Brain dependence off
2006/10/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
Several smokers who have had a stroke have stopped smoking as a result of a heart attack. American researcher Antoine Bechera has identified fourteen cases and has found that this effect has occurred when the infarction affects a specific part of the brain, the insulating one.
It seems that patients have totally lost their fondness for tobacco, so Bechera believes that this part of the brain is related to addiction. According to a developing hypothesis, dependence is the result of an imbalance between two neural systems. The cerebral insula is part of one of these systems, the reflective system, but most research focuses on the other, the impulsive system. Bechera proposes that both systems should be investigated. The results indicate that dependency can be treated with a deactivated portion of the brain in the future.
