Nucleus accumbens

Fear has been and still is an important negative emotion. This is because if we do not fear impending danger, there is a chance that we will not survive. Even though we can be fearful of harmless stimuli at times, the times when something is harmful must be acted upon in order to ensure survival. Evolutionarily, it is better to have a false fear response than a missed response that could result in death: a higher cost to an organism than any false alarm (Stirling, Greskovich, & Johnson, 2014).…

The Disastrous Influences of Social Media In the duration of time that it takes you to read this paper, there will be thirty-eight successful suicides world-wide (according to figures provided by Luxton). Over the past decade, there has been uprising questions and debates that question if excessive use of social media contributes to addictive behaviors, violence and mental health issues. With ninety-four percent of teenagers using the internet every day, studies show links between social…

Inquiry Statement Methamphetamine or METH is a highly addictive psychostimulant that has neurodegenerative effects on the human brain (Krasnova & Cadet 2009)(Krasnova and Cadet, 2009). METH abuse in Hawaii is one of the highest in the nation (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Oct/12/ln/ln02a.html). METH is also commonly used by HIV-infected individuals(Cadet & Krasnova 2007). Drug use in the presence of HIV-infection increases the severity of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder…

Social media has quickly become intertwined into our society’s daily routine. Gone are the days when we would have face to face discussions, about everything and anything, in turn creating lifelong friendships. This current generation is much more willing to hide behind the computer trying to create connections through the veil of the Internet, specifically social networking sites. With millions of people from all over the world, connecting with each other through social media, it is no wonder…

An atypical antipsychotic that is used for the treatment of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder that will be discussed is quetiapine (trade name Seroquel). Clinical trials studying the mechanism which quetiapine acts on iontropic glutamate receptors in comparison to haloperidol a convention antipsychotic and clozapine which is also an atypical antipsychotic show significant differences in their effects on NMDA, glutamatergic, and AMPA receptors elucidating possible…

nerves to trigger movement, foot tapping, clapping, dancing and instrument playing (Sacks, 2007). The prefrontal cortex of the brain creates music expectations, establishes violation of expectations and ways to satisfy musical expectations.The nucleus accumbens and amygdala areas of the brain dictates the emotional reactions to music and it can trigger a feeling of hope, happiness, joy, expectations, sadness or grief. Whether you like a song or not is based on your expectations and ability to…

Facebook affects society Facebook is a social networking website that help people communication and share information with each other. Facebook designed by a college student called Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. He went in Harvard University and start his genius social networking website upload in 2006. Now Facebook becomes the largest social media website and there have over 1 billion users in the world. Facebook is easy to join. Anyone over age of 13 with valid email address can create a Facebook…

The first way in which this trait varies is within sexes. To start, one should understand that Life History Theory can clearly make a distinction between how males and females are affected by psychotropic drug use. The Life History Theory describes males as more likely to develop psychotropic drug addictions than females, especially prevalent in adolescence. This trend does not decline in males until they marry (Durrant, Adamson, Todd, Sellman ,2009). In adolescence, males and females have…

2013, Keller et al. 1996). Repeated cocaine use often leads to dependence because the extraneous dopamine effects the mesolimbic reward pathway in the brain. In particular, the increased dopamine levels effect the nucleus accumbens region of the brain and produces the feeling of pleasure and satisfaction (Frank et al. 2011). The limbic system also contains the hippocampus and the amygdala, which function in memory. The over activation of these regions help the cocaine-user…

Heroin: A new epidemic with an old drug The first ever opioid, opium, comes from the sap of opium poppies. Cultivation and growth date back to ancient civilizations around 3400 B.C. In the early 18th century physicians used opium for a therapeutic agent that had multiple purposes, but mostly for relieving pain. It was only towards the late 18th century that some physicians began to recognize that the drug had extremely addictive qualities. Codeine and morphine are isolated forms of opium.…