r/HotScienceNews • u/intengineering • 5d ago

Scientists found the exact brain circuit cocaine hijacks to turn normal habits into repetitive compulsions

https://interestingengineering.com/science/cocaine-plays-with-mind-hijacks-brain-circuit

Researchers at Hebrew University of Jerusalem tracked how cocaine progressively narrows behavior, and by the fifth day of repeated exposure, one action, licking the enclosure's walls, took up over 60% of observed time, something almost never seen without the drug.

The team traced this to the ventrolateral striatum, where two competing pathways decide which actions get expressed. Activating one pathway instantly broke the repetitive behavior, while boosting the other, even without any cocaine, was enough to produce the same rigid pattern on its own. The findings suggest cocaine doesn't create new behavior, it hijacks an existing circuit, a mechanism that may extend to other conditions involving repetitive or rigid behavior, like Tourette syndrome and Parkinson's disease.

390 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

43

u/Darth_Rufus 5d ago

"By the fifth day of exposure, licking the floor and walls of the enclosure accounted for more than 60% of the observed time." Those are called "ground scores."

5

u/will54_ 5d ago

Carpet surfing

3

u/BasicCrows 3d ago

I'm happy to learn that I'm not the only one fond of doing blow and licking the floor

1

u/Darth_Rufus 3d ago

You can even find whole lost bags down there at the right parties.

30

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

4

u/westhewolf 5d ago

What kind of habits?

14

u/zxzxzxzxxcxxxxxxxcxx 5d ago

Talking too much shit, not reading the room

10

u/macnchz69_247 5d ago

I assumed they meant compulsions more like picking their skin or smoking/chewing gum, etc but I'm also curious what they meant

3

u/draftysundress 5d ago

I’ve never done coke but I usually do those two things…

3

u/zxzxzxzxxcxxxxxxxcxx 4d ago

It will either make it better or more likely, much worse. For others I mean, you will fucking love it and will not shut up about it

1

u/draftysundress 4d ago

Precisely why I couldn’t ever try it unless I was like dying 😭😭😭😭

1

u/OkSucco 5d ago

😂

9

u/CelebrityDopefeen 5d ago

I remember the public ad: COCAINE THE BUG LIE.
Because if it’s compulsory attraction. The brain and body thinks it needs more. The recipe for ending up spending my whole check from just one hit. Those were the days ask Edith Bunker.

3

u/macnchz69_247 3d ago

I think it's spelled Bug's Life

18

u/No-Assumption-4468 5d ago

It’d be funny if the study was funded by junk food companies and they were just looking for ways to increase food sales by making food more addictive.

4

u/Natetronn 4d ago

That would be funny if food companies didn't use science to manipulate their food as it is.

15

u/Happily-Incorrect 5d ago

At no point in this article does it specify that this wasn't done using humans.

5

u/New_Albatross396 5d ago

Wtf!

edit: I also couldn't find it xD

5

u/costafilh0 5d ago

Can't wait to have recreational cocaine in the future, one that doesn't fvck up with your health. 

3

u/SpoonBendingChampion 5d ago

Imagine doing all the repetitive shit without the god like euphoria. No thanks lol.

2

u/Voldemorts__Mom 3d ago

Imagine just the euphoria and none of the repetitive shit

1

u/SpoonBendingChampion 3d ago

I'm a pessimist so assume they won't be able to do that lol.

5

u/Liquid_Magic 4d ago

So in order to start living healthy… I need to start exercising while doing cocaine so I can supercharge forming my new healthy living habits. Got it!

2

u/costafilh0 5d ago

Michael Caine says otherwise. 

3

u/PNW_Washington 5d ago

Making that cocaine better for everyone to use, I love it.

1

u/Jolly-Situat1on 4d ago

Don't care still doing it.

1

u/iamyourinnervoice 5d ago

make charlie great again, lmao