PSYC463-14S1 (C) Semester One 2014

Neuroscience of Addictive Behaviour

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 24 February 2014
End Date: Sunday, 29 June 2014
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 7 March 2014
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 23 May 2014

Description

Modern neuroscience research has characterised addiction as a disease of the brain. The delineation of brain pathways and molecular mechanisms responsible for compulsive drug abuse and addiction complements the traditional approach to addiction taken in psychology. This course is aimed to (i) helping the students understand the ultimate biological causes of addiction and its associated biobehavioural processes (e.g., conditioning, habit learning, motivation, reward, reinforcement), (ii) become familiar with research in animals models of drug addiction, (iii) encourage learning about the psychopharmacology of different classes of drug, and (iv) integrate research on human abuse and addiction patterns with current knowledge at three levels: neurocircuitry (neuropsychopharmacology), cellular (physiology) and molecular (genetic and molecular substrates).

The study of addiction is a rapidly moving and exciting field of research. Modern neuroscience research has characterized addiction as a disease of the brain. The delineation of brain pathways and molecular mechanisms responsible for compulsive drug abuse and addiction complements the traditional approach to addiction taken in psychology. This course is aimed to (i) helping the students understand the ultimate biological causes of addiction and its associated bio-behavioural processes (e.g., conditioning, habit learning, motivation, reward, reinforcement), (ii) become familiar with research in animals models of drug addiction, (iii) encourage learning about the psychopharmacology of different classes of drug, and (iv) integrate research on human abuse and addiction patterns with current knowledge at three levels: neurocircuitry (neuropsychopharmacology), cellular (physiology) and molecular (genetic and molecular substrates).

Learning Outcomes

When the course is satisfactorily completed, the student will be able to:
1. Define addiction and understand the concept of brain disease as applied to addiction.
2. Comprehend and critically appraise the various biological and behavioural processes that lead to addiction, or are affected by drug abuse.  
3. Recognize drug specificity at behavioural, cellular and molecular levels.
4. Critically analyse and interpret research data.
5. Evaluate and discuss current research into the biological basis of addiction.

(The image is a Drawing of Purkinje and granule cells by Santiago Ramón y Cajal, 1899; Instituto Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain)

Prerequisites

Recommended Preparation

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Juan Canales Conejero

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Test No. 1 18%
Test No. 2 18%
In-class Presentation 32%
Written Review Paper 32%

Textbooks / Resources

Recommended Reading

Koob, G.F; Neurobiology of Addiction ; Academic Press, 2005 (Two copies available through Library as 2-day loan).

Robbins, T., Everitt, B., & Nutt, D; The neurobiology of addiction (Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences) ; Oxford University Press, 2010 (Two copies available through Library for 2-day loan).

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $881.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Psychology .

All PSYC463 Occurrences

  • PSYC463-14S1 (C) Semester One 2014
Previous year Next year