Neuroscience Café: Mechanisms of Addiction

Thursday, April 28, at 6:30 p.m. in the Large Auditorium 

Substance abuse has been identified as having various components. Psychological addiction involves those things which convince a person that they gain benefit from the use of the substance. Physical addiction (a.k.a., dependence) involves the physical adaptation of a person’s biological systems to the continued presence of substances in their system. Neurochemical addiction involves the hijacking of existing learning mechanisms in order to convince the system that an addictive behavior is good for it, despite all evidence to the contrary. Join us as UAB researchers explain the mechanisms of addiction.