On the basis of recent neurophysiological results related to research in the noradrenergic system we predicted a correlation between platelet MAO activity, serum DBH and the strength of the contrast illusion (Uznadze effect) provoked in the visual field. The mechanism of this illusion is that the neuronal representation of a previously inspected figure distorts the correct perception of a subsequently displayed test figure. Those layers that play important role in these processes are under massive noradrenergic influence. This gives sufficient reason to test our hypothesis. Thirty healthy subjects were submitted to blood sampling and psychological experiment. A significant negative correlation was found between MAO activity and the strength of the contrast illusion (R:-0.3634; p<0.05). This result is relevant to the hypothesis that platelet MAO activity could be a good marker of the activity of the monoaminergic systems in the brain. At the same time the correlation that was found suggests that the fixed set method could be a useful noninvasive tool for biological personality research on this field.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.