Common painkiller may hamper our
ability to notice errors
A common and effective painkiller,
acetaminophen, may impede the brain's ability to detect errors, scientist have
found for the first time.
The research from the University of
Toronto and University of British Columbia in Canada is the first neurological
study to look at how acetaminophen could be inhibiting the brain response
associated with making errors. For the study, two groups of 30 participants
were given a target-detection task called the Go or No Go.
Participants were asked to hit a Go
button every time the letter F flashed on a screen but refrain from hitting the
button if an E flashed on the screen. "The trick is you're supposed to
move very quickly capturing all the GOs, but hold back when you see a No
Go," said Randles.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) was used to
measure electrical activity in the brain of the participants. The researchers were
looking for a particular wave called Error Related Negativity (ERN) and Error
Related Positivity (Pe).
Essentially what happens is that when
people are hooked up to an EEG and make an error in the task there is a robust
increase in ERN and Pe.
One group, which was given 1,000
milligrammes of acetaminophen - the equivalent of a normal maximum dose -
showed a smaller Pe when making mistakes than those who did not receive a dose,
suggesting that acetaminophen inhibits our conscious awareness of the error.
"It looks like acetaminophen makes
it harder to recognise an error, which may have implications for cognitive
control in daily life," said Randles. Cognitive control is an important
neurological function because people are constantly doing cognitive tasks that
flow automatically like reading, walking or talking. These tasks require very
little cognitive control because they are well mapped out neurological
processes, said Randles.
"The task we designed is meant to
capture that since most of the stimuli were Go, so you end up getting into a routine
of automatically hitting the Go button," he said. "When you see a No
Go, that requires cognitive control because you need to interrupt the
process," he said.
The research was published in the journal Social Cognitive
and Affective Neuroscience.
Source: www.zeenews.india.com
11.04.2016
A failure
establishes only this that our determination to succeed was not strong enough
Christian
Nestell Bovee
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