Drug addiction could be the result of abnormal functioning of neurons in the frontal cortex , the part of the brain that controls decision-making , according to a study by Japanese scientists and Canadian scientists published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
For the study, the researchers analyzed the brain activity of a group of 10 smokers after exposure to cigarette signals both when they were immediately available and when they were not within reach. Combining a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), neuroscientists found that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) tracks the level of craving in smokers, while the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (CPFD) is responsible. to integrate available information about drugs and their availability. What's more, CPFD can suppress OFC activity if no drug is available.
"What is surprising is that this is a neural circuit involved in self-control that normally guides people to adopt optimal behaviors in daily life," explains Takuya Hayashi, co-author of the work. And the study seems to confirm, therefore, that drug addiction is a pathology of the circuits that control decision-making and the capacity for self-control .
