Using one or more Examples, Explain Effects of Neurotransmission on Human Behaviour

However, there are ways that neurotransmission can go wrong, e.g: If too much or too little of the neurotransmitter is present or if the receptors are overly or insufficiently sensitive, and this could result in abnormal behaviours.

To investigate how neurotransmitters can affect human behaviour, scientists have been researching one of the most common mental issues, depression. It is suspected that the neurotransmitter, serotonin is responsible for managing the mood of a human, whether the human is content or depressed. It has been learned that when a person becomes overly stressed, that person’s brain uses higher levels of serotonin to compensate for this feeling of being overwhelmed by discontent. Because of this increase in stress and rapid use of serotonin, the body is not able to produce more serotonin to replace the amount used up, and this can provide the opposite effect that serotonin normally has, and put the mind in a state of mild depression. The lower the levels of serotonin, the deeper the depression. To test if serotonin levels were the sole cause of depression, tests were run with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, used to increase serotonin levels in the body. Bernstein found that SSRIs helped 60-80% of depression sufferers. This shows that although serotonin levels are a large factor in causing depression, it is clearly not the sole reason why people suffer from depression as 20-40% of people who suffer from depression don’t improve with just their serotonin levels increasing.

To conclude, it is clear that neurotransmission does have significant effects on human behaviour, with the example of serotonin levels being a major cause of depression demonstrating this, however neurotransmission alone is not responsible for the way humans behave, and there are other factors (likely physiological) that can affect human behaviour as well.