Substance abuse as a spandrel of evolution

سال انتشار: 1398
نوع سند: مقاله کنفرانسی
زبان: انگلیسی
مشاهده: 320

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شناسه ملی سند علمی:

KAMED13_003

تاریخ نمایه سازی: 10 دی 1398

چکیده مقاله:

Background: Psychotropic substances such as ethanol or alkaloids are widespread in nature, though, the availability of large quantities has emerged only recently, that is to say, about 8000 years ago, with the emergence of systematic plant cultivation and agriculture. There is an evolutionary mismatch between the physiological set-up of the human body to metabolise very small substances of ethanol, alkaloids, or opiates, which were virtually unavailable for most humans, and its availability in large quantities within the laste 8000 years of civilisation. In fact, our brain seems prewired for addiction. Increased dopamine flow produces more and more synapses in the orbitofrontal cortex. From an evolutionary perspective, alcohol was advantageous in times of food scarcity. people who consumed alcohol could spend many days on a hypocaloric diet. Ingestion of mood- and conscious-altering substances might have increased group-cohesion and cooperation when used in rituals and ceremonies. Besides, it is highly conceivable that drugs might have been ingested for controlling pain. Meanwhile, substance abuse is not a functional phenomenon and not a direct product of adaptive selectin. It is rather a spandrel or byproduct of evolution. METHODS: In this review, the databases Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, PubMed, and SpringerLink are employed for exploring the evoloutionary perspective of addiction from 2009 to the present.Results: Our results show that evoloutionary theories of addiction and its implications in cognitive neuroscience have attracted the attention of researchers since 2009. Conclusions: This review provides an insight into the evolutional aspects of addiction. It would lead us to a better understanding of craving and help us to develop innovative solutions for overcoming drug addiction.

نویسندگان

Hafez Bajoghli

Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.