Week 7

Question 1

What are behavioral addictions which is the only real one

Answer 1

Addiction involves preoccupation (planing day around drug), doing something to relieve dysphoric mood. The only real addiction is gambling addiction

Question 2

What is the argentine tango addiction

Answer 2

It was a research paper published to emphasise the point that addictions are being made out of everything the author conducted research and showed that tango can meet the criteria for addiction

Question 3

Is hypersexuality listed in the dsm explain why

Answer 3

No it is not but there is growing evidence that it should be as there a neurobiological overlaps with SUD’s including craving and attentional biases towards sex cues

Question 4

What behaviours do people being treated with dopamine for parkinsons develop

Answer 4

Gambling, hypersexuality, binge eating, shopping, medicine abuse, hobbyism and punding which are repetitive stereotypes (taking things apart and putting them back together)

Question 5

What is choice impulsivity

Answer 5

Do people prefer smaller rewards sooner or larger rewards later

Question 6

What is motor impulsivity

Answer 6

Looking at how people stop or refrain from an activity

Question 7

Is winning a factor which leads people to gamble. Explain the answer using dopamine

Answer 7

No is doesnt. There was no difference in dopamine levels in control and gamblers who won money. Gamblers showed higher dopamine response than control only when loosing money

Question 8

What is the evolutionary compensatory hypothesis

Answer 8

As rewards such as food were scattered and unreliable motivational processes overcompensated and facilated perservaration to keep people motivated to struggle on and find food

Question 9

What are the most prevalent factors amoung all disorder

Answer 9

Attentional biases

Question 10

What is cue reactivity

Answer 10

Physiological and subjective reactions elicited by gambling related stimuli associated with previous gambling episodes

Question 11

Discuss research on cue reactivity. Which pathways were activated and what do they represent

Answer 11

Pictures of gambling tailored to the gamblers preferences elicited high responses in the ventral striatum and decreased connection between the ventral striatum and prefrontal cortex which is the place used for reasoning ect

Question 12

Describe the role of working memory in addiction

Answer 12

Memory, planning and rule shifting is fine these people are usually intelligent suggesting that higher executive function is not a core issue

Question 13

Discuss the arousal of the ventral striatum and amygdala compared to controls in those with hypersexuality

Answer 13

Greater reactivity in the amygdala and ventral striatum in response sexual videos in hypersexual people compared to controls

Question 14

Describe the difference between wanting and liking in hypersexuality

Answer 14

Hypersexual people show greater desire scores (wanting) but had similar liking scores to controls. There is more functional connectivity of amygdala and striatum linked to the dorsal anterior cingulate. This pathway is strongly associated with desire

Question 15

Why should current results about addiction be interpreted with caution

Answer 15

Not many studies have been replicated and they have small sample. The tasks used are nothing compared actual gambling. Scales need to be tested to see whether they are measuring an actual thing

Question 16

What is evidence against compulsion as an addiction factor

Answer 16

Rats had to solve a different puzzles every day go access cocaine this disallowed them to form habits yet they showed all of the signs of addiction.

Question 17

Discuss the evolutionary hypothesis in treatment of addictions

Answer 17

If this hypothesis is right we need to reduce access to gambling in under resourced areas as it isnt right to take from people who already dont have much

Question 18

Discuss cue reactivity in treatment for addiction

Answer 18

We need to reduce ads for gamblig because if people are seeing these cues left right and centre its going to evoke the desire pathway and lead to gambling

Question 19

Discuss addiction treatment in terms of choice impulsivity

Answer 19

We need go get people to imagine the benefits of the future since usually addicted people choose short term small rewards over larger long term rewards

Question 20

Discuss preserved executive function in terms of treatment

Answer 20

People need to make plans for if a gambling behaviour or setting comes up about what they are going to do