Is conscious content available only to the skeletal muscle system?

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Keller

AbstractI applaud Morsella et al.'s approach to investigate consciousness in terms of behavioral control. After all, the function of the brain is to control behavior, and consciousness contributes to the function of the brain. However, I question whether conscious content is available only to the skeletal muscle system, as the principle of parallel responses into skeletal muscle (PRISM) (Morsella 2005) proposes.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John O'Doherty ◽  
Sangwan Lee ◽  
Reza Tadayonnejad ◽  
Jeffrey Cockburn ◽  
Kiyohito Iigaya ◽  
...  

It has long been suggested that human behavior reflects the contributions of multiple systems that cooperate or compete for behavioral control. Here we propose that the brain acts as a “Mixture of Experts” in which different expert systems propose strategies for action. It will be argued that the brain determines which experts should control behavior at any one moment in time by keeping track of the reliability of the predictions within each system, and by allocating control over behavior in a manner that depends on the relative reliabilities across experts. fMRI and neurostimulation studies suggest a specific contribution of the anterior prefrontal cortex in this process. Further, such a mechanism also takes into consideration the complexity of the expert, favoring simpler over more cognitively complex experts. Results from the study of different expert systems in both experiential and social-learning domains hint at the possibility that this reliability-based control mechanism is domain general, exerting control over many different expert systems simultaneously in order to produce sophisticated behavior.


Author(s):  
D. E. Philpott ◽  
A. Takahashi

Two month, eight month and two year old rats were treated with 10 or 20 mg/kg of E. Coli endotoxin I. P. The eight month old rats proved most resistant to the endotoxin. During fixation the aorta, carotid artery, basil arartery of the brain, coronary vessels of the heart, inner surfaces of the heart chambers, heart and skeletal muscle, lung, liver, kidney, spleen, brain, retina, trachae, intestine, salivary gland, adrenal gland and gingiva were treated with ruthenium red or alcian blue to preserve the mucopolysaccharide (MPS) coating. Five, 8 and 24 hrs of endotoxin treatment produced increasingly marked capillary damage, disappearance of the MPS coating, edema, destruction of endothelial cells and damage to the basement membrane in the liver, kidney and lung.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhmad Khoyrun Najakh ◽  
Dwiwiyati Astogini ◽  
Sri Martini

The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of attitudes on the intention to choose Islamic banks, to analyze the effect of subjective norm on the intention to choose Islamic banks. to analyze the effect of the control behavior of the intention to choose the Islamic banks, to analyze the moderating influence of religiosity on the relationship attitudes, subjective norms and behavioral control of the intention to choose the Islamic banks . The method used is a survey with a sampling technique used purposive sampling with a sample size of this study was 100 respondents . Further analysis tools used in this study is multiple regression analysis using SPSS 16.0 software . Based on this study it can be concluded that the attitude does not affect to the intention of choose Bank BRISyariah. Subjective norm positive effect on intention choose Bank BRISyariah. Control behavior does not affect to the intention choose Bank BRISyariah. Relationship between Attitudes, Subjective Norms and Behavior Control with the intention to select Bank BRISyariah not moderated by religiosity.Based on these conclusions can be said that the Bank BRISyariah should improve understanding related to the subjective norm in order to increase the number of customers who use the services of Islamic Banking . Further research is recommended in order to follow up and develop this research to further explore the independent and dependent variables continued before and after behavioral intention or intention to perform a specific action .


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 117864692110031
Author(s):  
Marion Falabrègue ◽  
Anne-Claire Boschat ◽  
Romain Jouffroy ◽  
Marieke Derquennes ◽  
Haidar Djemai ◽  
...  

Low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin have been associated with the onset of depression. While traditional treatments include antidepressants, physical exercise has emerged as an alternative for patients with depressive disorders. Yet there remains the fundamental question of how exercise is sensed by the brain. The existence of a muscle–brain endocrine loop has been proposed: according to this scenario, exercise modulates metabolization of tryptophan into kynurenine within skeletal muscle, which in turn affects the brain, enhancing resistance to depression. But the breakdown of tryptophan into kynurenine during exercise may also alter serotonin synthesis and help limit depression. In this study, we investigated whether peripheral serotonin might play a role in muscle–brain communication permitting adaptation for endurance training. We first quantified tryptophan metabolites in the blood of 4 trained athletes before and after a long-distance trail race and correlated changes in tryptophan metabolism with physical performance. In parallel, to assess exercise capacity and endurance in trained control and peripheral serotonin–deficient mice, we used a treadmill incremental test. Peripheral serotonin–deficient mice exhibited a significant drop in physical performance despite endurance training. Brain levels of tryptophan metabolites were similar in wild-type and peripheral serotonin–deficient animals, and no products of muscle-induced tryptophan metabolism were found in the plasma or brains of peripheral serotonin–deficient mice. But mass spectrometric analyses revealed a significant decrease in levels of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), the main serotonin metabolite, in both the soleus and plantaris muscles, demonstrating that metabolization of tryptophan into serotonin in muscles is essential for adaptation to endurance training. In light of these findings, the breakdown of tryptophan into peripheral but not brain serotonin appears to be the rate-limiting step for muscle adaptation to endurance training. The data suggest that there is a peripheral mechanism responsible for the positive effects of exercise, and that muscles are secretory organs with autocrine-paracrine roles in which serotonin has a local effect.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen-María Fernández-García ◽  
Carmen Rodríguez-Menéndez ◽  
José-Vicente Peña-Calvo

Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection theory (IPARTheory) provides a good theoretical framework to explain the parenting dimensions that influence children’s social, cognitive and emotional adjustment. This theory develops one main dimension, warmth-rejection, where warmth would be one pole of the dimension and rejection the opposite one.  Besides, the theory has also defined behavioral control dimension with two poles: permissiveness-strictness. In the context of this theory, our study was conducted with a sample of Spanish parents to (a) examine whether parental perceived acceptance-rejection was related to parental behavioral control; (2) analyze how behavioral control dimension worked in acceptance-rejection theory; and (3) examine whether there were differences in the relations obtained between fathers and mothers. We have to conclude that control behavior correlates positively with warmth behaviors. Fathers’ and mothers’ correlations among these dimensions show that parents can develop certain control behaviors but that they are compatible with affection conducts.


2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (1) ◽  
pp. R12-R16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin M. Oltmanns ◽  
Uwe H. Melchert ◽  
Harald G. Scholand-Engler ◽  
Maria C. Howitz ◽  
Bernd Schultes ◽  
...  

The brain regulates all metabolic processes within the organism, and therefore, its energy supply is preserved even during fasting. However, the underlying mechanism is unknown. Here, it is shown, using 31P-magnetic resonance spectroscopy that during short periods of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, the brain can rapidly increase its high-energy phosphate content, whereas there is no change in skeletal muscle. We investigated the key metabolites of high-energy phosphate metabolism as rapidly available energy stores by 31P MRS in brain and skeletal muscle of 17 healthy men. Measurements were performed at baseline and during dextrose or insulin-induced hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. During hyperglycemia, phosphocreatine (PCr) concentrations increased significantly in the brain ( P = 0.013), while there was a similar trend in the hypopglycemic condition ( P = 0.055). Skeletal muscle content remained constant in both conditions ( P > 0.1). ANOVA analyses comparing changes from baseline to the respective glycemic plateau in brain (up to +15%) vs. muscle (up to −4%) revealed clear divergent effects in both conditions ( P < 0.05). These effects were reflected by PCr/Pi ratio ( P < 0.05). Total ATP concentrations revealed the observed divergency only during hyperglycemia ( P = 0.018). These data suggest that the brain, in contrast to peripheral organs, can activate some specific mechanisms to modulate its energy status during variations in glucose supply. A disturbance of these mechanisms may have far-reaching implications for metabolic dysregulation associated with obesity or diabetes mellitus.


1990 ◽  
Vol 258 (5) ◽  
pp. E894-E897 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. C. Tombaugh ◽  
R. M. Sapolsky

Glucocorticoids enhance the neurotoxic potential of several insults to the rat hippocampus that involve overactivation of glutamatergic synapses. These hormones also stimulate the synthesis of glutamine synthetase (GS) in peripheral tissue. Because this enzyme helps regulate glutamate metabolism in the central nervous system, glucocorticoid induction of GS in the brain may underlie the observed synergy. We have measured GS activity in the hippocampus and skeletal muscle (plantaris) of adult rats after bilateral adrenalectomy (ADX), corticosterone (Cort) replacement, or stress. No significant changes in GS were observed in hippocampal tissue, whereas muscle GS was significantly elevated after Cort treatment or stress and was reduced after ADX. These results suggest that Cort-induced shifts in GS activity probably do not explain Cort neurotoxicity, although the stress-induced rise in muscle GS may be relevant to certain types of myopathy.


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