"Those things are the receptors and neurons to which they are acting on. The main idea here is that areas and neurotransmitters are nothing without the networks and circuits they are involved in." She had a couple more lines. But, hopefully, you see why I am constantly amazed by my students.

"...in the brain that magically does everything. It is cool to think of them this way (and I am sure they appreciate being praised this much), but that is not the truth. It is not all about the neurotransmitter because it is nothing without the things it works with..."

"We can see this in the interaction of serotonin and dopamine in reward, and with glutamate and GABA with ketamine." This last sentence refers to two papers we read.

The second one, which uses a more conversational tone: "Often times we describe the neurotransmitters as the main character..."

"However, in this class, we learned that the real determinant of their action is is not the neurotransmitter alone, but the receptor and the cell it binds to. However, it goes even further than that. Neurotransmitters do just work individually, but instead work in a network..."

Example one, "When people look at neurotransmission, they often focus on the neurotransmitters themselves. Thinking broadly about them, for example, serotonin is the happy neurotransmitter, and dopamine is the reward neurotransmitter...

The goal was to explain the actions of neurotransmitters in terms of "not the neurotransmitter but the receptor and cell it is acting on." The idea is part of broader theme that I emphasis in all the upper level neuroscience classes, "Networks, not areas or neurotransmitters.

The level of work -- in my experience -- is much higher.

My athletes will be very disappointed by this hard truth!