Brain Basics
This part of the brain controls basic life functions like breathing and heart rate.
What is the brain stem?
This drug mimics natural neurotransmitters in the brain but sends abnormal signals.
What is marijuana or heroin?
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?
Addiction is now understood as this type of disorder rather than a moral failing.
What is a medical disorder?
This is the general term for interventions designed to help people stop using drugs and regain control of their lives.
What is treatment?
The brain is often compared to this electronic device due to its complexity and function in processing information.
What is a computer?
Drugs like cocaine cause neurons to release abnormally large amounts of this type of brain chemical.
What are natural neurotransmitters, such as dopamine?
Name the brain region that becomes more sensitive with increased drug use, leading to anxiety and irritability.
What is the extended amygdala?
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?
True or False: All drugs affect the brain in the same way.
What is False?
This term refers to the chemical messengers in the brain that transmit signals between neurons.
What are neurotransmitters?
This neurotransmitter is often associated with the brain's reward circuit and the feeling of pleasure.
What is dopamine?
Which brain area is responsible for impulse control and planning?
What is the prefrontal cortex?
This term describes the compulsive seeking and use of drugs despite harmful consequences.
What is addiction or substance use disorder?
Name one of the brain regions that show a recovery of function after long-term abstinence from drugs.
What is the prefrontal cortex?
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.)
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?
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.)
Which two factors are identified as contributing to the development of addiction?
What are biological and environmental factors?
This type of approach combines medications and behavioral therapy for effective addiction treatment.
What is medication-assisted treatment (MAT)?
This is the last part of the brain to mature, which is crucial for decision-making and self-control.
What is the prefrontal cortex?
These molecules recycle neurotransmitters in the brain, limiting or shutting off the signals between neurons.
What are transporters?
Opioid drugs can depress activity in this brain region, which can be life-threatening.
What is the brain stem?
The first scientific studies of addiction began in this decade, challenging the notion that addiction is a moral failing.
What is the 1930s?
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?