Usually the state of hunger remains, even if food is found and the animal is eating. An example is an animal in the state of being hungry. when a certain sub-state being fixed) states during an uninterrupted interval of time can be called a phase. Phases: keeping some sub-states fixedīy the definition above, a state is momentary, occurring at a precise moment in time. They are sub-states because one can be angry and fight, or angry and submissive, hence indeed some parameters are lacking. The well-known human emotions (like anger, fear, desire, surprise, disgust) are all examples of mental sub-states of a more general mental state. Making restriction eases the fact that states are higher-order mechanisms and can be helpful to obtain experimental or theoretical results. A state is not involved with just one input signal and one action signal, but with a whole class of input-action signals. The notion of state is a so-called higher-order mathematical notion. For Homo sapiens another restriction is useful: it makes sense to focus on signals available to consciousness and to intended actions. In such cases one speaks about behavioral states. For example, in studying a species one may restrict oneself to feeding or to sexual behavior. These are sub-states relevant in a certain scientific context. For the notion of state one may restrict oneself to relevant forms of input and action, depending on the context of the subject matter. A sub-state is a part of this vector of values, determining only partly the input-action relation. Indeed, in the ideal case of having all possible values, such a vector completely determines the behavior of the organism, depending on presented stimuli. Approximating states, sub-statesĪs approximation to a state in an organism, one can consider a vector of variables having a given value. Such complex states cannot be determined empirically nor theoretically, but serve to derive the well-established laws of thermodynamics.
#Endorphin structure plus#
Prior to this, statistical mechanics described the state of a gas in a vat as elements of a space of dimension 6.10^23, where the 6 stands for the 3 position coordinates plus 3 velocity components of the 10^23 (Avogadro’s number) molecules in a given volume. The notion of state is used in computer science and also extensively in mathematical system theory. Thus a state is an idealized mathematical notion, that usually cannot be known in full, but that is nevertheless very useful: it can be approximated and can serve for theoretical considerations. Therefore we define the state of an organism (the notion also applies to mechanical systems with sensors and actuators) at a given moment t, as the way it acts when receiving certain stimuli at moment t. The state of an organism may vary from moment to moment. In this way states are defined as action tendencies. In that case we say that the organism is in a different (internal) state. Indeed, the same external stimuli may give rise to a different reaction. Such input-action pairs only partially describe the organism. The effects on the sequential organization of behavior and on state transitions dominate the description of these effects.Īn organism, from a single cell to Homo sapiens, continuously responds to input from its environment with (if all is well) an adequate action. The effects of β-END on behaviors like food intake and sexual behavior, and the mechanisms involved in reward, meditation and pain control are discussed in detail. Funneling-constraints restrict the number of possible behavioral transitions in specific phases while at other moments in the sequence the transition to other behavioral states is almost completely open.
#Endorphin structure free#
In section 1.4 the sequential organization of male rat behavior is explained showing that an animal is not free to switch into another state at any given moment.
#Endorphin structure series#
To understand how β-END can have specific behavioral effects, we use the notion behavioral state, inspired by the concept of machine state, coming from Turing (Proc London Math Soc, Series 2,42:230-265, 1937).
VT occurs over short as well as long distances via the extracellular space in the brain, as well as via the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flowing through the ventricular spaces inside the brain and the arachnoid space surrounding the central nervous system (CNS). This kind of communication between neurons has been designated volume transmission (VT) to differentiate it clearly from synaptic communication. Beta-endorphin (β-END) is an opioid neuropeptide which has an important role in the development of hypotheses concerning the non-synaptic or paracrine communication of brain messages.
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