PSYC 1121 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Blue Cheese, Triglyceride, Milkshake
Document Summary
Course: introduction to psychology as a natural science. There is a fundamental energy problem for complex, multicellular creatures. Hunger/satiation (as well as taste) makes eating rewarding. Taste guides eating habits more than nutrition. Makes eating an aspect of social life. If energy needs are met for the brain and the body, long-term and short-term energy storage takes place. Storage mechanisms eliminates the need for creatures to eat continuously. Individuals differs in the release of pyy hormone. Lean individuals have a general higher level of pyy and a higher increase in pyy after buffet lunch. The body has a long-term system for detecting a correlate of body weight: leptin. Fat cells secrete leptin (a hormone); bigger fat cells have more leptin. Evidence shows that leptin levels regulate body weight. Higher leptin levels result in less eating, more physical activity, and higher body temperature. Leptin is secreted by triglyceride filled fat cells. Leptin injections increase activity level, increases body temperature, decreases eating.
