Addiction and the Brain
Structures of the brain
Cerebrum
- Frontal lobe
- Occipital Lobe
Vision, Reading
- Parietal Lobe
Auditory memories, some hearing, visual memories, some vision pathways, other memory, music, fear, some language, some speech. some behavior and emotions, sense of identity
- Right Hemisphere
Controls the left side of the body, temporal and spatial relationships, analyzing nonverbal information, communicating emotion
- Left Hemisphere
Controls the right side of the body, produces and understands language
- Corpus Callosum
Communication between the left and right side of the brain
The Cerebellum
- The brain stem
motor & sensory pathway to body and face
vital centers- cardiac, respiratory, & vasometer
- Hypothalamus
Moods and motivation
sexual maturation
temperature regulation
hormonal body processes
- Optic Chiasm
vision and the optic nerve
- Pituitary Gland
hormonal body processes
physical maturation
growth (height and form)
sexual maturation
sexual functioning
- Spinal Cord
conduit and source of sensation and movement
- Ventricals and Cerebral Adueduct
Contains the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord
Reward Pathway
- Reward pathway- involves several parts of the brain, the ventral tegmental area, the nucleus accumbens, and the prefrontal cortex. Most important is the DOPAMINE SYSTEM.
- Ventral tegmental area- collection of neurons situated at the center of the midbrain, functions as a sort of receptor core, receiving messages from different parts of the brain
- Nucleus accumbens- when activated, dopamine levels increase
- Prefrontal cortex- in charge of thinking and thought analysis, responsible for regulating behavior
Lobes of the cerebrum
Cerebellum location
Appearance of the brain
How do drugs affect the brain.
"Drugs are chemicals that affect the brain by tapping into it's communication system and interfering with the way neurons normally send, receive, and process information,. Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, can activate neurons because their chemical structure mimics that of a natural neurotransmitter." - National Institute on Drug Abuse Most drugs tend to target the brain's reward system by filling it with dopamine. Dopamine ( a neurotransmitter) is present in parts of the brain that regulates movement, emotion, motivation, and feelings of pleasure. Activated on normal levels, the system rewards our natural behaviors but when you overstimulate it with drugs it produces euphoric effects, which strongly reinforces the behavior of drug use, (teaching the user to repeat it.)
Dopamine.?
Dopamine
Your brain and drugs?
It's not a pretty combination. Drugs make it more and more difficult to feel that dopamine effect. You need to eventually take larger and larger amounts of drugs to get to that same dopamine level.