PSY3320 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Pineal Gland, Zeitgeber, Colin Pittendrigh
15 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Rhythms in the environment caused by movements of the sun, moon and the earth and produces seasons, tides, phases of the moon and daily cycles of light/dark. These rhythms can be circadian (around a day), circannual (approx. 1 year), circalunar (lunar cycle), circatidal (approx. a tidal cycle) Organism have acquired mechanisms that fit with these rhythms > self-sustaining circadian rhythms. Earth rotates on its axis once a day, sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Has been doing this for billions of years. They help our organisation (appropriate timing of physiology) and anticipation (predicting environmental events) A - most environments in the past have risk (predators) so you(cid:1685)d need to know the time of day when prey/predators will/won(cid:1685)t be around, not wasting energy searching all day when can predict based on time. Orientation (use internal clock along with position of the sun to determine a direction and even communicate) and seasonality (e. g. seasonal mating)
