It's April 1st which means it is April Fools' Day! We won't be pranking you today BUT we thought you might be interested in what would happen to your brain chemistry if we had!
In this post, we summarize an article entitled, "April Fools: Our Brains Are the True Tricksters" by Dr. Michael Merzenich, published in Medscape Neurology (we have a link to the original article if you want to check it out). Once we are "pranked," our brains release chemicals called neuromodulators that directly impact the way we respond to something (both internally and externally).
We've listed a few key chemicals involved in these processes:
Noradrenaline triggers our "fight or flight" response when we are surprised by something unexpected.
Acetylcholine impacts our ability to recall an event and ascribe meaning to it.
Dopamine and serotonin are released in response to a positive trigger which also impact memory, and mood, and elicit our physical responses to an event.
Our brain and its chemistry are truly incredible!