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The Brain and Addiction
Images and text for this gallery courtesy of The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) http://165.112.78.61/NIDAHome.html.

<< 11/12 < > Now that you have defined the concept of reward, you can define addiction. Addiction is a state in which an organism engages in a compulsive behavior, even when faced with negative consequences. This behavior is reinforcing, or rewarding. A major feature of addiction is the loss of control in limiting intake of the addictive substance. The most recent research indicates that the reward pathway may be even more important in the craving associated with addiction, compared to the reward itself. Scientists have learned a great deal about the biochemical, cellular and molecular bases of addiction; it is clear that addiction is a disease of the brain.

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