PSYC 4364 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Reticular Formation, Hypervigilance, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
19 May 2018
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Department
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Oprah: Relationships = buffer for effects of traumatic childhood (LOVE)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-life-changing-story-oprah-reports
Right Hemisphere and Intense Emotional Experience
Negative and intense emotions are generally processed in the right hemisphere
Physiological responses assoc w/ emotion response tend to be lateralized also
Sympathetic response is predominantly driven by right hemispheric activation
Parasympathetic response primarily driven by left hemisphere
General response activation is ‘balanced’ by contralateral hemisphere
PTSD as Hemispheric Syndrome (neurobiology)
Extreme trauma can overload both neural activation systems and subsequent regulatory
systems
-Intrusive systems - decreased regulation of hippocampus and amygdala
-Avoidance symptoms - right hemispheric dysregulation
-Neg alterations in cognition and mood- decreased prefrontal ability and right
hemisphere deregulation, increased amygdala activity
-Alterations in arousal and reactivity - prefrontal dysregulation of RAS and
anterior cingulate dysfunction
-Sleep disruption - disruption of frontopontine pathway
-Dissociative experiences- dysregulated occipital and temporal activation
(flashbacks)
-Increased subjective fear including paranoia and hypervigilance -
dominant right hemispheric processing and activation
Mechanism for why people engage in OCD Behavior: control, loss (don’t want to lose stuff
again. Also w/ ptsd and hoarding)
What part of body, other than head, would be impacted in car accident that would predict brain
damage? Neck, spinal cord, ***femur***. If you break a femur, that predicts good likelihood of
your head hitting the windshield and thus getting brain damage
RAS = reticular activating system
Piece of brain that starts close to top of spinal column and extends upward 2 inches
All senses but smell are wired directly to this bundle of neurons
Like a filter for your brain - only allows certain amount of info your brain can handle
Gatekeeper of info that is let into conscious mind (from sensory organs)
List Models: know all 10 models
-not orthoganol (one model doesn’t explain everything about a certain individual
experiencing certain trauma)
-qualifiers for selecting models: ***
What models might help explain one’s functioning days, months, and years after
the event?
*caveat -- behavior not always linear, but more interactive
Document Summary
Oprah: relationships = buffer for effects of traumatic childhood (love) https://www. cbsnews. com/news/the-life-changing-story-oprah-reports. Negative and intense emotions are generally processed in the right hemisphere. Physiological responses assoc w/ emotion response tend to be lateralized also. Sympathetic response is predominantly driven by right hemispheric activation. General response activation is balanced" by contralateral hemisphere. Extreme trauma can overload both neural activation systems and subsequent regulatory systems. Intrusive systems - decreased regulation of hippocampus and amygdala. Neg alterations in cognition and mood- decreased prefrontal ability and right hemisphere deregulation, increased amygdala activity. Alterations in arousal and reactivity - prefrontal dysregulation of ras and anterior cingulate dysfunction. Dissociative experiences- dysregulated occipital and temporal activation (flashbacks) Increased subjective fear including paranoia and hypervigilance - dominant right hemispheric processing and activation. Mechanism for why people engage in ocd behavior: control, loss (don"t want to lose stuff again. If you break a femur, that predicts good likelihood of your head hitting the windshield and thus getting brain damage.
