Author Archives: Sarah Ann Harrington

Last night Sehe, Kris decided to wander around for dinner and ended up finding a fantastic little pizza place called Café l’Éphémère.

Map of Café l’Éphémère

It was happy hour so we all got our own cocktail, mine being the pinkest drink I’ve ever ordered.

My Tequila Sunrise

The pizza was delicious and the escargot was definitely interesting, but my favorite part was seeing how the same amount of alcohol affected each of us in a different way.  My tequila sunrise did not affect me and Sehe’s French martini had little effect on her, but Kris on the other hand, was definitely feeling his vin chaud.  Why was it that even though we all drank the same amount, he was the one that was telling stories about “the good ol’ days” (he’s only 25…) and taking “artsy” pictures with the coaster and candle.  I decided to look it up when I got back.

Even though most research was centered on chronic consumption with reference to alcoholism, I did find a paper that was particularly interesting concerning alcohol sensitivity.  Often we say, “that person has a low tolerance” when they are easily affected by alcohol, however they are actually just more sensitive to alcohol’s effects .Tolerance is often defined as when the body becomes accustomed and less responsive to a substance (like alcohol) after repeated exposure(Webster, 2013).  You can have less of a response to alcohol without the repeated exposure.  Essentially, Kris was more sensitive to the effects of alcohol then Sehe and I.

The paper I found was Wargelius et. al, 2010 and it links 5-HIAA (a metabolite of serotonin) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and MAO-B with alcohol sensitivity in rhesus monkeys.  MAO-B is a mono amine oxidase, which breaks down monoamines (like serotonin).  It is often found in neurons and blood platelets. What was significant about this particular study was that it was one of the firsts to link MAO-B activity with sensitivity to the effects of alcohol.  (Wargelius et al., 2010).

Wargelius et al. had 78 rhesus monkeys receive an ethanol solution and after they were scored for their degree of intoxication (whether they fell, bumped a wall, or swayed).  They tested voluntary alcohol intake by having the animals participate in a procedure where they were able to choose between an ethanol solution, aspartame, and water for 5 days during a two week period.  They also took CSF and blood samples in order to test for 5-HIAA levels and platelet MAO-B activity.

They found that rhesus monkeys that had low platelet MAO-B activity also had low levels of 5-HIAA and were less sensitive to the effects of alcohol.  Interestingly, those with low platelet MAO-B activity also had more ethanol-induced aggression and higher voluntary alcohol intake.  These results combined with the knowledge that lower activity of MAO is related to behavior and psychiatric disorders, could suggest that individuals with low platelet MAO-B activity are more susceptible to alcoholism (Oreland, 2004; Wargelius et al., 2010).

I found this study very interesting because I really liked how it suggested a link between low MAO activity and high alcohol sensitivity.  In our NBB classes we are always talking about MAO activity in relation to various different psychological disorders.  However, since this one of the first papers to make this connection, it will be interesting to see if further research backs up their results.

~Sarah Harrington

Oreland L (2004) Platelet monoamine oxidase, personality and alcoholism: the rise, fall and resurrection. Neurotoxicology 25:79-89.

Wargelius HL, Fahlke C, Suomi SJ, Oreland L, Higley JD (2010) Platelet monoamine oxidase activity predicts alcohol sensitivity and voluntary alcohol intake in rhesus monkeys. Upsala journal of medical sciences 115:49-55.

Webster M (2013) Tolerance. In: Merriam-Webster.com.

Yesterday was our TA, Kris’ 25^th birthday, and to celebrate we decided to go out to dinner.  He made reservations at Galerie 88, at 88 Quai de l’Hôtel de ville, Paris.  Like usual, I looked up how to get there and found the route below:

Directions from Cite Universitaire to Galerie 88

I thought that the easiest way was to get off the RER, cross both rivers, and turn right. Turns out that our TA ended up coming with us and he looked up directions as well, but in a different way than I did.  Instead of just using landmarks he looked up each street name and which direction to turn on them, which just seems way too complicated and confusing for me.  I told him that people in Rhode Island always give directions with landmarks since everyone probably knows what you are referring to.   It was then I learned that it was not just because of my small state that I focus on landmarks, but because I am a woman. 

Map we both looked at, he memorized the streets, I just crossed the rivers and turned right

I honestly did not believe them but sure enough when I got home and looked it up, I found a lot of information on how men typically use streets and cardinal directions and women use landmarks and lefts and rights (James MD Jr., 1998).  One particular study I read investigated age and gender differences in different orientation strategies.

Lui et al. used an online battery, or a series of 6 tests, to test for different orientation strategies.  There was the Landmark Recognition test which assessed the ability to recognize landmarks encountered during navigation; the Left/Right Orientation test which assessed the ability to learn a route by following left/right body turns without any landmarks; the Path Reversal test which assessed the ability to recognized the ability to go back to starting point without landmarks; the Heading Orientation test which  evaluated the ability of the individual to perform a route based on left/right turns associated with selective landmarks; and finally the last two, Cognitive Map Formation and the Cognitive Map Use test, which assessed the ability of individuals to form and make use of mental representation of the environment. 634 volunteers participated in the testing and were scored on the number of correct responses during each individual test.  Men were able to form and make use of cognitive maps better than women, so they had a better mental representation of the environment (Liu et al., 2011).  Men performing better spatially made sense to me since I remember learning in my NBB 302 class that men generally have a slightly larger parietal cortex, relating to improved performance on spatial tasks.  Liu et al. also made a new observation that men performed better in the path reversal test.  They explained how it is novel, but it is consistent with the knowledge that men process distance/metric information better than women during navigation (Liu et al., 2011).

I was surprised that men and women performed equally on the Landmark Recognition test.  The lack of variation between the genders could have been due to the fact that it was a virtual navigation, and the participants never actively navigated.  Liu et al. did recognize that active and passive learning of spatial environments could lead to different performance data and that further studies could be performed.

Overall I understood how men essentially have a spatial map in their head when following directions which probably accounts for their sense of direction.  One thing I know for sure is I did not have to look at the map again once we started off for the restaurant, and Kris stopped twice.   I’m sticking with using landmarks…

Cheers to your birthday Kris!

~Sarah Harrington

James MD Jr. E-LC, Rebecca AS, Rhonda M (1998) Spatial Ability, Navigation Strategy, and Geographic Knowledge Among Men and Women. Evolution & Human Behavior 19:89-98.

Liu I, Levy RM, Barton JJ, Iaria G (2011) Age and gender differences in various topographical orientation strategies. Brain research 1410:112-119.