APFCC+-+Martinez+and+Kesner

Theorist: Martinez and Kesner Study of: Neurotransmitter and Memory Year: 1991

To determine the role of the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine on memory. ||
 * Aim:
 * Procedures:
 * Rats were trained to go through a maze and get to the end
 * One group of rats was injected with scopolamine (blocks acetylcholine receptors).
 * A second group of rats was injected with physostigmine, which blocks the production of cholinesterase. Cholinesterase “cleans up” the acetylcholine from the synapse.
 * The third group were not injected with anything. ||
 * Findings:
 * The rats injected with scopolamine were slower at finding their way around the maze and made more errors than the control and physostigmine group.
 * The physostigmine group ran through the maze and found the food more quickly than the control group and took fewer wrong turns. ||
 * Conclusions:
 * Acetycholine played an important role in creating a memory of the maze. ||
 * Evaluation:
 * The use of control group made it possible to establish a cause and effect relationship between levels of acetycholine and nemory.
 * It is questionable to what extent these findings can be generalised to humans. Memory processes are assumed to be the same for all animals. ||