Hello everyone, this topic of discussion is great around the holidays as eating is something that is done mostly. Hunger is said to be caused by the stomach. The stomach when full makes hunger stop, as the chemicals the body needs to produce energy are present by digestion. When the stomach is empty then the body senses a lack in a chemical balance to produce energy. The body creates a need for hunger. The main role of insulin is to lower blood glucose levels right when a food is being digested. Insulin also creates glycogen. Glycogen is created by insulin when there is too much glucose in the blood. Glycogen is then stored in the liver and muscles. The pancreas gland is responsible for the release of insulin when there are too much glucose, amino acids and fats which is created by the food we eat when hunger sets in. The neural and chemical feedback the brain needs to govern food intake is the rise and fall of curtain chemicals which can be sent to the brain by means of the liver or stomach using neural connections. This allows the brain to help better govern food intake. The glucostatic theory of hunger states that a drop-in glucose is a signal to the body and brain that digestion of food needs to happen. The dual-centre set-point theory states that the lateral hypothalamus and the ventromedial hypothalamus are involved in the aspects of hunger (Wickens, 2009). The differences are that the dual-centre set point theory uses neural connections to signal hunger and the glucostatic theory needs glucose to signal hunger. (Wickens, 2009). The theory that has more evidence to support it is the glucostatic theory because it has been around longer by only a couple of years. The role of neuropeptides in producing satiety is the release of neuropeptides by cells in the gastrointestinal system. (Wickens, 2009). The theory that sounds the best to me is the stomach being one of the main aspects in hunger. Since hunger is somewhat a routine experience then the brain storing these actions would be normal. Meaning patients that had their stomach removed still felt hunger because of perceived experiences already stored in the different locations of memory in our brain.
Which connections of hunger can you think is involved with our memories and declarative memories?
Alfred Rangel
Reference
Wickens, A. (2009). Introduction to biopsychology (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson Prentice Hall.