another phrase for reward system of the brain
Scientists believed for a while that the reward system could tell us all we need to know about addiction and how it manifests itself throughout the brain. However, tolerance builds and the euphoric responses to these drugs begin to wane. The reward system of the brain is a circuit that uses the chemical dopamine to stimulate feelings of elation and euphoria. This system has a motivational role and normally encourages survival behaviours such as obtaining food, water and sex. It is a hijacking of the brain circuitry that controls behavior, so that the addict’s behavior is fully directed to drug seeking and use. With repeated drug use, the reward system of the brain becomes subservient to the need for the drug. Brain changes have occurred that will probably inﬂuence the addict for life, regardless of whether or not he continues to use the drug. The brain’s reward system is organized to engage the areas of the brain that control our ability to take action. The executive area of the brain, located in the prefrontal cortex, enables us to plan and execute complex activities, as well as control our impulses. In neuroscience, the reward system is a collection of brain structures that are involved in the regulation of behaviors that are associated with desirable, approachable, or intrinsically positive stimuli. Drugs of addiction can hijack this system to induce euphoric feelings of their own. Cocaine, for example, is a highly addictive drug that blocks reuptake transporters of dopamine. These transporters normally soak up excess dopamine and ensure that the reward system is not overactive. Cocaine stimulates euphoria by preventing dopamine from being retrieved and increases stimulation of the reward system. And calling our love of chocolate or football an “addiction” not only trivializes the devastation wrought by addiction, but misses the point that addiction involves a hijacking of the brain’s circuitry, a reprogramming of the reward system, and lasting, sometimes permanent, brain changes. Due to this, the body has its own off-switches in our reward pathways that try to limit the amount of pleasure we feel. These normally work by desensitising the brain to dopamine, so that dopamine isn’t able to produce the effects it once could. How Addiction Hijacks Our Reward System. People have been using addictive substances for centuries, but only very recently, by using the powerful tools of brain imaging, genetics, and genomics, have scientists begun to understand in detail how the brain becomes addicted. The reward system is a group of neural structures that are critically involved in mediating the effects of reinforcement. A reward is an appetitive stimulus given to a human or some other animal to alter its behavior.
A circuit that uses the chemical dopamine to stimulate feelings of elation and euphoria.