On Mon, 3 May 1999, JL Edwards wrote:
>
> Also, I received an examination copy of Psychology and Life - 15th edition
> (Zimbardo & Gerrig) and was surprised to read the following on page 91:
> ".... Students have often asked us, for example, whether it's true that
> brain cells die if students have too much alcohol or too little sleep. The
> short answer is "yes," <snip>
>
> Is anyone out there familiar with the work cited? Are there other studies
> supporting the neuronal loss figure? How much alcohol are we talking about
> and over what time period? How much lack of sleep?
Rosenzweig, Leiman, and sometimes TIPster Marc Breedlove allude to
this issue in the second edition of their _Biological Psychology_(see
p. 93). They point out that brain damage is a well-established
consequence of chronic alcoholism (but it may be secondary to thiamine
deficiency, as in Korsakoff's syndrome).
What is more surprising is that they go on to discuss recent research
suggesting that these effects are reversible if the alcoholic
abstains. They say: "The nature of this reversibility remains a
puzzle. It is clearly not due to rehydration, and it may well be a
form of neural plasticity". They then cite a PET scan study showing
that as little as one month of drying-out is enough to produce
detectable neurological improvement. So the bad news seems to be that
alcohol will indeed pickle your students' brains if they insist on
becoming chronic alcoholics; the good news is that they may be able to
unpickle themselves if they stop.
As for sleep deprivation, I'm not aware of any detectable effects of
even long periods without sleep on physiology or anatomy. Of course,
in work initiated by Rechtschaffen, rats eventually die if deprived
long enough, but no one seems to know why.
I'd suggest that Jean dig up Zimbardo's e-mail address and ask the
great man himself what studies he has to support his two assertions
about alcohol and sleep deprivation. His reply could be interesting.
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
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