[ANSWER]Psychology Paper (2) – Pornography and the Brain: A Neuroscience Perspective

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PORNOGRAPHY. To understand how pornography affects the brain, knowledge of the science of addiction is important. Substances and behaviors that affect the brain’s reward circuitry result in diminished self-control, eventually causing addiction (Love et al., 2015). The reward system is a network of neural entities in the brain that influence motivation, attention, reward seeking, pleasure emotions, impulsive behavior, memory, as well as the learning driven by positive reinforcement (Stark et al., 2018).

Key elements of this network include the dopamine pathway (which encompasses the ventral tegmental area [VTA] and the nucleus accumbens [NAc]), the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex (Hilton &Watts, 2011). Collectively, these elements are involved in mediating the positive emotional states that come from natural rewards like sex and food or unnatural rewards like drugs and gambling.

When natural or unnatural rewards cause dysfunction in the reward circuitry, addiction occurs, an outcome marked by decreased brain volume in the prefrontal cortex (Kuhn & Gallinat, 2014). The resultant dysfunction impairs a person’s self control ability and manifests biologically, psychologically, and socially. Addiction has been defined by the American Society of Addiction Medicine as “a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry” (Love et al..[Buy Full Answer for Just USD 9: 3298 WORDS]

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Type: Essay

Word Count: 3298

Grade/Mark: 95 (Distinction) [Pornography]

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