PSYC 340 Lecture 18: Neural Basis of Drug Addition
29 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Addiction is built upon the same circuits for reward: taking control of the same systems that are for consequences, addiction takes control by artificially driving the circuits. The study of addiction helps us learn about reward learning and vice versa. Drugs of abuse are tapping into neurological systems that are meant for reward learning. Heroin and morphine are drug agonists- they directly drive the receptors which drives reward: activate opiate receptors. Dopamine system: drugs like amphetamine affect it- it promotes the release of dopamine- causes more dopamine to be released (this is what energizes people, cocaine. Once the dopamine is released and is floating in the synaptic cleft. There are neurochemical processes that grab the floating dopamine and pull it back into the cell to reuptake it. Coke disrupts the process of reuptake and dopamine remains in the synaptic cleft longer and as a result it has a bigger effect.
