What is true for vision is also true for the dopamine circuits of incentive-motivation and the opioid circuitry of attachment-reward, as well as for the regulatory centres in the prefrontal cortex, such as the orbitofrontal cortex—in other words, for all the major brain systems implicated in addiction that we surveyed in the previous three chapters. In the case of these circuits, which process emotions and govern behaviour, it is the emotional environment that is decisive. By far the dominant aspect of this environment is the role of the nurturing adults in the child’s life, especially in the
...more
