March 22, 2012
Matthew D. Lieberman
Could an individual act and speak just like other individuals without having any internal conscious experience? Belief in the possibility of so-called philosophical zombies serves as a litmus test for whether someone believes in some form of mind-body dualism or materialism. This chapter focuses on a related hypothesis that is emerging within psychology referred to as the psychological zombie...
Neuropharmacology
March 2012
Joshua S Rodefer, Samantha K Saland, Samuel J Eckrich
A number of selective phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitors have been demonstrated to improve learning in several rodent models of cognition. Given that schizophrenia is associated with impairments in frontal lobe-dependent cognitive functions (e.g., working memory and cognitive flexibility), we examined whether PDE inhibitors would attenuate cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia....
Anthropology of Consciousness
March 1, 2012
Richard Doyle
26 citations
Abstract Numerous and diverse reports indicate the efficacy of shamanic plant adjuncts (e.g., iboga, ayahuasca, psilocybin) for the care and treatment of addiction, post‐traumatic stress disorder, cancer, cluster headaches, and depression. This article reports on a first‐person healing of lifelong asthma and atopic dermatitis in the shamanic context of the contemporary P eruvian A mazon and the...
TANG [HUMANITAS MEDICINE]
February 29, 2012
James D. Adams, Cecilia García
4 citations
A spiritual sense may be present in the human brain. Demonstration of the spiritual sense depends on measuring the behavioral effects of spiritual experiences. These experiences can be induced by prayer, specific chemicals and other stimuli that are known to interact with pyramidal neurons of layer 5 in the cerebral cortex. This work examines the hypothesis that pyramidal neurons are the seat...
Journal of Neuroscience
February 29, 2012
Jesse Wood, Yunbok Kim, Bita Moghaddam
164 citations
In the absence of overt cellular pathology but profound perceptual disorganization and cognitive deficits, schizophrenia is increasingly considered a disorder of neural coordination. Thus, different causal factors can similarly interrupt the dynamic function of neuronal ensembles and networks, in particular in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), leading to behavioral disorganization. The importance of...
PLoS One
February 17, 2012
Erich Studerus, Alex Gamma, Michael Kometer et al.
372 citations
Responses to hallucinogenic drugs, such as psilocybin, are believed to be critically dependent on the user's personality, current mood state, drug pre-experiences, expectancies, and social and environmental variables. However, little is known about the order of importance of these variables and their effect sizes in comparison to drug dose. Hence, this study investigated the effects of 24...
Journal of Education and Vocational Research
February 15, 2012
M. Dileep Kumar.
the present study is aimed at understanding the influence of Vipassana Meditation among business managers who did Vipassana Meditation during their management education or after. How far Vipassana Meditation process influences life effectiveness of these young managers. Quantitative-multidimensional analysis of attitudinal and behavioral variables is the primary focus of this study. Exploratory...
Journal of Ethnopharmacology
February 15, 2012
Kenneth Alper, Maarten E.A. Reith, Henry Sershen
13 citations
Ibogaine is a psychoactive monoterpine indole alkaloid extracted from the root bark of Tabernanthe iboga Baill. that is used globally in medical and nonmedical settings to treat drug and alcohol addiction, and is of interest as an ethnopharmacological prototype for experimental investigation and pharmaceutical development. The question of whether ibogaine inhibits acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is...
Neuropsychopharmacology
February 2012
Lucila Kargieman, Maurizio S Riga, Francesc Artigas et al.
The non-competitive NMDA receptor (NMDA-R) antagonist phencyclidine (PCP)-used as a pharmacological model of schizophrenia-disrupts prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity. PCP markedly increased the discharge rate of pyramidal neurons and reduced slow cortical oscillations (SCO; 0.15-4 Hz) in rat PFC. Both effects were reversed by classical (haloperidol) and atypical (clozapine) antipsychotic drugs....
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
February 2012
Cédric M. Hysek, Robin Brugger, Linda D. Simmler et al.
The mechanism of action of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ecstasy) involves the carrier-mediated and potentially vesicular release of monoamines. We assessed the effects of the sympatholytic α₂-adrenergic receptor agonist clonidine (150 μg p.o.), which inhibits the neuronal vesicular release of norepinephrine, on the cardiovascular and psychotropic response to MDMA (125 mg p.o.) in 16...