...neurons in the brain. List some common neurotransmitters and describe their effect on behavior. Through an electrochemical process, the communication of neurons takes place. Neurons processes all the information in the human body. Neurons are responsible for the transmission of communication in the brain and several parts of the nervous system. Sensory receptors interact with stimuli such as sound, light, pain and temperature which transform into a code that is then carried to the brain by a chain of neurons. When this takes place, systems of neurons within the brain interpret this information. Dendrites play the role for receiving impulses from other neurons and then transmit them to the neuron that they are in. Axons are the fiber that carries the impulses to other dendrites of other neurons.The information is carried along axons and dendrites because of changes in electrical properties which we call action potential. An action potential is initiated when a messenger attaches itself to a receptor. When that occurs, an electrical signal is triggered to be generated through the neuron. Once the signal reaches the end of an axon, which is at the end of a neuron, a neurotransmitter is released and the process repeats. Because of this communication in the brain, information is abled to be sent and carry out through the whole human body. The communication process in the brain, also allows the message to be converted from the neurotransmitters. Without Neurons, we would not be...
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...being overly dependent, self-critical or pessimistic (tending to see the worst aspect of things or believe the worst will happen) * Certain medications: some high blood pressure meds or sleeping pills * Traumatic or stressful events such as: physical/sexual abuse, loss of a loved one, a difficult relationship or financial problems * Blood relatives with a history of depression, bipolar disorder, alcoholism or suicide Major depressive disorder affects nearly 15 million Americans in a given year. MAJOR RISK FACTORS- being female, being African-American and living in poverty. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Causes: It is not known exactly what causes depression but a variety of factors may be involved such as: * Biological differences. People with depression appear to have physical changes in their brains. The significance of these changes is still uncertain, but may eventually help pinpoint causes. * Brian Chemistry. Neurotransmitters are naturally occurring brain chemicals that likely play a role in depression. When these chemicals are out of balance, it may be associated with depressive symptoms. * Hormones. Changes in the body’s balance of hormones may be involved...
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...unique from other cells in our body in that they have the ability to communicate with other cells. Neurons can send messages over very long distances. Dendrites extend out to receive messages from other neurons. Once received the message travels into the cell body, down the axon and out to the terminal buttons. The terminal buttons then release the message to be received by the dendrites of a neighboring neuron. The messages that travel through a neuron are in the form of an electrical impulse. Interestingly, once the electrical impulse reaches the terminal button, it is released via a chemical process to bridge the gap (or synapse) to the next neuron. The chemicals that are released are called neurotransmitters. Dendrites are covered with receptor sites to receive the neurotransmitters. Each...
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...controls the body. While the central nervous system sounds somewhat simple, it is actually quite complex. The CNS is composed of nerve cells called neurons which allow the brain and spinal cord to spread information to other neurons within the human body. For the sake of this paper we are assuming that the neurons are transmitting the neurotransmitter adenosine, a neurotransmitter that blocks all other neurotransmitters from exciting the brain. Caffeine is what is called an adenosine antagonist, which blocks the effects of adenosine and several other neurotransmitters. [Transition...
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...A Look into Major Depressive Disorder Have you ever felt sad or helpless? Have you ever felt that your entire world was falling apart, and there was not anything that you could do to fix it? Unfortunately, this is the case for millions of people every day who suffer from major depression. Major depression can present itself in many forms, display various symptoms, and have different treatment options based on the individual’s level of depression. Although some do not consider major depression severe, it is a disease that can cripple and destroy one’s life if they do not receive adequate help. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a mood disorder having a clinical course involving one or more episodes of severe psychological depression lasting two or more weeks each with no intervening episodes of mania (Major Depressive Disorder, n.d.). Major depression makes it almost impossible to sleep, eat, study, and enjoy the everyday joys in life. Major Depression can last for six months and range from mild to severe if not treated. A person suffering from major depression has a much shorter life span compared to people not suffering from depression (Major Depressive Disorder, 2013). This crippling disease often leads to cowardly actions by people suffering and they end up committing suicide due to frustration. Researchers have found that approximately 3.4% of suicidal cases in the United States are a result of depression. This is a major cause of concern in our society. ...
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...information from a sense receptor to the brain or spinal cord sensory neurons Integrate information within brain or spinal cord; connect sensory and motor neurons; located entirely within the CNS interneurons Transmit information from the brain or spinal cord to a muscle or gland; Cause muscle contraction or gland secretion motor neurons 3. Neurons are the nerve cells that transfer information within the body. Which division of the nervous system includes the brain and spinal cord? The central nervous system 4. This sketch shows two neurons. Label the following elements of this figure: cell body, dendrites, axon, synapse, presynaptic cell, postsynaptic cell, synaptic vesicles, synaptic terminal, and neurotransmitter. axin synapse presynapse cell dendrites vesticles synapse postsynapse 5. What is shown in the box above? What do the red spheres represent? Chemical signal Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. -1- AP Biology Reading Guide Fred and Theresa Holtzclaw 6. Chapter 48: Neurons, Synapses, and Signaling What is indicated by the red arrows in the main figure? That a signal is being passed 7. What are glial cells? The neurons of vertebrates and most invertebrates require supporting cells called glial cells, or glia, which nourish neurons, insulate the axons of neurons, and regulate the extracellular fluid surrounding neurons. Concept 48.2...
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...in theories of the psychological and biological explanations of major depression. Psychological explanations refer to the cognitive and behavioral theories of major depression such as negative cognitions, learned helplessness, and hopelessness. While biological explanations refer to genetic and neurochemical factors to explain the development and maintenance of major depression (Davey, 2011). Major depression, also commonly referred to as clinical depression, major depressive illness, major affective disorder, or unipolar mood disorder, is a clinical mood disorder including one or more episode of serious depression lasting two or more weeks with no manic episodes. Symptoms include fatigue, impaired...
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...stage), and the symptoms lessen in the spring. However, it is possible for someone to have SAD during the summer season. For example, during the summer time a person may suffer from summer depression and or summer blues, then less depressed in the winter time when it gets colder. It is a type of depression generated by shorter days and longer nights. This form of depression can prevent the sufferer's ability to cope with their daily life activities, but the symptoms usually fade when there is a change in the season. According to the handbook Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) fourth edition text revised, SAD is considered a pattern “a specifier of major depression”, or subtype, of another mood disorder diagnosis. For example, an individual may be diagnosed as having a major depressive episode with a seasonal pattern. SAD was introduced and named in 1984 by Norman E. Rosenthal as well as his colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health. Rosenthal is a psychiatrist and a scientist who was born and educated in South Africa and moved to the United States to finish his medical training. In all, he has written a total of seven books, and published two-hundred scholarly papers. In the following you will learn about the different treatments, the causes, the symptoms, diagnosis and many more of SAD. Symptoms The symptoms experienced by people with SAD are similar to some of those experienced by depressed people. In general it starts with a...
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...Exercise Can it Fix Everything or is it at Least Helpful in Overcoming Depression Attention: Exercise has been greeted as the panacea or “cure all” by many people worldwide. Are you overweight? Exercise! Stressed? Exercise! Tired? Exercise! Anxious? Depressed? Exercise! Need: Everyone can benefit from exercise, but I chose to narrow my topic to the affect of exercising on alleviating depression (2011: Mayo Clinic Staff). We certainly have a need in America to find avenues to assist people struggling with depression. One in five people will be affected by depression in their lifetime. This means over 40 million Americans over the age of 18 will succumb to depression. From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent, to 17.6 deaths per 100,000 people, up from 13.7. Although suicide rates are growing among both middle-aged men and women, far more men take their own lives. The suicide rate for middle-aged men was 27.3 deaths per 100,000, while for women it was 8.1 deaths per 100,000. The most pronounced increases were seen among men in their 50s, a group in which suicide rates jumped by nearly 50 percent, to about 30 per 100,000. For women, the largest increase was seen in those ages 60 to 64, among whom rates increased by nearly 60 percent, to 7.0 per 100,000 (2013:Parker Pope). Depression is one of the most common complaints of adults who seek psychotherapy and mood disorders are the most prevalent disorder in Western...
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...Serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine are neurotransmitters that are directly related to fatigue, which ultimately leads to reduced intensity or stopping physical activity, therefore altering performance (19). The central fatigue hypothesis is a common theory that assumes that during prolonged exercise, the synthesis and metabolism of central monoamines, specifically serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine are activated (17). It was first determined that during exercise, increased serotonergic activity in the brain could cause tiredness and less motivation, which results in a quick cessation of exercise (3). More recent studies on the central fatigue hypothesis have found that the interaction between brain serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine during prolonged exercise could play a major role in the onset of fatigue....
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...InterActive Physiology( Exercise Sheets Below is a table display showing you the eight modules and topics covered in the IP Exercise Sheets, which begin on the next page. |Module |Exercise Topic | |The Muscular System |Neuromuscular Junction | | |Sliding Filament Theory | | |Contraction of Whole Muscle | |The Nervous System |Ion Channels | | |Membrane Potential | | |The Action Potential | |The Nervous System II |Ion Channels | | ...
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...feel good about themselves, they are realistic and accept imperfections in themselves and others, they are altruistic; they help others, they have a sense of control over their lives and feel capable of meeting challenges and solving problems, they demonstrate social competence in their relationships with other people and they believe that they can rely on them, they are not overwhelmed by fear, love, or anger; they try to control irrational thoughts and levels of stress. They are optimistic; they maintain a positive outlook, they have a capacity for intimacy; they do not fear commitment, they are creative and appreciate creativity in others, they take reasonable risks in order to grow, they bounce back from adversity. 2. What are the six “virtues” identified in the text, and how are they defined? (1) Wisdom and knowledge: cognitive strengths that entail the acquisition and use of knowledge. (2) Courage: emotional strengths that involve the exercise of will to accomplish goals in the face of opposition, external or internal. (3) Humanity: interpersonal strengths that involve “tending and befriending” others. (4) Justice: civic strengths that underlie healthy community life. (5) Temperance: strengths that protect against excess. (6) Transcendence: strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning. 3. What are some of the characteristics of a mentally healthy person, and why do you think they contribute to mental health? (1) Optimism: see problems...
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...Depression Gayle Valante PSY/270 October 13, 2013 Depression Many people can go through their day and have their emotions waver because of some sort of stimulation. It is quite normal for people to feel emotions like depression or elation because of certain situations or circumstances. When moods like depression or mania that affect people for a longer than normal period of time or when they constantly fluctuate between depression and mania one may suffer from something called a mood disorder. Depression is a state of overpowering sadness and mindset on general life is dark and dread as if nothing is correct or will ever be right. When people suffer from just depression it is called unipolar depression; others suffer from mania as well. One moment in time they will feel the effects of depression and by the next they may feel as if they have loads of energy, and they are on top of the world. People who suffer from both depression and mania have a disorder called bipolar disorder. Unipolar Depression Symptoms The evidence of unipolar depression has five different characteristic of human functioning these are: motivational, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physical. The emotional symptoms of depression can leave people feeling irresistibly sad. They may have thoughts of worthlessness, misery, and that they feel empty or have a void for other emotions. People will often lose any pleasure gained from their normal activities and life, and they...
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...TMA 02 DSE212 Dina EL-Aridi Option B ‘All features of our psychological life ... have as their biological bases the activity of neuronal systems in the brain’ (p.259). Does this mean that psychological life can be reduced to neuronal activity? Illustrate your answer with examples from Chapter 4, ‘Biological psychology’, from Book 1, mapping psychology The case study of Phineas Gage referred as being within the subject of Biological Psychology. As we human beings are a “biological species”, we need to be able to understand our biological make-up, to further study the Physiological field, only once we can fully understand the different part of our bodies, including the brain can we then apply Psychological research methods to study & develop understanding . Science constantly evolves to study and gain understanding, which then can lead to data interpretation methods like Psychological .The Theorist Crick,-: His belief and scientific approach called “Reductionism” (Mapping Psychology, Pg 230) Suggests that “Potentially all psychological events and experiences can fully and only explained in terms of the activity within the components of the brain”. Other Scientists do however argue that there should be a much broader view taken, and other views et should be considered.(Bolton and Hill, 1996, Stevens, 1996: Toates, 2001) These other theorists, and studies are suggested (Mapping Psychology, Pg 230) as having equally possible explanations of how our brains components...
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...of the neurotransmitter dopamine. The hypothesis is that over-activity of dopamine is present in may schizophrenics, and that this over-activity may cause some of the symptoms (Community Council. n.d.). The evidence for this hypothesis is corroborated by the fact that many successful antipsychotics have dopamine-receptor antagonistic effects. The dopamine hypothesis and the “pruning hypothesis” help to explain why people with schizophrenia, such as Nathanial, don’t generally show symptoms of schizophrenia until adolescence. Major modifications in neurotransmitters, including dopaminergic neurotransmission, occur in adolescence (Uhlhaas, P. J. 2011). This happens contemporary with a reorganization of cortical networks in the brain (pruning). These changes coincide with a manifestation of schizophrenia during adolescence. Evidence for a genetic factor in schizophrenia also comes from the main treatment for the illness under this model – Drugs. These treatments can have negative consequences such as unwanted reactions or stress, which is why Nathanial refused to attempt these treatments. A woman in the movie who lived in the LAMP community identifies that she has schizophrenia as well. She says that “when they put [her] or lithium it was like a portion of [her] brain was fully functional… when [she] take[s] the lithium and everything, it totally eliminates the voices in [her] mind.” The success of such a drug whose mechanism of action is to interact with neurotransmitters and receptors...
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