Biopsychology Essay

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The actions and thought process of an individual can be affected by the functions within the body being interrupted. Biopsychology is the study of how the structure and function of biology, specifically the nervous system, is linked to an individual’s behavior (OpenStax, 2016). The nervous system houses the brain and is responsible for releasing signals from neurons to different parts of the body through neurotransmitters, which are chemicals that carry messages to their matching receptors throughout the nervous system (OpenStax, 2016). A disruption in the messages sent throughout the body can interfere with the function of the nervous system. An example of how a disruption in the nervous system can take place and affect the behavior of an individual is the use of addictive drugs.
The effects that can occur are …show more content…

An antagonist works by blocking the neurotransmitter from correctly attaching to its matching receptor. For example, many stimulants, which are drugs that increase levels of arousal, interfere with the correct functioning of the dopamine neurotransmitter system by blocking the neurotransmitter from reabsorbing into its original neuron (OpenStax, 2016). A specific drug that acts as a stimulant, but binds with a different receptor than most stimulants, is caffeine. Caffeine is an adenosine receptor antagonist (OpenStax, 2016). Although many people do not consider caffeine to be a drug, individuals can become addicted and dependent on the drug’s ability to increase energy levels. Similar to caffeine acting on a different neurotransmitter system than most stimulants, hallucinogens, another group of drugs that alter a person’s mental state, do not have a specific system in which they affect. Different hallucinogens affect different neurotransmitter systems and therefore can interrupt several systems within the nervous

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