Addiction as a Breakdown in the Machinery of Decision Making
Addiction as a Breakdown in the Machinery of Decision Making
This chapter, which is concerned with the neurophysiology of decision making in mammals, reviews a set of identifiable failure points within the system. It argues that addiction should be considered in the light of vulnerabilities in the machinery of the decision-making system, and suggests that the key to addiction is an interaction between the pharmacological effects of certain drugs and the physical machinery underlying the decision-making system. The proposed vulnerabilities theory indicates that the continued pursuit of drugs or problematic behaviors may be due to many potential decision-making failures.
Keywords: decision making, mammals, neurophysiology, decision-making system, addiction, physical machinery, vulnerabilities theory, drugs
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