Dopamine
Definition
Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter, which is a chemical messenger that transmits signals in the brain and other areas of the body. It plays several important roles in the body, and it's found in high levels in certain parts of the brain.
Analogy
Think of dopamine as your brain's personal cheerleader. When you do something good or rewarding, like scoring a goal or eating your favorite food, dopamine gives you a pat on the back by creating feelings of pleasure and reward.
Related terms
Neurotransmitter: A substance that transmits nerve impulses across a synapse.
Reward System: A group of neural structures responsible for incentive salience (i.e., motivation and "wanting", desire, or craving for a reward), associative learning (primarily positive reinforcement and classical conditioning), and positively-valenced emotions, particularly ones involving pleasure as a core component.
Synapse: The junction between two neurons where information is transferred from one to another.
"Dopamine" appears in:
Practice Questions (8)
- What role does the neurotransmitter dopamine play in reward-based behaviors according to psychological research?
- How does dopamine play a role in reward-motivated behavior?
- What is the primary function of dopamine in the brain's reward system?
- Which substance is known to increase the release of dopamine, thus influencing neural firing?
- Which drug is most likely to increase neural firing by inhibiting reuptake of dopamine in the synapses?
- What experiment could effectively study the impact of dopamine on reward-driven behavior?
- What role does dopamine play in addictive behaviors?
- Who would likely attribute schizophrenia to an overproduction of dopamine?
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