Article in Scientifc American about "lighting up the brain"

Description on P41 of an experiment where fly neurons were engineered to be photosensitive and release dopamine when illuminated.

To quote the article....

[when strobed with light] "The flies went from barely moving to inspecting their enclosure in detail bolstering the theory that dopamine increases exploratory behaviour".

Hmmmm..............

Wonder how that fts in with ADD?

kilted

That is interesting....

I know that individuals with ADD, many who have abnormally low levels of dopamine are often more prone to exploratory behaviors, and even more risky behaviors than the general population in order to "artificially" boost their dopamine levels. Now we're seeing that light-triggered dopamine release boosts exploratory behavior? Sounds like a sort of chicken and egg question to me. We'll have to keep an eye on this one!

yup it struck me too.....the chicken and egg thing when one relates this to ADD.

I such have the "barely moving" bit alot... then the exploratory bit big style when something switches (turns?) me on..... :-)

kilted