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What is craving?
This page explains what craving is. Please read
through the eight diagrams below:
| Higher brain structures like the orbital frontal cortex, prelimbic
area and selected prefrontal area receive and interpret incoming sensory
information. When a rewarding sensory input or thought is detected
pyramidal cells in the prelimbic area sends signals to the core of
nucleus accumbens where the feelings of motivation, urge or craving are
generated so that the person has sufficient motivation (energy) to
engage in a behavior to secure the targeted rewarding object. The
molecule that mediates this signal is glutamate. The prefrontal brain
simultaneously sends a signal to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to
activate dopamine neurons in the VTA. When these dopamine neurons are
activated dopamine is released in the core of nucleus accumbens and
augments the glutamate function mentioned above. Together they generate
powerful motivation for us to engage in foraging and other reward
seeking behavior. Once the rewards have been fulfilled animals and
humans feel satisfaction, pleasure and/or excitement. When these
circuits are overheated mammals feel uncontrollable urges to engage in a
behavior even if the behavior might bring about unbearable pain down the
road (loss of money in gambling, for example). We call these addictions:
behavioral addictions (gambling, shopping, shoplifting) or drug
addictions. |
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