Pages

November 30, 2011

Is Addiction the Result of Brain Evolution?

Is Addiction the Result of Brain Evolution? | Psychology Today:

'via Blog this'

What about addiction? We know that the tendency to pursue specific rewards (drugs, booze, porno, food, internet gambling, feet if you're a foot fetishist, etc.) grows easily into addiction. That's why so many of us are addicted to something. And we know that certain brain processes, like the rise in dopamine whenever you're reminded of the thing you want, are what make addiction happen. In fact, much of the prefrontal cortex seems prewired for addiction. Increased dopamine flow cultivates more and more synapses in the orbitofrontal (lower/prefrontal) cortex, and in the nearby ventral striatum -- synapses that represent all the details, value, and importance of the thing you crave. Which dredges up more dopamine, so you wire up more synapses, and on and on it goes. No wonder we're easily addicted. Our brains seem perfectly designed for it.

No comments:

Post a Comment