Explain, using one or more examples, the effects of neurotransmission on Human Behaviour

Neurotransmission is when an electrical impulse travels down the axon of a neutron, releasing neurotransmitters which cross the synapses to convey messages through the central nervous system. One example of the effects of neurotransmission on human behaviour is the study of Martinez and Kesner who aimed to investigate the role of the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine (ACh) on memory. Although this study was carried out on rats we assume that we can gain valuable insight on human behaviour from research on animals at the BLOA. Rats were trained to run through a maze at the end of which they received a treat. The first group of rats were injected with scopolamine, which blocks the receptor sites of ACh, thus reducing the available amount of ACh. The second group of rats was injected with Physostigmine which prevents the production of cholinesterase, which does the ‘clean up’ of excess ACh. This increased the amount of available ACh. A third group was injected with saline solution. The results found that the scopolamine group took longer to find its way through the maze and made more mistakes than the saline group, while the physostigmine group was quicker and made less mistakes than both other groups.

The results of this study imply that the process of ACh neurotransmission played a vital role in memory. This animal study led to further research of the role of ACh neurotransmission in memory on humans. This new research found that there were fewer ACh repeater cells in the hippocampal area of Alzheimer disease patients. Therefore, these findings confirm those of Martinez and Kesner and show the important effects of ACh neurotransmission in the formation of memory in animals and humans.