Antagonist
Neurotransmitters are natural chemical messengers that play a key
role in the human response to stimuli. An antagonist is any substance that
fits into a receptor site on the post-synaptic neuron, not allowing the
neurotransmitters to send the signals to the neurons, causing the neuron
will not fire; thus, a behaviour will not happen. Acetylcholine is a
neurotransmitter that plays a role in the formation of memories. As it is
not possible for researchers to directly observe the role of
neurotransmitters, supplying an antagonist to animals or human
participants can be a way from scientists to understand their role.
An example of an antagonist commonly used in memory research is
scopolamine, allowing researchers to investigate its effects on blocking
acetylcholine receptors. A researcher who used scopolamine to
investigate its effects on acetylcholine was Antonova. He demonstrated
that blocking AcH receptors can impact our ability to create spatial
memories. The study was carried out using a sample of twenty healthy
men in a double-blind experiment. The participants were randomly divided
between two conditions. The first condition was injected with
scopolamine, an acetylcholine antagonist, whereas the second one was
injected with a placebo.
The participants were put into an fMRI where they were scanned while
playing a virtual reality game known as ‘the area task’. The participants
were asked to navigate around a field to find a pole; after they learned
where the pole was located, the screen would go blank for 30 seconds,
after which they would start at a new starting point where they would
have to use their spatial memory to work out how to get to the pole.
The study demonstrated the effect of scopolamine on AcH receptors
as those who were injected with scopolamine showed significant reduction
in the activation of the hippocampus which reduced their ability to form
spatial memories.
Neurotransmitters are natural chemical messengers that play a key
role in the human response to stimuli. An antagonist is any substance that
fits into a receptor site on the post-synaptic neuron, not allowing the
neurotransmitters to send the signals to the neurons, causing the neuron
will not fire; thus, a behaviour will not happen. Acetylcholine is a
neurotransmitter that plays a role in the formation of memories. As it is
not possible for researchers to directly observe the role of
neurotransmitters, supplying an antagonist to animals or human
participants can be a way from scientists to understand their role.
An example of an antagonist commonly used in memory research is
scopolamine, allowing researchers to investigate its effects on blocking
acetylcholine receptors. A researcher who used scopolamine to
investigate its effects on acetylcholine was Antonova. He demonstrated
that blocking AcH receptors can impact our ability to create spatial
memories. The study was carried out using a sample of twenty healthy
men in a double-blind experiment. The participants were randomly divided
between two conditions. The first condition was injected with
scopolamine, an acetylcholine antagonist, whereas the second one was
injected with a placebo.
The participants were put into an fMRI where they were scanned while
playing a virtual reality game known as ‘the area task’. The participants
were asked to navigate around a field to find a pole; after they learned
where the pole was located, the screen would go blank for 30 seconds,
after which they would start at a new starting point where they would
have to use their spatial memory to work out how to get to the pole.
The study demonstrated the effect of scopolamine on AcH receptors
as those who were injected with scopolamine showed significant reduction
in the activation of the hippocampus which reduced their ability to form
spatial memories.
