Module #1-Introducing Psychology and Social Context: In the article, a clinical

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Module #1-Introducing Psychology and Social Context: In the article, a clinical neuroscientist by the name of Dr. Anna Rose Childress explained that she's had patients who relapsed but couldn't explain what prompted it. As Dr. Childress explained, "They were walking around in environments where most of the time one thing or another had been signals for cocaine. They were basically getting primed, having that ancient reward system tingled. By the time they became conscious of it, it was like a snowball rolling downhill." From what we've learned about how our environment shapes our behavior, explain what Dr. Childress means by her statement. What specific forces are at work here, and how do these "triggers" associated with addiction impact a person's behaviors and treatment Module #2-Psychobiological Processes: The author of the article states the following: "By taking advantage of the brain's marvelous plasticity, addiction remolds neural circuits to assign supreme value to cocaine or heroin or gin, at the expense of other interests such as health, work, family, or life itself. Based on the article and what we've learned this term, explain how addiction can remold neural circuits and describe the brain mechanisms that allow this to be possible. In your own words, explain how addiction "hijacks" the brain's neural pathways. Insight Into Psych-Module #5 V3.20.18 Module #3-Development of the Self: The article describes the life, addiction, and treatment of a patient named Patrick Perotti. Considering what you've learned about lifespan development and personality, what are some factors that contributed to Patrick becoming addicted to cocaine? Explain how a person's cognitive, social, and physical development has the potential to impact addicting behaviors. Module #4-Psychological Disorders and Learning: In the article, a neurologist named Dr. Antonello Bonci states the following, "In a sense, addiction is a pathological form of learning. Based on the article and what we've learned this term, explain what Dr. Bonci means by this statement. Detail the specific factors that influence "learning" in this context. Module #5-Basic Psychological Processes: Explain how alcoholism, or other forms of addiction, can impact the brain's ability to consolidate memory. How do these issues eventually impact our overall intelligence?

Explanation / Answer

5.Memory loss and amnesia are two very common side effects of excessive drinking in the short-term. Binge drinking can cause you to black out, and while you may appear awake and alert, you have no idea what happened the next day. .The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines two types of blackouts occurring as the result of alcohol. The first is called a partial blackout, and this can happen with just a relatively small amount of alcohol. You may forget things like the names of people or information that you would ordinarily be able to recall easily. A complete blackout refers to a time when you forget everything from a period of time. This also means that your judgment and cognition are completely impaired. The reason binge drinking has these effects on your short-term memory and creates blackouts is because your blood alcohol level rises too quickly. .The reason for memory problems related to alcohol is because of the effects of the ethanol in alcohol on certain areas of the brain.When people black out from alcohol, it’s incredibly dangerous. It puts them at risk for being involved in violence, an accident or being the victim of an assault. Essentially when it comes to alcohol and memory loss, blacking out is a form of amnesia, which occurs because the alcohol is altering the activity of the hippocampus in the brain. While blacking out is a temporary form of amnesia, when you abuse alcohol over the long-term it can lead to more severe memory problems. One of the most damaging side effects of chronic alcohol abuse is called Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, and this is a condition directly related to alcohol and memory loss.Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome is a disorder of the brain that’s the result of a deficiency in vitamin B1. A vitamin B1 deficiency is extremely common in people with alcohol use disorder, and it’s essentially the result of permanent damage to the brain, primarily those parts of the brain involved with memory. Even without the occurrence of Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, people who drink excessively often experience memory and cognition problems. For example, with alcohol and memory loss the majority of heavy, chronic drinkers have some level of impairment in their cognitive function. It can range from mild to moderate, and alcohol use in the long-term is related to reduced brain size In the short-term people who binge drink a lot at one time will often experience what’s typically referred to as a blackout because of the effects of the alcohol on their hippocampus. Alcohol and memory loss are also associated in the long-term. Most chronic heavy drinkers display some level of memory loss and cognitive impairment over time. There’s also something called Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, which can seem a lot like Alzheimer’s disease and is the result of a long-term B1 deficiency resulting from alcoholism. People who drink heavily on a regular basis can damage a brain structure called the hippocampus. It is critical to memory and learning, and heavy drinking can cause the hippocampus to shrink and cause changes to neurons, which reduces the size of brain cells. One brain chemical particularly susceptible to even small amounts of alcohol is called glutamate. Among other things, glutamate affects memory and may be what causes some people to temporarily "blackout,” or forget much of what happened during a night of heavy drinking. The effects of drug abuse cause blood vessels to become constricted, reducing blood flow to all areas of the body. Over time, this can lead to atherosclerosis, or hardening and narrowing of the blood vessels, including those in the brain. When the tiniest blood vessels become constricted, blood can no longer reach certain areas of the brain. Over time these cells die off, leaving small gaps in the brain tissue. Unfortunately the effects of drug abuse on intelligence are most visible in those areas responsible for memory, cognition, and learning. The ability to learn, to remember, and to use logical reasoning are all related to your intelligence level. When these areas of the brain become damaged, or brain tissue disappears due to drug use, intelligence levels suffer as a result. Those who have used drugs for long periods of time often cannot remember new things, become easily confused, and are unable to make good decisions. This is all because intelligence has suffered from drug use. Due to time limit,remaining questions can be asked as another question,they will be answered,thankyou for your cooperation.

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