Objectives

FROM MEMBRANES AND MOLECULES TO BLOOD FLOW AND BRAINWAVES

To understand the range of research in the Beckley Foundation Science Programme we must first consider how complex states of mind are produced from membranes and molecules, blood flow and brainwaves:

BRAINWAVES - Our experiences, from simple sensory stimuli to complex emotional experiences, are mirrored within the electrical, and therefore magnetic, activity of the brain.

MEMBRANES - We know that these 'brainwaves' are the result of electrical currents or magnetic fields generated by the movement of charged particles or 'ions' across neuron membranes and synaptic clefts.

MOLECULES - Electrical activity is initiated and propagated by the movement of endogenous molecules called neurotransmitters, which are affected by other endogenous and also exogenous molecules (i.e. psychoactive substances).

BLOOD FLOW - We hypothesise that many of the changes in conscious states are underpinned by alterations in global and regional cerebral blood flow, the irrigation system that determines the supply of oxygen and energy substrates to, and removal of waste products from, the neural tissue. Thus blood flow is a direct correlate of cognitive function.