It is frequently said that addiction occurs when drugs “hijack” the brain.It’s hard to nail down what that means, but it does rightly suggest that there is an involuntary takeover of the ...

Because addiction affects the brain’s executive functions, centered in the prefrontal cortex, individuals who develop an addiction may not be aware that their behavior is causing problems for ...

We're learning more about the craving that fuels self-defeating habits—and how new discoveries can help us kick the habit. Addiction hijacks the brain’s neural pathways. Scientists are ...

What can new research tell us about addiction and the brain? Most important: Can what we’re learning help more people recover? “Not long ago the idea of repairing the brain’s wiring to fight ...

As a behavioral neurogeneticist leading a team investigating the molecular mechanisms of addiction, I combine neuroscience with genetics to understand how alcohol and drugs influence the brain.

Figure 1: Drug addiction as a disease of the brain. Chronic exposure to drugs of abuse is required for drug addiction, and its expression involves complex interactions between biological and ...

In Janak's lab, neuroscientists use a tiny neural probe implanted in rat brains to investigate the behavioral and neural mechanisms of addiction. "These probes are a major advance for understanding ...

Alcohol addiction, also called alcohol use disorder, is one of the most widespread and serious mental health challenges ...

Addiction can also result in death. There are many drugs which we know can be addictive. Some, like alcohol and heroin, can cause a physical dependence where the brain and the body move from ...

The release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain creates the feeling of pleasure ... “Dismissal of addiction and obesity as problems of self-control ignore the fact that for us to ...

When a child experiences neglect or abuse—whether physical, emotional, or sexual—it significantly impacts brain development, potentially predisposing them to addiction. These adverse childhood ...