My Biological Root of my TPW Story would be Alcohol and the Brain. From my research I've learned very simple and very complicated things about this subject, some talking about Alcohol affecting if it has a certain percentage of "alcohol" and others talking about how the brain chemistry is altered. The main points I found the most interesting and most important are these:
These are my mind map drafts that I made to explain my Biological Connection to my story.
- Alcohol is a depressant, which means that whenever you take it, it slows down your brain's highways and reduces the messages sent and messages perceived. This is why, when someone takes alcohol, their actions / words / thoughts tend to change, it's because as alcohol starts to affect their brain, their basic movements, speech, etc. is slowed down and the messages that need to be recieved aren't arriving, so our nerve cells can't function the same way.
- Alcohol directly targets nerve cells, which is one of the reasons why all of our senses are slowed down and why we don't perceive messages the same way as we would when we are sober.
- Alcohol tends to affect certain neurotransmitters differently.
- Glutamate (is a excitatory neurotransmitter), is what's used to remember important things, and for learning. When alcohol becomes involved, our glutamate is actually slowed down, it suppresses the release of this neurotransmitter and that's why we tend to forget our memories, important events and why our energy tends to be so low.
- GABA (is a inhibitory neurotransmitter), is what's used to increase activity in the brain, and tends to result in sedation. When alcohol is involved, it increases the effects of this, which is why we're most likely to be sedated while under the influence than when we're sober.
These are my mind map drafts that I made to explain my Biological Connection to my story.
