Q & A with an expert

An interview was conducted on an expert, Dr. Nicolai Ph.D., in the field of Psychology and neural disorders. She is a Psychology professor at Rockhurst University in Kansas City. Below is the interview with Questions and answers with her permission:

Why did you choose this field?

She found that questions that psychologists asked were the most interesting ones. She enjoys investigating how and why humans think and feel the way they do. This is also one of the most fascinating parts of the field for her. She loves teaching at the college level and talking with intelligent students about psychological topics.

Do you have any accounts of patients with neurological disorders?  Which ones? What can you tell me about these disorders?

She has not been in the clinical world for 20 years now, but she did spend 2.5 years as a clinician while pursuing her doctorate. She worked with patients with psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. A question lies in what a neurological disorders actually is. She believes all psychiatric disturbances can be considered a neurological disorder such as Schizophrenia and tic disorders. She is most interested in neurological disorders because they have been maintained in the population, haven’t been selected against, and don’t seem to confer a reproductive advantage. Some disorders are later onset, after child-bearing years, so they don’t detract from reproductive fitness.

Why do you think a psychologist studying neurological disorders should know about evolution?

She believes that evolution is important to find out why these disorders have been maintained in the population. She stated that, “Evolutionary history is the story of the ways in which our genetic makeup as a species has responded to and changed by the environments. Psychologists are interested in environments in which humans live and interact and how those environments have an impact on thoughts and behavior. Our genetic makeup influences how we interact with environment. For human, social interaction is key to the environment. It is most important to survival. Social milieu is unique to humans. Evolution of the human brain both influences and is influenced by the fact that humans are a social species.”

How important is the search for a cure or medications to help cope with the disorders?

Dr. Nicolai finds it very important that mental disorders are number 3 or 4 on the list of disabilities that are costly in building economies in terms of health care and inability to work. In terms of human misery and suffering, it is extremely important to try to help prevent and treat these disorders. Dr. Nicolai believes that if a person is more productive and has more energy, he or she can do positive things for the social world.

Have you heard of grid computing? What do you think about using grid computing in the search for a cure?

Dr. Nicolai knows that grid computing is a relatively new method that allows researchers to compile genetic DNA such as brain imaging data to look at huge samples of people with different stages of disorders to try and identify areas of the brain affected earliest. The goal is to identify markers to help find a cure. MRI and fMRI data analysis takes time and needs a lot of space. When processing large amounts of data, it is not always representative based on available resources.

Where does the root of the problem for most neurological disorders exist? 

She believes the problem is in epigenetic regulation in a combination of genes that predispose individuals in combination with environmental interaction. This combination could manifest a phenotypic disorder (diagnosable condition). This is true for not just neurological disorders. Our genes direct how our hardware is built.

Are there any new means for neurological disorder prevention? 

She believes there is and that it lies in epigenetics, which is the way in which the environment across generations can have impact on genetic transmission. If you change the environment and change people’s behavior, one might be able to prevent the disorder. Good access to healthcare, prenatal especially, educating people early on to take care of their nervous systems by reducing stress, naps/rest and strengthening social networks can help their brain’s thrive in social environments. Throughout evolutionary history the focus has been on building the social brain. Good nutrition, exercise, sleep and peace are highly recommended. If a child grows up and sees carnage every day, it affects the way he or she processes information. It can trigger aggression in the presence of bombs going off outside their home. This can spike adulthood violence.

What misconceptions exist about neurological disorders? Can these patients be treated/live healthy normal lives?

She believes that a misconception is that our genetic make up is static and unchanging. It is alive throughout our life and nervous systems change as time goes on. Critical periods exist between prenatal/infancy, and rewiring and trimming occurs during adolescence. Schizophrenia is genetically predisposed, but the wiring that occurs prenatally is affected by genetic and environmental factors. Prenatal exposure to viruses in the 2^nd trimester can be linked to schizophrenia. Symptoms don’t emerge until late adolescence or early adulthood. This is because the functionality doesn’t manifest until adolescence. Schizophrenia is a spectrum disorder, which means on a continuum (Asperger’s to debilitating autism). Schizophrenia is a group of disorders that shares features but also share differences. Hallucinating can begin at age 6, but for others it does not emerge until the early thirties. Some people recover completely, but others need institutionalization for rest of their lives. Schizophrenia has a relatively stable prevalence around the world (about 1-1.5% around the world regardless of the culture). This suggests that when the split happened, if schizophrenia was not part of our species specific genetic makeup then we would see differences before people left the land to migrate. There is a relationship between evolution and characteristics that make up a species and that relationship is in genes that predispose. There is some reproductive advantage because those genes with the disorder actually do something else positive for the human.

What is there still to be discovered about neurological disorders?

“Schizophrenia patients don’t have that many kids because they are not reproductively fit. Why has this been maintained in the species? Because human brain development in evolutionary history, development of language and specialization of left hemisphere for language function. When schizophrenia starts to emerge as a dysfunctional disorder is important. Language function is disrupted in schizophrenia patients. There is a disruption in the connections pointing to when the manifestation became a problem. Relatives of people with schizophrenia have fewer children, but if there is positive reproductive success, why does this happen? This is not the case for mood disorders because relatives have more children.”

Side notes for Dr. Nicolai

“Seventy percent of Asians have genes that predispose them to anxiety. Their social structure was probably built to eliminate anxiousness of the culture. An example would be not looking people in eye and talking farther away from each other in public settings. This is why people act differently in China. They are less likely to push the prevalent predisposition to anxiety present in that culture.”

“In the past, when schizophrenia patients heard voices they were thought to have a connection to the spirit world…we don’t see that today. Technology has put behaviors in a different light. Back then, cultures understood schizophrenia as something way different than today. Schizophrenia patients were deemed reproductively fit because the spouse wanted the children to have a connection to the spiritual world.”

Group Reflection

1. Describe your feelings about or response to the interview.

We thought that Dr. Nicolai gave very informative and relative answers to our questions. It was interesting to hear a professional’s remarks, knowledge, and opinions on the matter. Dr. Nicolai put into perspective how the knowledge we are gaining in class applies to the world outside of college. Learning specifically about schizophrenia and how it relates to evolution was a great way to gain a better understanding of not only the disease, but also how the amount of knowledge a society has about a condition can affect its prevalence in their culture.

2. What changes occurred for you as a result of your interview?

The changes that occurred for us as a result of the interview included a different outlook on how evolution can affect the social atmosphere of society. It opened our minds to how important it actually can be to have a solid understanding of evolution. It also showed us that just because something is heritable does not mean that environmental factors cannot also be affecting it. Epigenetics is also important to understand to know whether the factors of a disease is actually evolving or not.

3. Did anything about the interview disturb you?

Nothing was really that disturbing in regards to the interview. However, we found it really interesting how neural disorders can influence whole cultures. When Dr. Nicolai informed us about the genetic predisposition to anxiety in Asians, it gave us a whole new perspective on neural disorders and how it can evolve in a way that impacts social behaviors. We never had thought about it in this way before.

4. Describe the connections you found between the interview and your research & classwork.

Dr. Nicolai’s answers had many connections to our research and in class. For example, Dr. Nicolai shared that prenatal exposure to viruses in the 2^nd trimester can be linked to schizophrenia, and in our research, we found that influenza during pregnancy may be associated with the development of schizophrenia. This was very closely related. Additionally, Dr Nicolai discussed evolution, which is related to our classwork. She gave the example of how schizophrenia was selected for in the past but selected against as we gained a better understanding of the disorder. Using schizophrenia as an example, the postulates of natural selection can be applied directly to this neurological disorder: There is variation in humans for schizophrenia, both in the disease and having the disease. At least some of these variations are heritable. Not everyone in each generation can survive. Finally, natural selection operates on the population. The survival and reproduction are not random; as we gained more knowledge of schizophrenia, the reproduction rate decreased. The individuals with the more favorable adaption of not having schizophrenia tend to out reproduce the individuals with schizophrenia. Overall, the connections in the interview helped us have a better understanding of our classwork and our research.