Week 4

Question 1

Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA)

Answer 1

• Dopamine-rich nucleus that mediates reward system
• Located in midbrain, next to the substantia nigra
• Sends dopamine to the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, hippocampus,and prefrontal cortex.
• ↑ VTA pathways – implicated in OCD

Question 2

Nucleus Accumbens

Answer 2

• Involved in all motivationally-relevant stimuli = rewarding or aversive.
• Interface between motivation + action (connection to caudate nucleus*)

Question 3

Amygdala

Answer 3

• Happiness & Enjoyment
• Anxiety, irritability, and unease - Withdrawal feelings = Motivation to seek out drug

Question 4

Hippocampus

Answer 4

• Memory and learning

Question 5

Prefrontal Cortex

Answer 5

• Reasoning, problem-solving, impulse control, creativity, perseverance.

Question 6

2 parts of the the Dopamine Pathway

Answer 6

Mesolimbic Dopamine Pathway & Mesocortical Dopamine Pathway

Question 7

The ventral tegmental area (VTA)

Answer 7

regulating reward consumption, learning, memory, and addiction behaviors through mediating dopamine (DA) release in downstream regions

Question 8

Mesolimbic Dopamine Pathway

Answer 8

route between VTA, Nucleus accumbens, and limbic system (hippocampus & amygdala). activates the brain to remember that you like something

Question 9

Mesocortical Dopamine Pathway

Answer 9

route between VTA/Nucleus accumbens and PFC. this tells us how to access and inhibit how we get to the thing that makes us happy - also activates reasoning

Question 10

The role of stress

Answer 10

Stress = ↑ corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)
* Strengthens the Amygdala
* Weakens the hippocampus & prefrontal cortex