BM&L AND THE NEUROSCIENCE OF
ADDICTION
Brain Mind & Life
International has promoted an updating
on the neurobiology of addiction organizing among its members several debates on
the more controversial issues. The event originated from the focus devoted to
basic neuroscience of addiction by Nature Neuroscience (Neurobiology of Addiction. Nature Neuroscience 8, 1427-1489,
2005).
The focus contain a series
of specially commissioned reviews and perspectives on the neurobiology of drug
abuse, decision making and habit formation, as well as a commentary on how
these basic science insights should guide public policy on addiction and its
treatment. Each feature has been the starting point for a BM&L’s member
presentation. The full content is listed below:
1. Neurobiology of addiction.
2. The neuroscience of addiction.
3. Neurobiology of addiction: treatment and
public policy ramifications.
4. The role of neuroadaptations in relapse
to drug seeking.
5. How do we determine which drug-induced
neuroplastic changes are important?
6. Plasticity of reward neurocircuitry and
the 'dark side' of drug addiction.
7. Is there a common molecular pathway for
addiction?
8. Genetic influences on impulsivity, risk
taking, stress responsivity and vulnerability to drug abuse and addiction.
9. Decision making, impulse control and
loss of willpower to resist drugs: a neurocognitive perspective.
10. Nicotine addiction and comorbidity with
alcohol abuse and mental illness.
11. Laboratory models of alcoholism:
treatment target identification and insight into mechanisms.
12. Neural systems of reinforcement for
drug addiction: from actions to habits to compulsion.