Second Blog - Rats On Drugs

Rats on Drugs

As of now in class, the human brain I believe we have all learned, truly is an incredible thing. After viewing the Mouse Party online game/experiment, the effects of drugs on rats alone is truly incredible seeing as what really goes on. I thought it would be an interesting idea to research some videos and experiments about what happens in real life when rats are on drugs. In the video I watched, there were three rats. One rat was injected with marijuana, another rat was injected with cocaine, and the third rat was injected with saline, which is a salt water solution. Upon viewing the video, the scientists noticed that each rat reacted differently. The marijuana rat was acting quite mellow, the cocaine rat was fidgety and trying to escape, and the saline rat was acting completely normal. All of these rats were specially trained to count time. In an experiment, the rat would have to press a lever after 12 seconds, no more and no less, and would receive a food pellet if they timed it correctly. They received nothing if timed incorrectly. The saline rat was able to press the lever within the correct time frame and therefore, received a pellet. The drugged rats however faced complications. Time seemed to go by much quicker for the cocaine rat and they pressed the lever after only eight seconds. For the marijuana rat, however, time drifted on by and after 16 seconds, they pressed the lever. This experiment can conclude that various drugs affect brain activity and ones ability to tell time.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLlIdEWco4M

Funny Picture I thought people may enjoy :) msin374l.jpg (click on link)

Drug Assignment - Zoloft

Potential Immediate Side Effects:

• abdominal pain
• headache
• sore throat
• anxiety
• agitation
• fatigue
• insomnia
• sleepiness
• nervousness
• constipation
• diarrhea
• nausea
• gas
• bloating
• indigestion
• tremors
• tingling in hands and feet
• decreased sex drive

Neurons and Neurotransmission Process:

Zoloft belongs to a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is made by nerve cells in the brain that is used by various nerves to communicate amongst each other. A nerve releases a the serotonin and is produced into the space around it. The serotonin will either attach itself to a receptor on the nerve that produced it or it will travel across the space it's in. Selective serotonin inhibitors block the reuptake of serotonin and will then change the levels of serotonin in the brain.

 Long-Term Side Effects:

Long-term side effects that can occur from taking Zoloft can result in insomnia, which can either be long-term or short-term, weight gain,  and possible sexual dysfunction. In a small number of patients, there is the possible result of liver and/or heart disease.

mah first blog

Expectations and what not

Overall for this course, I was really surprised by how fast things are moving as far as the learning goes. This being my first AP course makes it difficult, but also interesting. A few things I'm hoping to learn more about is what our dreams have in accordance to why they happen. I'm also interested as to why various people have different sexual preferences such as homo, bi, and heterosexuality. Is it genetic, cultural, behavioral, or is there another reason or are we just "born that way"? I'm really hoping that this course will answer these questions as well as the various other questions I'm hoping to obtain as the course continues.

Weekly Blogging Assignment

I decided to research an article that had to do with phobias and methods to get rid of them. This article closely relates to the behavioral perspective in which a person reacts a certain way to a situation. On this article, it talked about how the treatment, known as flooding, is a general method in curing people of unrealistic phobias. An example of flooding is by putting a person in a room with the thing that they have a phobia of. Of course, the general reaction is that they will be terrified but after a series of a couple hours generally, they will calm down and learn to realize that there is nothing to be truly be afraid of. Flooding isn't a very ethical method of treatment but it does however, work. You probably wouldn't find a therapist or psychiatrist that would perform this treatment today but in the 1960s, this was a common method. Psychologist Thomas Stampfl created a technique known as implosion therapy. In this therapy session, a person was exposed to sounds and detailed descriptions of the thing they feared most. Their reactions as well as the sounds/descriptions were recorded for the person to take home and listen to as 'homework'. By doing this, a person can learn to cope with the fear and in good time, it's concluded that a person can overcome their unrealistic, traumatic fears. 

Link:  http://www.psychologistworld.com/behavior/flooding.php