Glutamate buildup may be key factor in mental exhaustion

Their measurements (Figure 4) directly contradict this so they add another variable to their model ¯\_(ツ)_&#x2F;¯<p>Task performance &amp; subjective rating don&#x27;t change between the two groups.<p>The measurements are crude.<p>There&#x27;s a lot of degrees of freedom in this study. Useful for others in the field, but a popular writeup deserves to go in the bin

Well, it once was also said that serotonin levels were the key factor in depression.<p>I think it was B.F. Skinner who wrote that it’s a fool’s errand to try to pin behavior down in some physical or chemical matter in the brain. But I can’t seem to remember the quote... must be the glutamate.

Can&#x27;t wait for people to run with this headline and write articles about how avoiding MSG makes you smarter or something.<p>Snark aside, I think while it&#x27;s important to understand the chemical foundation for how certain brain processes or phenomena manifest, simplifying research results to news pieces like &quot;chemical X is why you feel bad&quot; is very evocative of the pre-modern &quot;humors&quot; approach to human health. Blood pressure too high? Just drain some blood.

N = 24 and the subheader is &quot;Toxicity of excess glutamate may contribute to cognitive fatigue, but some experts are skeptical&quot;<p>Color me skeptical.

So what are the ways to lower glumate buildup?

Also being discussed at <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=32430395" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=32430395</a>

&gt; demanding computational tasks such as face recognition that require megawatts of energy for computers to perform<p>I&#x27;m not sure what computer this is but I&#x27;m pretty sure it&#x27;s not using megawatts just to do some facial recognition (maybe she was fatigued by the time she got to the end of writing the article?).

N=39. Half as a semi-control group.<p>8%, 10% differences.<p>Replicate this with N=1000, it might be worth talking about.

I wonder if that would also make your brain extra tasty for zombies.

<i>Hold the front page!</i> --Researchers discover that, when you&#x27;re tired, you find it harder to think straight.

Anybody know if consuming MSG is related to glutamate levels in the brain? I know MSG is a subject of long and mostly pointless debate but curious what the actual science is here.