Neurotransmission (Antonova)

Question 1

Introduction (Neurotransmitters are cells which send electrical signals…)

Answer 1

Neurotransmitters are cells which send electrical signals throughout the body - chemical messengers that occur psychological and physiological changes - released from the Axon Terminal stored in synaptic vesicles as action potential builds up (terminal buttons)

Question 2

Process of neurotransmission

Answer 2

• Released into the synapse and bind to the receptors of dendrites -> causes action to occur
  -Excitatory reaction (increases the likelihood that postsynaptic neuron dendrites fire another action potential, the process goes onwards) or inhibitory reaction
• It is an electrochemical process

Question 3

Role of acetylcholine in neurotransmission

Answer 3

Excitatory transmitters, like acetylcholine (linked to memory and learning within the hippocampus), signal a neuron to fire.

Acetylcholine (ACh) is a neurotransmitter, a chemical that carries messages from your brain to your body through nerve cells. It’s an excitatory neurotransmitter. This meansit “excites” the nerve celland causes it to “fire off the message.”

Question 4

Antonova Aim

Answer 4

How do neurotransmitters play a role in behavior? Hypothesizes that acetylcholine plays a key role in ecoding of spatial memory (Cognitive mapping) — so how does scopolamine (an acetylcholine inhibitor → blocks it) affect hippocampal activity in the creation of spatial memory? Tested on rats and now tested on humans

Question 5

Antonova Method

Answer 5

1. 20 male adults — double-blind procedure
2. Injected with EITHER scopolamine or a placebo before taking part in an experimental task
3. fMRI scanning whiled playing “Arena task” → a VR game that observed how well participants were able to create spatial memories, the goal was to find their way to a pole
4. After learning where the pole was located, the screen blacks out. During this, participants actively rehearses how to get to the pole (usage of spatial memory)
5. Brain activity was measured for 6 different trials
6. 3-4 weeks later, redid the test with opposite treatment

Question 6

Antonova findings

Answer 6

When injected with scopolamine, they took longer to find the pole (their hippocampus activiation was significantly reduced)

Question 7

Antonova link to neurotransmission

Answer 7

Inhibitory transmitters BLOCKED the action of acetylcholine, which produced a poorer performance in participants (compared to the placebo), indicating that the neurotransmitter acetylcholine plays a key role in encoding spatial memory