RE: Do you think[Neurology question]
October 26, 2015 at 3:05 am
(This post was last modified: October 26, 2015 at 3:10 am by I_am_not_mafia.)
(October 25, 2015 at 11:31 pm)heatiosrs Wrote: Do you think that we will ever discover a new Neurotransmitter, one that is largly responsible for cognitive functions, or if aided, can increase cognitive ability dramatically?
You mean one that is naturally occurring? No, or very improbable at best. The brain has been too closely studied.
But existing neurotransmitters are used in multiple parts of the brain. Their use is dependent upon where they are used. For example, a loss of dopamine producing cells is linked to Parkinson's, but dopamine is also used for pleasure and reward.
And just increasing the level of neurotransmitter won't help anyway. That's like saying flooding your LAN with white noise will speed up your computer. Neurotransmitters are used for sending signals sent between neurons. Neurons release them into a synaptic cleft. Filling the cleft with more signals won't help. What will help is giving neurons the ability to send strong signals for longer. Good, nutritious food and exercising your brain will do that.
Generally excitatory drugs which makes you feel more alert, or happier, excited etc are the equivalent of going on a spending spree. It doesn't produce the money but just speeds up how fast you spend it. So you just end up broke for longer.
