2009/8/11 deripsni <[email protected]> > > I presume that mood-altering drugs were developed by chemists to treat > depression etc, and that studying the effect of natural chemical > reactions in the body aided with this work. However, how does this > account for premonition, inspiration and other such activity? Try to > keep it in laymans terms since I haven't read every medical journal > ever written, as it seems you have ;-]
How does what account for premonition and inspiration? I think you need to be clear about what you're asking. In psychology, I would say "inspiration" and "creativity" would both fall under divergent thinking (which I already provided a link to a study on the chemical NAA). Intuition, of which there are several kinds, is a tough one. If you take social intuition (non-verbal communication, say), then it operates in the caudate and putamen of our basal ganglia (bare with me). Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that operates on the basal ganglia's receptors and, funnily enough, dopamine disorders in the brain are common in people who struggle with social cognitive disorders. Thus, if it was your question, mood-altering drugs could effect the the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area -- two of areas of the brain where dopamine is produced -- and could change a person's ability to access intuitive non-verbal communication functions. I don't know if there's been any studies on this, but the idea isn't without precedence. We know that some cancers or aphasias in or around Wernicke's or Brocca's can impair communication by affecting receptors. Why not the ability to process non-verbal communication too? Ian --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
