General Neurobiology Flashcards
Down-regulation of dopamine neurotransmitters leads to
lower dopamine receptor availability
What happens as a result of lower dopamine receptor availability?
natural rewards in the environment do not produce dopaminergic effects which leads to drug-seeking behavior
How is reward processing impacted by addiction?
EEG demonstrates drug-addicted individuals show the same brain activity to varying monetary amounts (no difference between 45 cents and 1 cent)
What happens to salience in drug-addicted individuals?
Salience shifts and the individual’s attention is drawn more to drug-related cues (e.g. Stroop Color Word Test)
Deficits in Decision-Making are associated with what part of the brain?
Prefrontal cortex
Gray matter decrements in the PFC were shown to be positively correlated with the number of years using the drug [True/False]
True
Response Inhibition [definition]
the ability to inhibit maladaptive or disadvantageous behaviors
Incentive Salience [definition]
motivation for rewards derived from both one’s physiological state and previously learned association about a reward cue
Incentive Salience is mediated by
the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system
Addiction causes impairments in which six brain networks
Executive
Salience
Reward
Habit
Memory
Self-Directed
Structural Recovery in the PFC is shown after how long in recovery
approx. 6 months
Cue Elicited Responses Include
reported increased craving for cocaine
higher heart rate and blood pressure
metabolic activity in OFC increased
How does addiction override free will?
addiction could compromise an individual’s ability to choose freely between alternative courses of action
The iRISA model proposes that
drug intoxication, which is traditionally viewed as the result of neural changes in subcortical regions, is also accompanied by increased dopamine levels in the frontal regions
The result of impaired response inhibition and salience attribution are
automatic, stimulus-driven behaviors, such as compulsive drug consumption predominate
