New Insight on How the Brain Forms Habits
New data offer a glimpse into the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the formation of habitual actions, such as addiction to alcohol.In a study conducted in mice and rats, and published in the July 2013 online edition of Nature Neuroscience, scientists in NIAAA’s Laboratory for Integrative Neuroscience examined the cellular basis for learning and memory in the dorsolateral striatum, a part of the brain involved in habit learning. A particular receptor in the dorsolateral striatum, the cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1), is critical for habit learning.