Neurotransmitters Flashcards
(34 cards)
What is a neurotransmitter?
A brain chemical that transmits signals between neurons and affects both physical and mental functions.
Where are neurotransmitters found?
In the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and some glands.
What does the effect of a neurotransmitter depend on?
Its level and location in the body.
What are excitation and inhibition?
Excitation increases neuron firing (the accelerator), inhibition decreases it (the brake).
What is an agonist?
Chemical or drug that binds to receptors in the brain and causes a reaction.
What are the two types of antagonists?
Endogenous (like neurotransmitters and hormones) or exogenous (like drugs and toxins).
What is an antagonist?
Chemical or drug that binds to receptors in the brain and prevents a neurotransmitter or hormone from having an effect.
How do agonists and antagonists affect neurotransmitters?
Agonists increase the neurotransmitter’s effect, while antagonists reduce the neurotransmitter’s effect
What is the “story” tip to remember what an antagonist does?
Antagonist stops the hero from reaching their goal
Antagonist stops the neurotransmitter from binding and having its effect
Is acetylcholine excitatory or inhibitory?
It can be both excitatory and inhibitory.
What are the functions of acetylcholine?
Triggers muscle contraction, stimulates hormone secretion, involved in attention, memory, learning, and awakening.
What disorder is associated with low levels of AcH?
Alzheimer’s disease.
Where are AcH receptor sites found related to memory?
In the hippocampus, which is crucial for memory consolidation.
What was the aim of Rogers & Kesner’s study?
To determine the role of acetylcholine in the formation of spatial memory.
What kind of experiment was Rogers & Kesner (2003)?
A lab experiment using rats with independent measures design.
How many rats were used in the study?
30 rats.
What task were the rats trained to complete?
A simple maze with food placed in one corner to test spatial memory.
What happened before the memory could be consolidated?
The rats were randomly allocated to two experimental conditions and injected.
What was Group 1 injected with?
Scopolamine – an antagonist that blocks acetylcholine receptors, preventing AcH from working.
What was Group 2 injected with?
A saline solution (placebo) to control for injection effects like stress or adrenaline.
Where were the injections made?
Directly into the hippocampus, 10 minutes before running the maze.
What was measured in the experiment?
The number of errors rats made when completing the maze over multiple trials.
How was encoding and retreival assessed?
By comparing errors in the first 5 trials of Day 1 with the last 5 trials of Day 1.
What were the findings for the scopolamine group?
They took longer to learn the maze and made more errors in learning trials (encoding).
