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Motivation and Addiction: Neuronetworks and Treatment Targets

Difficulty level
Beginner
Speaker
Type
Duration
41:56

Most psychiatric disorders (most notably dependence syndromes, depression, psychosis, and autism) are characterized by impaired social interaction, with many patients preferring a drug of abuse. This lecture focuses on the latest research on the neural basis of normal and impaired social interaction.

Topics covered in this lesson
  • Neural networks activated in addiction, substance abuse and dependence, and passionate love
  • Dopaminergic involvement
  • The reward circuit
  • Basic nomenclature: reward, reinforcement, self-administration, and conditioned place preference 
  • Which neural systems in which brain regions mediate which aspects of behavior?
  • Reward vs aversion