Brain Basics
Drugs and Neurotransmitters
Effects on the Brain
Understanding Addiction
Treatment and Recovery
100

This part of the brain controls basic life functions like breathing and heart rate.

What is the brain stem?

100

This drug mimics natural neurotransmitters in the brain but sends abnormal signals.

What is marijuana or heroin?

100

This part of the brain is involved in the pleasurable effects of healthy activities but can be over-activated by drugs.

What is the basal ganglia?

100

Addiction is now understood as this type of disorder rather than a moral failing.

What is a medical disorder?

100

This is the general term for interventions designed to help people stop using drugs and regain control of their lives.

What is treatment?

200

The brain is often compared to this electronic device due to its complexity and function in processing information.

What is a computer?

200

Drugs like cocaine cause neurons to release abnormally large amounts of this type of brain chemical.

What are natural neurotransmitters, such as dopamine?

200

Name the brain region that becomes more sensitive with increased drug use, leading to anxiety and irritability.

What is the extended amygdala?

200

The repeated use of drugs causes this type of changes in the brain, making it hard to feel pleasure without drugs.

What is neuroadaptation or changes in the reward circuit?

200

True or False: All drugs affect the brain in the same way.

What is False?

300

This term refers to the chemical messengers in the brain that transmit signals between neurons.

What are neurotransmitters?

300

This neurotransmitter is often associated with the brain's reward circuit and the feeling of pleasure.

What is dopamine?

300

Which brain area is responsible for impulse control and planning?
 

What is the prefrontal cortex?

300

This term describes the compulsive seeking and use of drugs despite harmful consequences.

What is addiction or substance use disorder?

300

Name one of the brain regions that show a recovery of function after long-term abstinence from drugs.

What is the prefrontal cortex?

400

True or False: All parts of the brain mature at the same rate during adolescence.

What is False? (The prefrontal cortex is the last to mature.)

400

How do drugs like amphetamines disrupt the brain's communication system?

What is by preventing the normal recycling of neurotransmitters, causing overstimulation of brain circuits?

400

True or False: The brain can fully recover its function after long-term drug use.

What is False? (Recovery is possible, but some changes may be long-lasting or permanent.)

400

Which two factors are identified as contributing to the development of addiction?

What are biological and environmental factors?

400

This type of approach combines medications and behavioral therapy for effective addiction treatment.

What is medication-assisted treatment (MAT)?

500

This is the last part of the brain to mature, which is crucial for decision-making and self-control.

What is the prefrontal cortex?

500

These molecules recycle neurotransmitters in the brain, limiting or shutting off the signals between neurons.

What are transporters?

500

Opioid drugs can depress activity in this brain region, which can be life-threatening.

What is the brain stem?

500

The first scientific studies of addiction began in this decade, challenging the notion that addiction is a moral failing.

What is the 1930s?

500

Name one of the ongoing challenges in understanding how drugs change the brain to foster addiction.

What is understanding the exact mechanisms by which drugs alter brain circuits or why some people are more vulnerable to addiction than others?

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