Chapter 11 Flashcards
concerns physiological and psychological processes underlying initiation of behaviours that direct organisms toward specific goals
Motivation
Motives have two main parts:
- Drives – physiological triggers that tell us that we may be deprived of something and cause us to seek out what is needed (i.e.food)
- Incentives – aka the goals; the stimuli that we seek to reduce the drives (i.e. social approval and companionship)
physiological triggers that tell us that we may be deprived of something and cause us to seek out what is needed (i.e.food)
drives
aka the goals; the stimuli that we seek to reduce the drives (i.e. social approval and companionship)
incentives
body’s physiological processes that allow it to maintain consistent internal states in responses to the outer environment
• i.e. body temperature, huger, thirst
Homeostasis
the motivation to eat
Hunger
a full stomach; point in a meal when we are no longer motivated to eat
• Homeostasis of food intake is balanced with hunger motives and satiation
Satiation
On and off switches found in regions of the ________
hypothalamus!
- Lateral hypothalamus – “on” switch
- Ventromedial hypothalamus – “off” switch (damage to this area leads to obesity in animals)
- Paraventricular nucleus – signals stop by inhibiting lateral hypothalamus
a sugar that serves as a primary energy source for the brain and rest of the body
Glucose
highly specialized neurons that can detect glucose levels in the fluid outside the cell
• When glucose levels drop, glucostats signal the hypothalamus that energy supply is low and hunger increases
Glucosats
a hormone secreted by the pancreas; helps cells store circulating glucose for future use
Insulin
horomone secreed in stomach and stimulates stomach contractions and increase apptite
• Also secreed in hypothalamus where it functions to decrease appetite
Ghrelin
as intestines expand, neurons release CCK and communicated with hyp that it is time to stop eating
Cholecystokinin (CCK)
Sucrose can stimulate release of neurotransmitter ______ in the nucleus accumbens (brain region associated with reinforcing effects of substances such as amphetamines and cocaine)
dopamine
• Eating is more than just maintaining homeostasis
Taste as another powerful force behind our motivation to eat
Why dietary fat can be so tempting?
• Fats in food such as red meat, ice cream, cheese
• Why are people so driven to consumer these fatty foods?
• Taste is based on pattern of stimulation of receptors on the tongue and mouth
o Help us decide what food to eat or reject
Long-term consumption of food with high fat content is associated with cardiovascular disease and other health problems
• We crave fats bc we have receptors on the tongue that are sensitive to the fat content of food
• These receptors send messages to the brain and stimulate release of endorphins and dopamine (responsible for the sense of pleasure and reward)
touch receptors in mouth detect the textures and relay the info here; contributes info to overall sensation of eating
• Distinguishing from runny vs thick sauce
Orbitofrontal cortex
directly to stomach for nutrients without the experience of eating and feeling textures
• The pleasure of food is motivation enough to eat even though we do not actually need the nutrients
Tube feeding
- How food avaiablity affects how much we eat
- The bottomless bowl – we cannot keep track of how much we have consumed
- Unit bias – tendency to assume that the unit of sale or portioning is an appropriate aount to consume
Food Variety and Eating
- It is more than just a physical drive; there are social motives to eat as well
- Presence of people seems to increase motivation to eat or decrease food intake
Eating and the Social Context
Social facilitation – eating more
Impression management –eating less; minimal eating norm
Modelling – eating whatever they eat
disorder of postive energy balance; energy intake exceeds energy expenditure
Obesity
Anorexia and bulimia
• Anorexia nervosa – an eating disorder that involves
o 1) self-starvation
o 2) intense fear of gaining weight and distorted perception of body image
o 3) denial of serious conseuqnece of severly low weight
• Bulimia nervosa – characterized by period of food deprivation, binge-eating and purging
the motivation for sexual activity and pleasure
On average, men become sexually aroused more often, fantasize more , masturbate more, and desire more sexual partners than women
Libido
- Humans have many motives for pursing and having sex
* Notable observation – sex frequently occurs without the end goal of reproduction
• Sex serves many purposes other than reproduction
