Ventral tegmental area

Positive affect was shown to influence autonomic and somatic responses manipulated by the hypothalamus, as well as dopamine release by the ventral tegmental region due to the release of opioids by the nucleus accumbens. The second article was a synthesis of many experiments and research papers. The Neuroscience of Natural Rewards: Relevance to Addictive Drugs, by Ann E. Kelley and Kent C. Berridge

scans and combining it with anatomical data about the region in various correlative algorithms, we were able to construct ROI masks of two structures that are central components of the mesolimbic pathway (also known as the reward pathway): the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and nucleus accumbens (NAc). These region masks had a higher low (< < 0.03) and had a lower standard deviation in mean signaling across 12 scans compared to typical anatomically derived functional masks. Our findings promote a basic

Everyone knows what love is, and everyone has felt love at some point in their life. It is a universal feeling, a good feeling. The question is though, is there a chemical equivalent to love? What happens to the brain in love? According to Sultan Tarlaci, when a person is passionately in love he or she feels pure happiness and they are willing to risk more and fear less. He goes even further to state that a person is basically obsessed with the person whom they love and are willing to die for them

Drug addiction: Neuro-Behavioral Approach ChanMee Bae University of Washington, Seattle PSYCH 448F Autumn2015 Abstract In this paper, I am going to summarize how chronic drug use affects the function of the brain and how this leads to the aberrant behavioral manifestations of addiction. (Volkow & Li, 2005) A view of drug addiction has been changed from the ‘choices’ of the addicted individuals to the dysfunction of brain. The drug addiction may be regarded as the disease of the brain reward system

Latinum Oxygen Vanadium Etherium Romantic attraction feels rather insane when it happens; from personal experience, I had to physically stop and ask myself, "WHAT IS HAPPENING TO YOU, ALEX?!" What is going on inside my head? People are creatures, enormous idiotic animals. You, me, them, everyone; we are all slaves to the chemicals of our cerebrum - and when we fall in love, it is magical but strangely predictable. Clearly, we make our own decisions, yet, attraction, desire and love are driven by

The Relationship between Sensitivity to Reward and Punishment and Eating Behaviours Courtney Andrews Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University Abstract A study involving 252 participants undergoing the course Biological Psychology was carried out in order to examine the correlation between sensitivity to reward (SP), Body Mass Index (BMI), weight and more frequent consumption of unhealthy fast foods, (e.g., high in fat and sugar). The core results showed the

Social Media Essay As the years go by, the amount of users on social media is continuously increasing. People often think about the positive attributes that technology has brought us, however there are many negatives as well. As a result of excessively indulging in social media, adolescents face numerous problems in developing their brain. Although this problem is often ignored, it is very important for the public to be informed about the dangers of social media on their health. Due to an immoderate

Center for Biotechnology Information states that watching porn can affect the reward responses in your brain which leads to a loss of control and ultimately addiction in many cases. It was found that people who watch porn have shrunken striatum areas, an area of the brain linked with reward response and motivation, compared to people who have not viewed pornography. In a

thought that both the palatability and the reward value of nutrients are processed in the same brain region. However, a study conducted by Wassum et al. (2009) provides evidence that this is not the case. They found that the nucleus accumbens and the ventral pallidum are responsible for processing food palatability while the basolateral amygdala is involved in assigning incentive value of food rewards. Furthermore, these processes are interrupted when naloxone is administered into their associated regions

Even today I can still remember my graduation from preschool. I was only five years old at the time. At the ceremony my class-mates and I were asked what we wanted to be when we grow up. The world seemed so big at the time and every adult looked like they accomplished so much in their lives. Some of us said we wanted to be singers or professional athletes. Others wanted to be soldiers, doctors, or millionaires. Every person has had dreams of accomplishing great things and being successful. Everyone