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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).
PSYC333 Biological Psychology (or equivalent). Subject to Approval of the Head of Department.
Juan Canales Conejero
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).
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Domestic fee $815.00
International Postgraduate fees
* 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 .