Course Overview

Discover the neural mechanisms that underlie the behaviors of addiction in this fascinating course taught by one of the top cognitive neuroscientists in the country. Addiction is a problem that affects everyone—even if we haven’t experienced addiction ourselves, we all know someone who has. Unfortunately, many sources of information about addiction seem inaccessible or irrelevant because they present vague or false science, they present accurate science in an excessively complicated way, or they are more moralistic than informative.

Addiction is sometimes viewed as a failure of character, will, or morality. But neuroscience offers a very different picture—one that can inform how we, as individuals and as a society, treat addicts and the problems caused by addiction. These 12 eye-opening lectures will show you that addiction is a scientifically understandable problem that has its origins in neurobiology and genetics. The Addictive Brain is a fair and balanced investigation of addiction, backed by hard science and behavioral science.

Most of us have probably seen the old anti-drug commercial in which an actor compares your brain on drugs to an egg sizzling in a hot frying pan. That’s a powerful image, but it doesn’t tell us what actually happens when drugs enter your body and interact with neurochemical processes. Professor Polk gives you a comprehensive but concise survey of addiction and the major drugs of abuse, highlighting the differing neurological effects of stimulants, opioids, and more. He also delves into the world of behavioral addictions, such as gambling and compulsive video gaming, which neurologically operate very similarly to drug addiction. This course will clearly and compassionately inform you on what addiction means scientifically, socially, and behaviorally.

Course Lectures

01: Addiction 101

Begin your course by defining “addiction,” which is diagnosed based on characteristics such as abuse, dependence, and craving. Professor Polk then surveys the history of drug use, from ancient history through the development of synthetics in the 19th and 20th centuries. Finally, he reviews government regulation and the substantial costs of drug abuse, both to the individual and to society.

Duration: 34 min

02: The Psychology and Neuroscience of Reward

Explore the brain’s mechanisms for learning from reinforcement. You’ll start with the psychological aspects, discovering the way humans learn by a series of trials and rewards. Then you’ll find out what parts of the brain process pleasure, self-control, and craving, and see how the psychology and neuroscience of reward processing converge.

Duration: 31 min

03: How Addiction Hijacks the Brain

Here you’ll examine the ways addiction alters the brain by numbing the pleasure center, sensitizing the dopamine system, and inhibiting the prefrontal cortex. Combined, these altered brain functions lead to strong cravings and a reduced ability to control one’s actions. This foray into neuroscience will forever change the way you think about addiction.

Duration: 33 min

04: Genetics—Born to Be an Addict?

Investigate how people may be susceptible to addiction on a genetic level. Thanks to studies of twins and DNA analysis, scientists are homing in on the genes that predispose us toward addiction. While there is no single “addiction gene,” our DNA can significantly influence whether we become addicts.

Duration: 32 min

05: Your Brain on Drugs

Shift your attention from the nature of addiction to the nature of drugs. Here you’ll delve into the process of neurochemical transmission and see how drugs mimic this activity by binding to neural receptors. This process is responsible for everything from a drug’s physical and psychological effects to its potency.

Duration: 29 min

06: Why We Crave Coffee and Cigarettes

Caffeine and nicotine are two of the most common psychoactive drugs in our society. How do they work? How dangerous are they? After reviewing how each of these drugs affects the brain—and why nicotine in particular is so addictive—Professor Polk offers several strategies to quit tobacco use.

Duration: 33 min

07: Alcohol—Social Lubricant or Drug of Abuse?

Alcohol is often discussed separately from other drugs, but as you’ll discover in this lecture, alcohol affects the human body in many of the same ways. Take a close look at your brain on alcohol to explore dependence, withdrawal, and genetic susceptibility. Then review several treatment options for alcohol abuse.

Duration: 30 min

08: The Science of Marijuana

Although there is no shortage of controversy around marijuana, whose legal status now varies from state to state, the science of this drug may surprise you. Through the lens of the neuroscientist, Professor Polk tours the effects and the possible medicinal value of marijuana.

Duration: 31 min

09: Stimulants—From Cocaine to Ritalin

From the original recipe for Coca-Cola to treatments for attention deficit disorder, psychostimulant drugs have had remarkable uses. But they have also been dangerously abused in the form of crack cocaine, methamphetamine, and related drugs. Find out how stimulants work in the brain and why they can be so harmful.

Duration: 32 min

10: The Science of Poppies, Pleasure, and Pain

Round out your survey of the world’s major drugs with an examination of opium and its derivatives, from regularly prescribed painkillers like codeine and morphine to heroin, often considered the most harmful drug of abuse in the world today. Learn about the neurological effects and treatment options for opiate drugs.

Duration: 33 min

11: The Gambler’s Brain

Are drugs the only thing humans can get addicted to? What about behaviors? To answer this question, take a look at what happens inside the brain of a compulsive gambler. As this case study reveals, many of the same neurochemical processes of drug abuse—from genetic predisposition to dopamine release—also accompany addiction to behaviors.

Duration: 32 min

12: Junk Food, Porn, Video Games—Addictions?

The course concludes with an exploration of other potentially addictive behaviors. Professor Polk argues that some artificial stimuli—junk food, pornography, and video games to name three—are “supernormal,” meaning that they actually activate the brain’s reward circuit more strongly than natural stimuli do, leading to some of the same neurological effects as drug use.

Duration: 35 min