Neurotransmission is the chemical communication between neurons, passing on impulses.

This is done with the involvement of neurotransmitters – chemical messengers made by the
body, sent between neurons transmitting electrical signals throughout the body. An
example of a neurotransmitter is acetylcholine – an agonist neurotransmitter. Agonist or
excitatory neurotransmitter increases the likelihood of the next neurotransmitter firing
whereas antagonist or inhibitory, in contrast, decrease the likelihood of the next
neurotransmitter firing. Neurotransmission is responsible for correct muscle functioning and
also involves in memory, learning, concentration and attention. Acetylcholine plays a role in
consolidating memory in the hippocampus. Consolidation is the mental process in which
short-term memory (STM) is transferred into long-term memory (LTM). Here, memory is
revised and rehearsed strengthening the neuron connetion due to more electrical signals
fired to the neuron. By recalling the memory over and over again, the same neuron will be
able to repeat easily in the future forming LTM. Two studies examining the role of
acetylcholine is Antonova and Troster.

Antonova aims to determine the role of acetylcholine in formation of spatial memory. The
participants are 20 healthy males, being randomly allocated to one of the two conditions:
injected with either scopolamine blocking the acetylcholine receptors site thus inhibiting
responses or a placebo. The participants are asked to play the “arena task” while brain
activities being scanned using a fMRI. The goal of the game is to navigate around the area
and touch a pole. After they have learned the location of the pole, the screen goes blank to
let the participants actively rehearse the location of the pole. The participants are asked to
use spatial memory get to the pole after being moved to their new starting point. They redo
the experiments after 3-4 weeks. The result shows that when injected with scopolamine,
activation of the hippocampus sharply reduces comparing to when they receive a placebo.

The study supports that acetylcholine can play a key role in the encoding of spatial memory
in human. The study was a repeated measures design which eliminates the effect of
participant variability. Moreover, the study was counter-balanced which means some of the
participants did the scopolamine condition first, and others did the placebo condition first.
This controlled for practice effect. Researcher bias is also controlled as the study is carried
out blindly. The above factors increase the Antonova’s internal validity. A limitation is that
the sample size (20) is small, which then requires the study to be replicated to increases its
reliability.

Troster’s study shows the role of acetylcholine in encoding of memories, but not the
retrieval of LTM. The participants are 13 men being randomly allocated to three conditions:
injected with either a saline solution, a .5 or a .8 mg solution of scopolamine blocking
acetylcholine neurotransmission pathway. They are asked to complete three testes. In the
first test, they are to recall a list of 14 words immediately after reading the list and then
after 45 minutes. The high scopolamine group recalled the least in both conditions. In the
second test, a map of a fake state is given and they are asked to memorize the location of
the cities. After one minute, they are to list the cities and place them in a blank map. Once
again, the high scopolamine group did poorly. Finally, participants are given a test of
memories of famous people and events which result shows no significant difference
between the three conditions. Troster concludes acetylcholine may play a role in the
encoding of memory, but not memory retrieval.
The use of placebo to avoid confounding variables increases the study’s internal validity.
However, since dopamine has side effects, the participants are still aware of which condition
they are in which may create social desirability bias. As the study is a lab experiment where
IV is manipulated, it can establish cause-effect relationship. The tasks has low mundane
realism meaning it is artificial and may not reflect memory encoding on a daily basis in an
uncontrolled environment.

The studies use a reductionist approach to better understand the role of a single
neurotransmitter in memory. This is important because it could actually lead to treatment
for those with dementia or Alzheimer's disease. The effectiveness of such treatment
developed from the studies of neurotransmission is an application of the theory.
Neurotransmission cannot be directly observed in the brain, so researchers use indirect
measures such as fMRIs showing brain activity or the use of antagonists. This means that the
research is based on assumptions that may prove in the future not to be accurate.