Antonova ERQ

Question 1

What can this study be used for?

Answer 1

Neurotransmission, antagonist effects

Question 2

Year

Answer 2

Antonova et al (2011)

Question 3

Background

Answer 3

• Neuroplasticity is a term used to describe the brain’s ability to adapt by forming new neural connections as a result of experience, learning or even injury to the brain.
• The brain is made of grey, white matter, which both consist of cells called neurons. A neuron is a specialized cell, which by connecting to other neurons creates the neurological system which can send and receive neural signals.
• Neuroplasticity refers to remapping of these neural pathways, which can be sorted into two ways of neuroplasticity. Synaptic plasticity, which refers to neural connections being broken and formed anew in a different way and cortical remapping – a kind of neuroplasticity in which a part of the brain may assume a function of a different part.
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• A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a synapse.
• Nervous system
• Involved in diseases, daily function
• Excitatory, inhibitory
• Agonists antagonists

Question 4

Aim

Answer 4

Test how inhibition of acetylcholine using scopolamine might affect spatial memory formation

Question 5

Participants

Answer 5

20 adult males

Question 6

Experimental design

Answer 6

Repeated mesures design

Question 7

Procedure

Answer 7

• participants injected either with scopolamine or placebo 90 minutes prior
• participants were playing a game called Arena while being in an fMRI machine
• Arena is a virtual reality game and involving complex virtual maps
• Participants had to navigate around an ‘arena’ to reach a pole
• Once they had, the screen would go blank for 30 seconds. During this time participants had to actively rehearse how to reach the pole again
• When the arena reappeared, the participants were at a new starting points
• This required them to use spatial memory to relocate the pole
• Brain activity was measured for 6 trials

Question 8

Results

Answer 8

• scopolamine-injected participants experienced reduced activation of hippocampus compared to placebos

Question 9

Link to neuro-transmission

Answer 9

• There is a high concentration of acetylcholine receptors in hippocampi
• Reduced activity means that scopolamine had inhibited the effects of the neurotransmitter
• This shows that acetylcholine may play a key role in encoding spatial memories in humans