Understanding Addiction

There is something terribly interesting about the moment of giving in. That moment when the teeter-totter crosses that invisible threshold, when the momentum shifts, when you know you’re going to do it, despite the hours of telling yourself you won’t. It’s a very distinct feeling, says a recent reader. It’s a lot different from thinking […] (Read the rest.)

Hello readers! Happy New Year and all that. I took a couple of weeks off for the holidays and went to visit family and friends back in Toronto. It was a time of heart-warming reconnection with people I’ve known for much of my life. But it was also a time of emotional pain: loss, disappointment, […] (Read the rest.)

That’s a quote from a recent reader, and I think it’s a fabulous metaphor. The idea is that brains and the chemicals that run them come from molecules that have been part of the evolutionary marketplace for a very long time. So the “code” that our brains use to operate (and to have fun) is […] (Read the rest.)

Last post, I lamented the fact that I spend most of my lunch looking forward to the next bite (and not tasting the present one). I blamed this habit on the role of dopamine in the ventral striatum: to anticipate rewards, work toward them, and focus attention on what’s next. Here’s a picture (a reconstruction, […] (Read the rest.)

I want to thank those of you who replied to my query. A lot of your advice converged to a few simple themes: 1. Keep blogging 2. Go with reviews of interesting research, bridges and connections between data and interpretation, opinions about where we are and where we’re going in the science and policy of […] (Read the rest.)