PSYC62H3 Study Guide - Brain Stimulation Reward, Medial Forebrain Bundle, Addiction
Document Summary
Have to send group membership by next friday, feb 8th, 2013. Drugs of abuse are rewarding initially and liked by the individual. Consequence strengthens the likelihood of the behavior repeating (positive reinforcement) Natural rewards: allow an organism to feel pleasure when engaging in behaviors that allow them to procreate, naturally evolutionarily adaptive role. Artificial rewards: not adaptive, play on same effects of natural rewards. Identified what regions of rat brain are capable of maintaining brain stimulation of reward. In which situations would the rat press a lever to get stimulation. Concluded that specific regions in which rats kept pushing lever for stimulation are part of the reward pathway. Different electrodes placed in different regions and figured out which regions rats maintained self-stimulation. Vta and its dopaminergic projections to nucleus accumbens and frontal cortex are the primary reward pathway which are all a part of the medial forebrain bundle.
