Unraveling Cocaine Addiction: Rewiring the Brain's Reward System

A study conducted by Rutgers University has used neuroimaging to demonstrate how chronic cocaine addiction alters the brain's reward evaluation system, impacting adaptive behavior. The research focused on "reward prediction errors" and found that cocaine users exhibited riskier decision-making strategies and weaker neural error signals in response to unexpected rewards or their absence. These findings provide insight into the underlying mechanisms of cocaine addiction and may lead to more effective treatment options in the future.