Motor and Limbic Systems: the Cortico Striate Loops

Ventral tegmental dopamine neurons respond only to UNPREDICTED REWARDS. When the goodie is predictable, those particular dopamine cells stop firing. They's the ones that say "Oh YEAH" to something one discovers as enjoyable and satisfying. Smoking a cigarette fires those cells even when it's not unpredicted, it provokes that Oh YEAH chemistry every single time you light up.

It's the dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens that stengthens the links between the stimulus and the wanting. Wanting and liking are not the same.

( boring to most, notes from organ systems class and later added notes from Intoxicating Minds, this reminds me of the wampus game on the old obsorne PC's, draw your twenty rooms and start sketching in the links )

Alcohol's effect on brain activity

( related to coursework, they've found that alcohol also affects the striatal reward system and hence is linked to all other addictive drugs )

The Revolution Shows Strength

(  in Louisville, Kentucky )