins
*affect axons of passage (may or may not)
**stroke
* these stimulate glutamate receptors excessively (seizures and lesions?)
*MPTP is a compound that selectively kills dopamine containing neurons in the substantia nigra (accidentally derived from a synthetic opioid)

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reversible lesion

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*compound administered to site of interest, and for minutes to hours it deactivates the ability of neurons to produce action potentials
*either by hyperpolarizing or by blocking sodium channels
*can inactivate axons of passage
*brain will "activate" once substance wears off

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Pros/Cons of Lesions

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•Interpretation can be tricky
•Brain may not be simply divided into discrete functional nuclei
•Difficult to compare studies – are the size of lesions similar?
•Recovery of tissue with some lesions?

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Electrical Stimulation

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•examine the importance of a brain region by “activating” it
•eg. Panfield clip, neurosurgery clip
•activation of certain areas of the brain lead to muscle movement, aggressive behavior, or reward, etc.

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invasive electrophysiological recording

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•record the firing activity of neurons in the brain
•put the recorder in site, rather than just across the scalp as with human studies (EEG)

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intracellular unit recording

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•recording from the inside of the neuron
•have to poke into it
•can measure changes in potential and rate of firing
•kind of like action potential on a graph

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extracellular unit recording

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•record from just outside the neuron
•record rate of firing
•uses glass pipettes / carbon fiber tip

Front 23

in vivo microdialysis

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•artificial CSF flows through tiny tube into brain and then back out again
•in region of interest, CSF in tube is “exposed” to brain across a semipermeable membrane into tube and flows out of brain to be collected
•analyze fluid later for concentration of neurotransmitter
•cocaine binge rat study and dopamine levels

Front 24

post-mortem tissue analysis

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•can expose animal to certain situation and then look at the brain afterward for certain markers
•markers such as: receptors, synthetic enzymes, proteins expressed when a brain area is stimulated

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intruder paradigm

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•study of same sex rats being put into a box
•unfamiliar rat dropped into home cage of another rate and see which rat “gives up” first
•rats fight it out
•studies aggression

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neuropsychological testing

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•sometimes imaging does not show an obvious disruption in a brain region and also it’s helpful to be able to screen individuals prior to imaging
•assessment of subtle changes in perceptual, emotional, motivational, or cognitive functions
•often performed by a Neuropsychologist (PhD in clinical neurology)
•patient is administered a battery of tests that cover several abilities that are not necessarily mutually exclusive
•ex: intelligence, frontal lobe function (decision making, memory)

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WAIS

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•Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
•Contains several subtests of ability tested by verbal response or performance in a task
oVerbal response
1. “information”: who is the president of the US?
2. “arithmetic”: what is 4 times 9?
3. “similarities”: what is the same about these 2 objects?
o Performance
1. Complete the missing parts of this picture
2. Put the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle together

Front 28

Wisconsin Card Sorting Task

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• Sort cards according to rules set by the examiner, but not explicitly stated
• Client tries to figure out the rules by trial and error
• With frontal lobe impairment, client would have a hard time when there was a rule change

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Declarative Memory

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You can recall a certain event

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Non-Declarative Memory

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your behavior shows that you have the memory, but you do not consciously have access to it (star tracing task)

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Star-tracing Task

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non-declarative memory task (sort of like being right handed and writing with your left hand) / patient draws a star in front of a mirror only looking at reflection for direction

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Open Field Study

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• Anxiety study
• animal placed in large enclosure
• anxious animals spend more time at the walls (thigmotaxy) and don’t run around (explore) as much
• alcohol is an anxiety reducer to a point

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radial arm maze

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• spatial memory study
• dry
• animal needs to remember where treat was located by looking outside of maze at landmarks

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morris water maze

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• spatial memory study
• wet
• animal needs to remember where “safe” platform was during previous swim

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T-maze

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• animal needs to remember where treat was
• a measure of perseverative responding (like Wisconsin Card Task in humans)
• rats keep making the same error but will eventually learn

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operant conditioning

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study with rats in skinner box doing cocaine self-administration

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tumor

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• a mass of cells growing independently of the body
• some are encapsulated and some are infiltrating
• benign or malignant
**Professor P. had a tumor sitting on the right cranial nerve
**caused him to go deaf on right side
**partial hemifacial paralysis including blinking and tearing problems

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encapsulated tumor

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grows in its own membrane

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inflitrating tumor

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grows through surrounding tissue

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benign

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growth limited to tumor site

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malignant

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growth may reach other regions by metastasis

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Cerebral Vascular Disorders

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• stroke
o cerebral hemorrhage: blood vessel in brain ruptures and leaks into surrounding tissue
o cerebral ischemia: blood vessel is blocked and a region of the brain is starved of blood
 also results in hyperactivity of glutamate releasing cells, leading to excess glutamate and perhaps some death of neurons
 thrombosis (another term for blockage)

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cerebral hemorrhage

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blood vessel in brain ruptures and leaks into surrounding tissue

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cerebral ischemia

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blood vessel is blocked and a region of the brain is starved of blood
*also results in hyperactivity of glutamate releasing cells, leading to excess glutamate and perhaps some death of neurons
**thrombosis (another term for blockage)

Front 45

eye movements

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argued to give a measure of "attention"
**EMDR

Front 46

Phineas Gage

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*damage of connection between Limbic System and frontal cortex
*heightened endorphins caused him to feel less pain
*behavioral and emotional control was never the same

Front 47

stereotaxic surgery

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*stereotaxic instrument allows a device to be lowered into the brain of the animal with precision
*can move the device in 3 dimensions
*use info from maps of the brain to know where to lower the instrument

Front 48

Frontal Lobe Function

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*look for impairments in the ability to learn rules (plan ahead, control emotions)
*common test is the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
*with frontal lobe impairment, the client would have a hard time when there was a rule change