12.2.3 Attack And Escape Behaviours 4

Question 1

A variety of studies indicate that anxiety is increased by the transmitters orexin and CCK (____) in the amygdala or hippocampus.

Answer 1

cholecystokinin

Question 2

However, many drugs are available to increase activity of the transmitter ____, which inhibits anxiety.

Answer 2

GABA

Question 3

The most common anti-anxiety drugs (anxiolytic drugs) are the ____, such as diazepam (Valium), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), and alprazolam (Xanax).

Answer 3

benzodiazepines

Question 4

Benzodiazepines bind to the ____ ____, which includes a site that binds GABA as well as sites that modify the sensitivity of the GABA site.

Answer 4

GABAa receptor

Question 5

At the centre of the GABAa receptor is a ____ ____. When opened, it permits chloride ions to cross the membrane into the neuron, hyperpolarising the cell. (That is, the synapse is inhibitory)

Answer 5

chloride channel

Question 6

Surrounding the chloride channel are four units, each containing one or more sites sensitive to GABA. Benzodiazepines ____ to additional sites on three of those four units.

Answer 6

bind

Question 7

When a benzodiazepine molecule attaches, it neither opens nor closes the chloride channel but ____ the receptor so that the GABA binds more easily.

Answer 7

twists

Question 8

Benzodiazepines exert their anti-anxiety effects in the ____, ____, ____, and several other areas.

Answer 8

amygdala, hypothalamus, midbrain

Question 9

When benzodiazepines reach the ____ and ____ ____, they induce sleepiness, block epileptic convulsions and impair memory.

Answer 9

thalamus and cerebral cortex

Question 10

To the extent that anti-anxiety drugs provide relief, this is ____. If you have a long-term problem of excessive anxiety, you probably shouldn’t try to solve it with daily benzodiazepines.

Answer 10

temporary

Question 11

If your fear is based on a particular traumatic experience, an alternative is to try to ____ the learned fear.

Answer 11

extinguish

Question 12

A reasonable approach is to ____ you to your feared object, perhaps a little at a time, in the hopes of extinction (in the classical-conditioning sense).

Answer 12

expose

Question 13

Clinical psychologist generally use that approach to relieve phobias, with good success. The problem is, extinction training suppresses original learning or overhangs it with new learning, but does not _______.

Answer 13

eliminate it

Question 14

Young children sometimes fully extinguish a learned reaction, but adults seldom do, and the original fear might return, especially after a time of ____.

Answer 14

stress

Question 15

In general, it is easier to extinguish a learned response immediately after original learning than it is later. After time has passed, the learning becomes stronger. Psychologists say it has ____.

Answer 15

consolidated

Question 16

However, if an event strongly revives the original experience, that connection again becomes temporarily ____ (unconsolidated) and available for either reconsolidation or highly effective extinction.

Answer 16

labile

Question 17

A related approach uses ____, a drug that interferes with protein synthesis at certain synapses in the amygdala.

Answer 17

propanolol

Question 18

Suppose you learned a fear of some stimulus. Later you are exposed to the stimulus under the influence of propanolol. Exposure awakens the memory and makes the memory trace labile, but propanolol evidently blocks the reconciliation. The result is a much ____ emotional response, although you can still describe the experience in words.

Answer 18

weaker

Question 19

Psychiatrists have successfully apply this method to post-dramatic stress disorder by asking people to describe the traumatic experience under the influence of propanolol. The result was a persisting decrease in _______.

Answer 19

fear intensity