Addiction Quiz

Which of the following is true of neurotransmitters? (choose ALL that are true)

*our brains produced at least 100 kinds of neurotransmitters and we're still finding more *neurotransmitters can either be excitatory or inhibitory *usually neurotransmitter that gets released is reabsorbed by the cell that released it

From the biological perspective, we know our brains have evolved in ways that make us repeat certain activities sometimes even when we no longer derive pleasure from them. List two things you do that could be understood in this framework (perhaps distractions when studying?) Then to get credit for this question choose false below.

False

Remember this! OUR BRAINS LOVE TO FIND AND PREDICT PATTERNS. This idea connects to lots of things in psychology including sensation and perception (ch 3), and classical and operant conditioning (ch 6), and stereotypes (ch 14). Say it out loud right now - "brains love to find and predict patterns" - then choose false to get this question correct (heh heh sneaky!)

False

In a documentary about Amy Winehouse (a singer who died in 2011) on the night she won her first Grammy award she was sober and told a friend, "This isn't fun without the drugs." This would be an example of

a hypofunctioning reward system (hypo means low)

Neurotransmitters are substances that are

released by neurons and transmit information to other neurons and cells

Researchers have found that behavioral addictions are related to our assessment of risk vs reward and that to survive we need to remember important events and situations. The strange result is that when gambling

the near misses (almost winning) are more memorable/rewarding than the wins

One biological theory of what might make one person more susceptible to addiction than another is

they have fewer dopamine receptors

Methamphetamine is particularly addictive because it creates extreme highs and the brain compensates by changing in ways that make it difficult for the user to then feel pleasure without the drug and without increasing doses of the drug.

True

We used to think dopamine (DA) was involved in addiction because it regulates pleasure. We now understand it may simply be encouraging us to repeat behaviors and desire things, even if we do not experience pleasure doing them.

True

He's talking about a book right now called The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (nick name is the DSM.) This is published by the American Psychiatric Association (which is different from the American Psychological Association but same acronym). This book lists the diagnostic criteria (lists of symptoms) for all our current mental diagnoses. As you can imagine 1) the criteria and what gets listed as a disorder changes over time, 2) people write this book. It is currently known as the DSM-V because it is in its 5th major edition (sometimes they change it a little bit; we had a DSM-IIIR for example which was a revised third edition.) You'll learn more about this in the chapter on mental disorders. The following is an example he just gave that shows how this manual is periodically updated:

behavioral addictions are now included in the DSM like gambling, sex addiction

Cocaine's mechanism of action is to

block the reabsorption of dopamine and norepinephrine into the cell that released it (we call reabsorption "reuptake") the results is there's lots more of those neurotransmitters having an impact than normal

The presenter just shared that as we continue to introduce a drug to our system, over time the brain will

compensate by reducing the amount of neurotransmitter it produces

Which neurotransmitter is most implicated in addiction?

dopamine

First a note, most people pronounce GABA with a short A, like the A's in banana, especially that middle banana A (as opposed to an "aw" sound like the presenter used.) OK, he just covered a bunch of things. Drugs work often by mimicking what your normal neurotransmitters do but, as we've probably already covered in lecture - they do it BIGLY. Your brain is flush with lots more substance than normal and lots more stimulation of your reward pathways than normal. They also impact multiple neurotransmitter systems. As far as addiction, one of the interesting pieces is that aside from stimulating reward - which makes total sense - drugs create addiction because of their impact on our

memory

Which of the following statements explains the presenter's claim that we have "invented addiction?"

our brains evolved to remember, reward, and repeat things that help us survive, and we created substances like drugs that trick our brains into remembering, rewarding, and repeating behaviors that are not connected to survival