D.Litt. et Phil. / The condition known as hypertensive encephalopathy has thrust high blood pressure as a factor in cognitive dysfunction into the limelight. The present study seeks to explore this phenomenon, the allied considerations of adrenergic activation and blockade (as induced by the class of anti-hypertensives termed beta-adrenergic antagonists) and their relationship with attention and memory. The main impetus for the thesis derives from the disparate results of studies into the functioning of attention and memory processes in both medicated and unmedicated hypertensives, despite consistent outcomes having emerged from animal studies. An integrative, explanatory psychophysiological model 1s consequently developed to help illuminate this scientific terrain. The study constitutes an analysis of the course and pathogenesis of hypertension, with a specific emphasis on factors that maintain the disease as well as those that serve to lessen its adverse health effects. The association between hypertension and sympathetic nervous system activation receives much attention together with relevant personality and behavioural variables. It is discussed how sympathetic nervous system activation and the failure of certain negative feedback mechanisms relate to hypertension as well as memory consolidation. The disparate study outcomes and explanations regarding the connection between adrenergic activation and memory are traced to certain paradigmatic roots. These include the computer analogy of mental functioning, Cartesian dualist notions and the case of 'HM'. In contrast to, notably, the Cartesian dualist notions, it is shown that body and brain are a necessary unity for memory formation. This unity is explicated through an analysis of baroreceptor function as an example of a 'simple' cybernetic system involved in maintaining regulated cerebral blood flow.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:7272 |
| Date | 10 November 2011 |
| Creators | Brügge, Kay U. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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