Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Week 16


Learner Objective: Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process.


Research done by Dr. Charles Bae, MD shows that eating a spicy meal before going to sleep may trigger nightmares.  This is due to the fact that the heightened metabolism and temperature required to digest the food can cause more brain activity and thus more action during rapid eye movement sleep, the only point during the sleep cycle in which nightmares may occur.  It could also be due to a person's sensitivity to the chemical composition of certain foods, says Tore Nielsen.

This study demonstrates the learner objective because it shows how the digestion and REM (biological processes) can influence the cognitive process of nightmares and their frequency.

Source Article

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