Learning to Drink
changes the brain from
“ Drugs of abuse basically hijack the normal learning and memory processes. ” - Dr. Dorit Ron University of California - San Francisco
Preventing escalation
One drink is all it takes.
establish a relationship between initial use and addiction, or even problematic drinking. But the hope is that further understanding initially could lead to better down the road. “If we can control that step, we may be able to prevent further escalation,” Dr. Ron says. More research is needed to determine which other components alcohol exposure. Dr. Ron says she believes the changes that occur reversed with prolonged abstinence from alcohol. But she said the more a person drinks, the harder it is to reverse those changes as the brain forms stronger connections to drinking.
A team from the University of California - San Francisco exposed mice
brain’s biological structure, calling the changes a “learning event.”
researchers. “You are basically placing a memory trace.” Dr. Ron says the entire study was based on the idea that “addiction, and not just alcohol addiction, is thought to be a maladaptive form of alcohol primes the brain for further use and lays the foundation for future “learning.” “Drugs of abuse basically hijack the normal learning and memory
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