How Cocaine Impairs the Brain
Cocaine changes the way the brain works by affecting the functional processes of motivational and cogitative control. It is these changes to the brain that encourage addiction.
Impairments in cognitive function may affect an individual’s attention, memory, language comprehension and emotional processing. Motivational control functions compel an action toward a desired goal; impairment can cause an imbalance in the ability to control ourselves. When high on cocaine, a user might think they are totally in control and feeling great, but this feeling is deceptive. Researcher Alfonso Barrós Loscertales of the Neuropsychology and Functional Imaging Group at the Universitat Jaume, Spain, explains,
“Addiction is fundamentally manifested by the compulsive search of the drug and its origin comes from two reasons. On the one hand, there is the effect that the drug has on the motivational system. On the other hand, the problems that the addict person has to control himself or herself, although she or he sees that drug addiction has negative consequences”.
What we perceive we want or need, and how we feel and act are changed by using cocaine. Magnetic resonance imaging was used during the Spanish study and illustrated this change. The brain was studied during a problem solving exercise where the patient read the name of a color and the text was written in a different color. This caused cognitive interference with the brain’s functioning response.
“In this case, we saw how patients with addiction answered more slowly with lower brain activation, which implicates a poorer brain functioning,” explains Barrós.
Essentially, cocaine use is associated with the loss of motivation and the decreased ability of the brain to control behavior. The way it affects the brain increases the predisposition to addiction.
This research has allowed a glimpse into the brain of a cocaine addict. A better understanding of brain function and reaction can lead to new treatment plans and more options to aid in successful addiction treatment.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-03-functional-cocaine-brain-favour-addiction.html
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