How the Brain's Dopamine Circuitry Helps Regulate Cognitive Flexibility and Reward-Seeking

Each month The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation hosts a Meet the Scientist Webinar featuring a researcher discussing the latest findings related to mental illness. In May, 2023, the Foundation featured Dr. Nikhil Urs of the University of Florida.
Description: Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that regulates many critical processes such as movement, cognition, motivation, reward/pleasure, and hormone secretion. Dysfunction of the dopamine system has been implicated in many brain disorders, including schizophrenia, OCD, ADHD and Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Urs will discuss his efforts to understand the organization and function of cortical dopamine circuitry and how it helps to regulate cognitive flexibility and reinforcement learning (the latter involves how we learn to optimize our behavior to obtain greatest rewards). Dr. Urs will also discuss his efforts to discover new ways of treating multiple psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.
Learn more at www.bbrfoundation.org/event/h...
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[@factorousfactorous3522]

fantastic video !

[@babblebrain4963]

Please address this question. What is the difference between adhd and addiction? Because some "drugs of abuse" are almost identical to medication prescribed for adhd. And sense in both cases there is a dopamine regulation issue driving the behaviors. Is not "abuse of methamphetamine" just a adhd self treatment that results in social isolation ( due to stigma) and therefore reduced dopamine in the " addict" and leading to use of higher dose of drugs
If i am on to something here perhaps a large section of if not all of addicts are just under treated adhd? Bc i think it is highly likely that all meth use can be directly linked to adhd or something closely related neurologically

[@babblebrain4963]

Little relevant information I am an ADHD diagnosed adult who believed I was an addict my whole life because I sought to regulate my symptoms through meth primarily because I was undiagnosed until this year ( I'm 40)