The Effect of Recreational Drugs on the Transmission Process in the Central Nervous System:

Question 1

What do Recreational Drugs do to Brain functioning? And Examples.

Answer 1

Alter brain functioning, which alters mood, perception and/or conscious experience. There are many recreational drugs such as cocaine, cannabis and alcohol. The brain contains a ‘reward pathway’ which when activated causes us to experience a pleasant and rewarding feelings. This encourages the repetition of the behaviour.

Question 2

What does Heroin do?

Answer 2

Increases the amount of Dopamine (Euphoria). Stimulates excessive neurotransmitter activity. Brain naturally reduces levels of Dopamine (Dysphoria). So then people take more.

Question 3

What does Alcohol do?

Answer 3

Increases effects of GABA on post synaptic neuron making us feel relaxed. Reward pathway making us feel happy. Improve mood, but reduces production of serotonin which leads to depression.

Question 4

What does Cocaine do?

Answer 4

Blocks the reuptake of dopamine. More is available to bind to receptors (Euphoria). Brain reduces production of Dopamine leading to more usage.

Question 5

Supporting Evidence: Li et al:

Answer 5

I: Found that heroin users had more activity in the PCC compared to non-heroin users and there was a positive correlation between PCC activity and how long they had been an addict. J: Suggesting that the brain’s reward pathways do change when taking drugs showing that addiction is linked to neural transmission.

Question 6

Critical Evidence: Jones et al:

Answer 6

I: Found that people give a placebo without knowing (no marijuana) experiences a high like cannabis users who got marijuana. J: This suggest that addiction to drugs is not due to synaptic transmission but may be due to a cognitive thinking process.

Question 7

One strength: Scientific:

Answer 7

One strength is that the effect of drugs can be scientifically measured by brain scans to see if the drugs change the brain chemistry. This is a strength because it allows for objective and clear reasons for changes in someone’s addiction due to dopamine to be monitored and assessed.

Question 8

One weakness: Generalisable:

Answer 8

One weakness is that investigations about drug addiction are often completed on animals who are physiologically different to humans. This is weakness because it may be difficult to generalise the results about mode of action to human behaviour, as animal brains may respond differently to dopamine/drugs than humans.

Question 9

Conclusion about the effects of Recreational Drugs:

Answer 9

Useful: This research can be considered useful as it can help show how our brain works is response to different drugs and how they affect huma behaviour and how we can help people who are addicted.
Not Useful: This research is not useful as it doesn’t consider individual differences therefore not full explanation of behaviour.