PSYC 342 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Median Eminence, Anterior Pituitary, Electrical Brain Stimulation
Document Summary
Different seasonal variation in light: in the summer sleep is reduced (because so much light leads to lack of melatonin) vs. in the winter when it"s increased. Point: melatonin helps to fall asleep but doesn"t effect you once. Portal system: two-step" vessel system (median eminence comes between the hypothalamus and pituitary) At the median eminence there is no blood brain barrier (fenestrated capillaries, more space) you"re asleep. An urge to explain the incomprehensible: geoffrey harris and the discovery of the neural control of the pituitary gland. At the time people knew hormones existed but thought that the pituitary was solely in control of endocrine response. Harris thought that because there is a seasonal change in hormones, then there must be a link between the exterior environment and how the body processes information. Thought this link was probably within the cns: modeling the environment. Modeled sensory info coming into the nervous system using electrical brain stimulation.