This assignment will involve learning more about methamphetamine,which is drug we hear about very often on the news. In one page, summarize some of the information that you read on this site and include any parts that surprised you or that you found particularly interesting. Submit your summary below via the upload option (5 points). Please go to the following two sites instead for this assignment. The first link provides a brief history of this drug. The second link provides other general, overview information about this drug. http://healthvermont.gov/adap/meth/brief_history.aspx, http://www.nmtf.us/methamphetamine/methamphetamine.htm
Methamphetamine, a.k.a., speed, ice, meth, crystal, and crank, is a synthetic drug used as appetite suppressant, psychostimulant, etc. As a prescription drug, methamphetamine is used to maintain blood pressure and/or treat narcolepsy, which is a sleep disorder chaacterized by sudden and uncontrollable deep sleep episodes. It is used illegally as a stimulant to temporarily quicken some of an individual’s vital processes. Some of the information that surprised or I found interesting from the sites are many. Example: In 1919, a Japanese pharmacologist synthetically produced methamphetamine as a stimulant (Vermont Department of Health, 2013). During the Second World War, the drug was used by soldiers to fight off fatigue for a more lasting alertness in the battlefield.
Immediately after World War II, the Japanese experienced the meth epidemic, which spread in other regions (e.g., Guam,US West Coast). Even when methamphetamine was used to treat various illnesses (e.g., obesity, sinusitis), it was illegally used. Gangs, athletes, truckers, etc. chew, inject, snort, or smoke it (U.S. North Metro Task Force, n.d.). In the 1990s, the drug’s newer versions became more potent as a hard drug. To regulate the use of meth, there came education campaigns, Controllable Substance Act, and Comprehensive Methamphetamine Control Act.
U.S. North Metro Task Force. (n.d.). What is Methamphetamine? . Retrieved from Methamphetamine: http://www.nmtf.us/methamphetamine/methamphetamine.htm
Vermont Department of Health. (2013). A Brief History of Methamphetamine - Methamphetamine Prevention in Vermont. Retrieved from Department of Health: Agency of Human Services: http://healthvermont.gov/adap/meth/brief_history.aspx
Watch the video on “Secrets of Sleep: Peter Tripp” describing the sleep deprivation experiment on Peter Tripp. What was Peter Tripp’s occupation? Johnny West, the psychiatrist who monitored Tripp, treated which individuals during the Korean War? As Tripp’s body temperature dropped, how did his behavior change? By the 5th day Tripp began to hallucinate – according to the psychiatrists monitoring him, how were these hallucinations related to the sleep cycle? Submit this assignment below via the upload option (5 points). (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSNRdvusmQs)
Peter Tripp was a popular radio disc jockey (DJ). Johnny West, a psychiatrist who monitored Tripp, treated prisoners-of-war (POW’s) who where tortured (i.e., deprived of sleep). As Tripp’s body temperature dropped, it continued to drop throughout the whole course of the experiment. The lower it went down, the crazier his behavior became. He became irritable with everyone around him and abused people he loved. By the fifth day, he started to hallucinate. Tripp’s hallucinations, while awake, were shadowed by the 90-minute Rapid Eye Movement during sleeping/dream cycle. After the experiment (i.e., nonstop wakefulness for 201 hours), he slept for 24 hours. Although Tripp claimed that he was back to normal again, his behavior changed and never as it was before (e.g., he divorced his wife and lost his job).
Go to this website for an illustration on Classical Conditioning: Classical Conditioning Animation. Relate this classical conditioning procedure to feeding a dog using a can opener to open the can of dog food. Describe the Unconditioned Stimulus (US), the Unconditioned Response (UR), the Neutral Stimulus (NS), the Conditioned Stimulus (CS), the Conditioned Response (CR) and the relationship between each of these in the conditioning procedure.
Before conditioning, the food serves as the unconditioned stimulus (US) and the dog’s salivation as the unconditioned response (UR). Still, prior to conditioning, the can opener (without the accompanying dog food) is the neutral stimulus (NS) and there is no dog salivation (i.e., no conditioned response or NCR). However, during conditioning, the sound of the can opener when opening the dog food (i.e., can opener plus dog food) made the dog salivates (i.e., an unconditioned response or UR). After conditioning, the can opener alone serves as the conditioned stimulus (CS) for the dog’s salivation (or conditioned response CR). The relationship between US and UR, NS and NCR, Can Opener plus Food and UR, and CS and CR is that they are all related in the conditioning of the dog.
Go to the B.F. Skinner Foundation’s website* at http://www.bfskinner.org/bfskinner/Videos.html and watch the following short videos which outline principles of operant conditioning: “Pigeon Ping-Pong,” “Shaping a Turn,” “Problem solving in the pigeon.” Describe each of these videos and indicate what you think about Skinner’s work with the pigeons. How does Skinner and operant conditioning explain the learning that you observed? What are some pros and cons with using animals in psychological research?
Reference:
B.F. Skinner Foundation. (2013, June). Currently Available Videos. Retrieved from Better behavioral science for a more humane world: http://www.bfskinner.org/bfskinner/Videos.html
