For AP Psychology’s Unit 2, students must memorize seven neurotransmitters. Here is how I did it:

When remembering the first five neurotransmitters, think SEDAN 🚙 (an automobile)

Serotonin

Epinephrine

Dopamine

Acetycholine

Norepinephrine

Next, here are some mnemonics for each neurotransmitter

Serotonin

Think that “serotonin” sounds like “sir rotten”. If one has low serotonin levels, they will be rotten, or depressed. Low serotonin levels cause depression.

Epinephrine

(I have nothing for epinephrine, but when you study, try to make up any mnemonics/acronyms that have personal meaning to you! You are more likely to remember something that has personal meaning to you remember?)

Dopamine

Remember this saying: “tall dopey is skiing, short dopey is parking” (Dopey is a dwarf from snow white). This saying represents that high levels of dopamine cause schizophrenia and low levels of dopamine cause Parkinson’s. Tall→high, __ski__ing→__schi__zophrenia, short→low, __parkin__g→__parkin__sons.

Acetylcholine

Like dopamine, you can remember this: “Tall Ace is flexing, short Ace has Alzheimer’s” (Ace is a made-up person, named after __Ace__tylcholine). High levels of acetylcholine cause issues with muscles, and low levels of acetylcholine cause Alzheimers. Tall→high, flexing→muscles, short→low.

Norepinephrine

This one is more silly (but it worked for me so…): put an S in front of Norepinephrine and you’ll get S__nore__pinephrine. Associate snore with sleeping. When you have low norepinephrine levels, you aren’t alerted or aroused, which is what you are when you are sleeping/tired.

For the remaining two neurotransmitters, there isn’t any special automobile name for them to go with, but that isn’t a problem as there are only two left and they are both easy to remember.

GABA and Glutamate.

I memorized these two as “GG” or “G x2”

I found that the functions of these two neurotransmitters were pretty similar

GABA is inhibitory, while glutamate is excitatory.

Here are some acronyms to memorize what happens with low levels of each neurotransmitter:

Low levels of GABA can lead to SIT 💺:
Seizures

Insomnia

Tremors

Low levels of glutamate can lead to SM:

Seizures

Migraines

And there you have it, a bunch of memorization techniques to help you memorize the seven neurotransmitters easier. Remember: SEDAN +GG!