Behaviour Under Control the Malign Misuse of Neuroscience

Behaviour Under Control the Malign Misuse of Neuroscience 

Only in the last few centuries has the link between the brain and behaviour become clear, and only at the end of the nineteenth century was it demonstrated that the nervous system was made up of billions of separate nerve cells or neurons. We now know that during evolution complex networks of such neurons have developed in order to effect certain behaviours. Whilst the neurons of the central, peripheral and autonomic nervous systems vary enormously in form and function, they can be classed into three broad groups sensory neurons which convey information into the central nervous system effector neurons which carry information out of the central nervous system to muscles and other effector organs and interneurons within the central nervous system which link the sensory and effector neurons and also have links with one another. 

Information is conveyed within individual neurons by electrical means - generating nerve impulses which can be recorded and displayed on an oscilloscope. In the twentieth century it was shown that information is conveyed between neurons by chemical means. When a nerve impulse (an action potential) travelling along the long extension or axon of a neuron arrives at a junction (or synapse) with another neuron, it causes the release of a neurotransmitter chemical from the presynaptic cell. This chemical affects the electrical properties of the postsynaptic neuron through its interaction with specialized receptor proteins embedded in the surface membrane of the postsynaptic cell. It has been shown that there are numerous kinds of neurotransmitter chemical which, depending on the specific 

This then is the basis for modern insights into how the brain - and therefore behaviour - can be manipulated by chemical means. Clearly, as our understanding of the neuronal circuits underlying specific behaviour increases, and we understand more about the neurotransmitters functioning in such circuits, we have more chance of helping people who are suffering from various malfunctions of the nervous system (mental illnesses). It has to be accepted, however, that such information may be misused by those with malign intent. 

The genomics revolution, however, clearly has much more profound implications for our understanding of biological systems -including those of the central nervous system. As a recent major review noted, the possibility of a systems-level understanding is 

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