Addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder characterized by the loss of control over drug
intake, high motivation to obtain the drug, and a persistent craving for the drug …

Anatomical and functional refinements of the meso-limbic dopamine system of the rat are
discussed. Present experiments suggest that dopaminergic neurons localized in the …

The basal ganglia as a whole are broadly responsible for sensorimotor coordination,
including response selection and initiation. However, it has become increasingly clear that …

Drug abuse and dependence define behavioral states involving increased allocation of
behavior towards drug seeking and taking at the expense of more appropriate behavioral …

This review gives an overview of recent findings and developments in research on brain
mechanisms of reward and reinforcement from studies using the place preference …

Microdialysis experiments in rodents indicate that ethanol promotes dopamine release
predominantly in the nucleus accumbens, a phenomenon that is implicated in the reinforcing …

There is considerable evidence that high novelty seekers are at increased risk for using
drugs of abuse relative to low novelty seekers. This review examines the potential biological …

The striatum has been involved in complex behaviors such as motor control, learning,
decision-making, reward and aversion. The striatum is mainly composed of medium spiny …

This review applies some new experimental findings and theoretical ideas about how
reinforcers act on the neural mechanisms of learning and memory to the problem of how …

The present review deals mainly with the ontogenesis of two important phenomena involved
in vulnerability to several neuropsychiatric disorders, namely with drug-induced sensitization …