Attention neuromodulators

In discussing schizophrenia, we have restricted our attention to the rule of neuromodulation. A second general rule concerns the excitability of the brain with special reference to phasic activity of the sort that drives the REM sleep process (on the one hand), and clinical seizures (on the other). In chapter 9, I pointed out some of the phenomenological and physiological processes that REM sleep and epilepsy share, and emphasized the importance to both of temporal lobe activation. 

In the relaxed state, a subject can use more pathways than in stress and anxiety.This is due to the influence of neuromodulators (norepinephrine, dopamine) from subcortical structures. They provide a highly focused activation of the really necessary pathways by increasing both the glutamate and the GABA effects, the norepinephrine in the sensory areas, the dopamine in the frontal areas.The reduction of the linear part of the stimulus-response pathway by norepinephrine would mean faster reaction times, without thinking too much .The high attention would fade out the extra pathways and concentrate on short emergency pathways . 

In the last 20 years or so, another group of signals termed endocanmbinoids (eCBs) have gained more attention as neuromodulators with the potential to modulate numerous physiological and pathological processes... 

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