EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF DRUGS ON THE NEUROTRANSMISSION PROCESS (8 marks)

Question 1

STRENGTHS

Answer 1

→ There has been a great deal of research evidence to show that recreational drugs do impact on the neurotransmitter process.
→ Rundrap & Munkvad (1966) injected amphetamines into the brains of rats to temporarily increase their dopamine levels, which lead to changes in their behaviour including aggression, isolation and schizophrenic like behaviours. Such research has been used to show that excess dopamine is linked to schizophrenia
→ therefore helping to develop effective drug treatments that work by reducing dopamine levels.

Question 2

STRENGTHS

Answer 2

→ Carlsson (2000) conducted a meta-analysis, which involves pooling together the findings from a range of previously conducted studies, to show that glutamate dysfunction is linked to schizophrenia. He demonstrated that PCP blocks NMDA receptors and therefore inhibits glutamate, leading to schizophrenic like symptoms.
→ This is not to suggest that drug use causes schizophrenia, but that such drug use leads to temporary neurotransmitter dysfunction which then causes changed to mood and behaviour. In the case of PCP and amphetamines these changes can be schizophrenic-like.

Question 3

STRENGTHS

Answer 3

→ Much of the research that can demonstrate the impact of recreation drugs has been conducted in lab settings, using brain scans or animal studies. .
→ Brain scans can physically show changes in neurotransmitter levels following drug use. Animal studies can show behavioural changes following drug use. Both of these methods are conducted in controlled conditions and are therefore scientific.
→ This makes our understanding of drugs and the impact on the brain more credible

Question 4

WEAKNESSES

Answer 4

→ Some research into the impact of drugs can involve studying drug users, or ex-drug users.
→ For example, Li et al (2003) showed ex-heroin addicts images of drug related and neutral images whilst completing an fMRI scan to look for changes in brain activity.
→ Such research could cause ethical concerns as it could cause distress to participants and may even lead to relapse.

Question 5

WEAKNESSES

Answer 5

→ Research using animals to investigate the impact of drug use on neurotransmitter levels can be questioned in terms of generalisability.
→ Humans and animals have the same basic brain structure and function, which allows research to be generalised to an extent.
→ However, the human brain and behaviour is more complex and so understand the specific impacts on behaviour and issues such as psychological addiction can be difficult to understand using animal research.

Question 6

WEAKNESSES

Answer 6

→ This biological explanation of the impact of drug use can be seen as a reductionist explanation
→ is the sense that it cannot explain why someone starts using drugs in the first place.
→ here is likely to be other social and environmental factors, such as peer pressure or role model imitation, to explain why someone starts using drugs and then also partly while they feel become addicted.