Serotonin, Dopamine, Glutamate, and the others

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the ability of medical professionals, particularly psychiatrists and neurologists, to predict neuronal activation based on genetic sequencing and its implications for behavior. It explores the interplay between genetics, environment, and individual behavior, touching on the complexities of neural connectivity and the challenges in understanding the human brain.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants question whether genetic sequencing can predict neuronal activation and subsequent behavior, suggesting that behavior is influenced by a multitude of factors beyond genetics.
  • One participant notes that while genetic predispositions may exist, environmental factors play a significant role in shaping behavior, particularly in cases of mental health issues.
  • A participant expresses a personal interest in contributing to medical research despite lacking a formal background in biology, indicating a desire to bridge engineering with biomedical fields.
  • Another participant challenges the assertion that neural connectivity is not determined by genetics, citing research in simpler organisms that highlights the role of genes in neural development.
  • Some argue that while genetics is important, the complexity of human behavior and neural connectivity is largely influenced by experience and environmental factors, complicating predictions based solely on genetic information.
  • There is a discussion about the necessity of statistical and dynamical systems approaches to understand neural computations, rather than relying solely on genetic information.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the role of genetics in neuronal activation and behavior prediction. While some acknowledge the importance of genetics, others emphasize the significant influence of environmental factors, leading to an unresolved debate on the extent to which genetics can inform predictions about behavior.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights limitations in understanding the complexities of neural connectivity and behavior, including the dependence on definitions of genetic influence and the unresolved nature of how various factors interact in shaping behavior.

JaredPM
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Are medical doctors (psychiatrists/neurologists) able to predict which neurons will activate given the genetic sequencing of a certain individual? In turn, causing someone to act a certain way.
 
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No. Behaviour of a person is very complex and depends on more than just genetic sequencing.

That doesn't mean we can make some predictions. For example, if a person is born in a family with depression problems, then there is a large chance that he will get depression as well. However, that doesn't mean that he WILL get depression.

Much of the behaviour of a person comes also from his environment. Somebody who was abused as a child will have other behaviour than somebody who had a perfect childhood.
 
I suffer from really bad OCD & Anxiety. I would love nothing more that to be part of the research team. I would love to do all kinds of medical research but I am an engineer, not a biochem/chem/biology major.
 
JaredPM said:
I suffer from really bad OCD & Anxiety. I would love nothing more that to be part of the research team. I would love to do all kinds of medical research but I am an engineer, not a biochem/chem/biology major.

why did you choose engineering instead then? better job perspective? more hands on experience? more relevant to your daily life? Is it too late for you to transition into biomedical engineering?
 
JaredPM said:
Are medical doctors (psychiatrists/neurologists) able to predict which neurons will activate given the genetic sequencing of a certain individual? In turn, causing someone to act a certain way.

Which neurons will activate when? And where?
Mind you, neural connectivity isn't determined by genetics, so the answer is no, Research in this area (which is largely the domain of cognitive/computational neuroscience, not psychiatry or neurology) is almost always concerned with the statistical behaviour/dynamics of large populations of neurons.
 
Number Nine said:
Which neurons will activate when? And where?
Mind you, neural connectivity isn't determined by genetics, so the answer is no,

Wooo, that is too strong a statement. Genetics is very important for neural connectivity, work in C. elegans or Drosophila have identified many genes that are involved. How would you expect the brain to form when there are no instructions? Behavior of simple organisms can be predicted by the neurons that are stimulated. Humans are many orders of magnitude more complex, we are far from understanding the human brain.
 
Monique said:
Wooo, that is too strong a statement. Genetics is very important for neural connectivity, work in C. elegans or Drosophila have identified many genes that are involved. How would you expect the brain to form when there are no instructions? Behavior of simple organisms can be predicted by the neurons that are stimulated. Humans are many orders of magnitude more complex, we are far from understanding the human brain.

Too strong, yes, but largely accurate for this particular question. The connectivity involved in local (i.e. neural ensembles) computations is so profoundly influenced by experience and environment that the genetic code will provide next to no insight if your goal is to "predict which neurones are firing" with the goal of predicting specific actions. The formation of most individual connections between neurons is largely algorithmic (where neurons are just following some instruction set that determines their connectivity based on their activity, and the activity of surrounding neurons and glia). If you want to understand what clusters of neurones are actually computing, you need statistics and dynamical systems, not genetics.
 

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