PSYC20006 Lecture Notes - Fall 2017 Lecture 11 - Atropa belladonna, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Retina

• School: University of Melbourne
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC20006
• Professor: Stefan Bode

Document Summary

Tyrosine (an amino acid found in food) -tyrosine hydroxylase (synthesis enzyme)-> dopa -amino acid decarboxylase (synthesis enzyme)-> dopamine -dopamine -hydroxylase (synthesis & breakdown enzyme)-> noradrenaline. Noradrenaline one additional synthesis step in the adrenal gland results in the hormone adrenaline (drives effects in the body) Noradrenaline + monoamine oxidase (breakdown enzyme) -> inactive metabolite. Tate of h(cid:455)perarousal is adapted for e(cid:448)olutio(cid:374)aril(cid:455) i(cid:373)porta(cid:374)t situatio(cid:374)s (cid:449)here (cid:862)i(cid:374)di(cid:448)idual(cid:863) or (cid:862)se(cid:454)ual fit(cid:374)ess(cid:863) is i(cid:374)(cid:448)ol(cid:448)ed. Cerulus/noradrenaline activity triggered by apparent random events, internal thoughts or learned associations (eg. in ptsd: noradrenaline in decision making. Moderate levels of locus coeruleus activity -> noradrenaline acts to consolidate decisions. Adaptive behaviour represents a trade-off between exploiting known sources of reward and exploring the environment for alternative sources of reward (food, water, sex etc. Indecision, inaction or constant changing decisions is bad. Inflexible, repetitive behaviour is also bad lose out on opportunities to seek out better alternatives: balance between exploration and exploitation is needed.