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Pacemakers and Zeitgebers Summary
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- Biopsychology
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Pacemakers and Zeitgebers Summary with AO1 and AO3
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Paper 2Endogenous pacemakers & exogenous zeitgebers
Endogenous pacemakers
Pacemakers within our body. SCN (in
Hypothalamus) is the main endogenous pacemaker
(master clock). It is responsible for control of
circadian rhythms like sleep/wake cycle and body
temperature. SCN has a built in circadian rhythm
which resets when external light levels change.
SCN sends signals to the pineal gland, instructing it
to increase secretion of melatonin at night (inducing
sleep) and reduce it in the morning as light
increases. The pineal gland and SCN collectively control the sleep-wake cycle. However,
their activity must be synchronized with the light dark cycle of the outside world. If the SCN
is not synchronized with the outside world, this leads to disruption of the sleep-wake cycle.
It has been recognised that light is the dominant zeitgeber in humans. Light resets the
internal biological clock each day by activating light detecting cells in the retina (special cells
aside from rods and cones, contain protein melanopsin).This influences pineal gland to
reduce the production of melatonin, making us feel awake and resitting the sleep wake
cycle. This leads to entrainment of the human body alongside the environment, helping us
better adapt by influencing endogenous cycles.
Social cues
Other exogenous zeitgebers which entrain our biological rhythms are mealtimes, clocks,
noise, temperature and social customs. Although light is considered the dominant
zeitgeber, research has shown that individuals are able to compensate for the absence of
light by responding to social zeitgebers instead.
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