Drugs on the Brain: Substance Use and Neurotransmission
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The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has published an extended overview detailing the impact of certain drugs on brain functioning, as well as the most common experimental methods used in related research.
Neuroscientists primarily focus on two issues:
- Which neurotransmitters do certain drugs affect?
- How do certain drugs alter neurotransmission?
Numerous evidence-based studies have backed up the claim that drugs can disrupt neurotransmission, altering the way people behave, think and feel.
However, researchers are continually looking to build on this understanding by investigating both the psychological processes that make people likely to use drugs and a range of other issues involved with drug addiction.
Such work can provide essential knowledge needed for the development of new drug treatments.