ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the neuroscience of addiction and drug abuse, the role of dopamine in drug use, the vulnerability to abuse and, in this regard, its putative link to reward. Addiction is a paradigmatic example of an aberrant will, the loss of control, a drain on behavioral/physiological systems, and also of aberrant central motive states. The chapter explores some of the neural mechanisms that underlie temptation, long-term considerations, predictions of future rewards, and sustaining goals and their expression. Cocaine, an extensively studied drug, has very fast uptake and clearance rates. The behavioral consequence of introducing dopamine antagonists into the brain/body, which blocks the uptake of dopamine in the brain, is a reduction in the self-administration of amphetamine, cocaine, nicotine, and morphine. Type II alcoholism is associated with impulsivity and low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Studies of sensation-seeking behavior in children before the onset of pathological behavior and in adults after onset of pathological behavior show a relationship with impulsivity.
