ESS 2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Nucleus Accumbens, Methamphetamine, Reward System
28 Nov 2017
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Document Summary
Drug taking is repeated compulsive drug seeking. Define as an actual brain disease (according to dmv-5) Withdrawal (negative effect of not having the drug) Use scientific methods to study the nerve system and how it collects, processes and output a system. All drug affect the brain by activating the reward center (at nucleus accumbens) Anything (e. g. sex, food, drug) triggers the reward system will lead to approach behavior. Can receive input from memory system (previous learning about the stimuli) Meth release dopamine signal to the reward center. Similar chemical structure of meth and dopamine. Trigger proteins that dopamine to bind meth instead. Can activate dopamine signal and enforce the reward system. People who are less prone to addiction have greater behavioral inhibition. Drive to compulsive drug seeking behavior: negative physical dependence theory. Cells change in ways that oppose drug effects to compensate by trying to counteract them. Results of these changes in absence of drug.
