#6 Reward, Motivation and the Brain: Neuroscience Behind Addiction

Shifting Perceptions

There are many aspects that are to be considered when exploring foundations of addiction, specifically motivations in decision-making such as emotional arousal, anticipation or even reward processing. As a society, we seem to have conceptualized addictions as caused by moral failures, however this is untrue. Addictions manifest due to differences in our neuroanatomy. This finding has been used to classify an array of conditions and diagnoses as well as help us gain a better understanding of the biological underpinning of the phenomenon known as addiction. Dr. Balodis, professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, joins us to expand our knowledge on the concept of decision making. Her diverse knowledge on gambling, cannabis use, binge earning, and crack cocaine provide insights on addictions as a whole and various modes of motivation.