Week 7

Question 1

Conditioned drug effects

Answer 1

Craving, autonomic, regional CBF/metabolism, DA release

Question 2

Common pathway for drugs of addiction

Answer 2

VTA –> nuc acc in striatum —> Frontal cortex

Question 3

Autism triad

Answer 3

Early language and communication impairment (probably affective). Problem in reciprocal social interaction. Restricted interest, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors.
“on zoom”: can’t integrate facial cues etc. CAN have motor Sx

Question 4

Genetics of ASD

Answer 4

heterogeneous, some CNVs. mGluR LOF or GOF seems to be good model

Question 5

neuroanatomical changes in ASD

Answer 5

different wiring apparent at 6mos. facial perception areas, amygdala, VTA (loss of social motivation/”addiction”)–> object over people preference.
larger brains: no pruning, hyperconnectivity

Question 6

Therapy for autism

Answer 6

if we can intervene early, may prevent a lot. Training to help face recognition. Group therapy to improve social cognition.