PSY100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Behavioral Addiction, Limbic System, Brainstem
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PSY100H1 Full Course Notes
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Nestler and malenka: drugs of abuse control the brain"s natural reward circuitry. Stimulation of this pathway reinforces behaviour, ensuring that what you just did you will do again. Learning strongly affected by reward, and rewarding effects of, for example cocaine, are mediated through the same mechanisms which have evolved for highly functional, adaptive reasons, like learning and motivation. Brain stem is important for regulating arousal and alertness. Amygdala has to do w/ emotional and significance testing. Vta feeds info forward to -> dopamine in nacc, amygdala, pfc, etc. Activation of effect, motor & attentional systems. Evolutionary direction of function & morphology (back to front, inside to outside) except for cerebellum. Cerebral cortices (4 lobes) occipital, parietal, temporal, frontal. Frontal: combo of prefrontal areas & rest off frontal. Pfc: ability to function at higher level. The two hemispheres f the brain are actually 2 mini brains connected by bundle of fibers, the corpus callosum.
