AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Every substance has slightly different effects on the brain, but all addictive drugs, including alcohol, opioids, and cocaine, produce a pleasurable surge of the neurotransmitter dopamine in a region of the brain called the basal ganglia; neurotransmitters are chemicals that transmit messages between nerve cells.

Detailed explanation-2: -Research has shown that the drugs most commonly abused by humans (including opiates, alcohol, nicotine, amphetamines, and cocaine) create a neurochemical reaction that significantly increases the amount of dopamine that is released by neurons in the brain’s reward center.

Detailed explanation-3: -Cocaine is an excitatory psychoactive drug. It stimulates transmission at synapses in the brain that use dopamine as a neurotransmitter. Cocaine binds to membrane proteins that pump dopamine back into the presynaptic neuron. It blocks these transporters, causing a build-up of dopamine in the synapse.

Detailed explanation-4: -Instead of a simple, pleasurable surge of dopamine, many drugs of abuse-such as opioids, cocaine, or nicotine-cause dopamine to flood the reward pathway, 10 times more than a natural reward. The brain remembers this surge and associates it with the addictive substance.

Detailed explanation-5: -The yin and yang of dopamine. Nicotine, like cocaine and heroin, is known to cause addiction by activating the body’s reward network: Nicotine binds to receptors on cells that release the neurotransmitter dopamine into the brain, where it affects everything from pain perception and mood to memory.