Addicting Mice To Light

Al writes "In an attempt to better understand how the reward system in the brain functions in people suffering from addiction, scientists at Stanford have created mice that are addicted to light. They engineered light-sensitive proteins to trigger signaling pathways in the nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain that responds to pleasurable stimuli. They then connected a fiber-optic cable to this part of the brain and delivered a blast of light whenever the mice wandered into a 'reward chamber.' In previous experiments the mice have been given drugs like cocaine or amphetamine when they enter these rooms. The light treatment works in exactly the same way but lets the researchers very precisely control timing and dose of reward administered to the brain. The approach could also provide a way to probe receptors that cannot be accessed using existing drugs."

Comments

Nucleus Accumbens

[MindlessAutomata]

It should be noted that the nucleus accumbens is also involved in -expectation of reward- and not necessarily reward itself. This is a major part of addiction--the addict may be desensitized to the effects of the drug but nonetheless may seek out the drug due to EXPECTATION of "reward" and to keep away withdrawal symptoms.

The mice associating the rooms with the effects of the drug is directly applicable to humans. Anyone who has tried to quit smoking may have had a difficult time during smoke break time because the context cues one to expect/desire their fix. Good way to kick the habit, if you're looking to do so, is not to hang out in the same spots you did your drug, not to hang out with the same people, so on and so forth. Otherwise, you'll likely fall back into your own habits.

Re:Nucleus Accumbens

[ZeroExistenZ]

The thing with such things is, that it is adjusted and you cannot "avoid" situations; it requires to create new associations by overriding them by entering those situations and acting differently in them, otherwise you're just avoiding and running from it.

I've quit smoking too, after 8 years of smoking, and realized how the associations trigger the way you explained and made sure once I got comfortable with my new "identity" to face these situations and create new associations until I could transpose myself into that situation without imagening a cigarette with it. Never had the urge to smoke again.. It did some recallibration of my life, but by making some acts contious and realizing I could "override" certain less desired quirks or habits, I felt liberated to be freed from routine in that way and maximize my personal experiencing (you are missing out alot of detail when you're doing something routinely, if you change your routine, do things which are extraordinary to you, or by breaking what you are used to, more sticks and there is a much broader spectrum to hook associative information to instead of overloading and saturating a limited amount of recurrent happenings/items/impressions/... making them harder to access in your mine, plus you're contiously aware of much more in the same way you rely on routine and discard alot of information as "recurrent", when it's not outside of your limited perception.).
Concerning my "new identity": my uncontious still struggled to adjust: I would smoke in my dreams because it was the way I had perceived myself like that for years. But the changed reality would collide and would wake me up in my dream, resulting in a lucid dream because my contious mind started wondering why there was a sigarette, trying to figure out wherever I did smoke or not).