The Brain: Understanding Neurobiology

National Institutes of Health

Bruce Fuchs, Office of Science Education

Lucinda Miner, National Institute on Drug Abuse

William Mowczko, Office of Science Education

Cathrine Sasek, National Institute on Drug Abuse

Gloria Seelman, Office of Science Education

Field-test Teachers

Domenica Altieri, Sonora High School, La Habra, California

William Barlow, Preston High School, Kingwood, West Virginia

Gwyn Bush, McNicholas High School, Cincinnati, Ohio

Jennifer Carpio, St. Joseph’s Academy, St. Louis, Missouri

Kathy Cattrell, Crestview High School, Columbiana, Ohio

Aster Chin, Lowell High School, San Francisco, California

Katy Colvin, Fort LeBoeuf High School, Waterford, Pennsylvania

Linda Dizer, Girls Preparatory School, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Karen Emery, Shady Spring High School, Shady Spring, West Virginia

Fran Enright, Evergreen Senior High School, Evergreen, Colorado

Leon Fox, Perry High School, Perry, Iowa

Charlotte Freeman, Girls Preparatory School, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Marian Gonzalez, Lowell High School, San Francisco, California

Paula Henderson, Newark High School, Wilmington, Delaware

Wade Hill, Battle Mountain High School, Minturn, Colorado

John Johnson, Creekview High School, Carrollton, Texas

Karel Lilly, Foshay Learning Center, Los Angeles, California

Marilyn Link, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, North Carolina

Brian McCarry, Monsignor Bonner High School, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania

Glenn Miller, Wheaton High School, Wheaton, Maryland

Tracy Peterson, Hamilton East High School, Hamilton, New Jersey

Kathleen Ranwez, Pomona High School, Arvada, Colorado

Ruth Regent-Smith, Pius XI High School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Martin Shields, James Caldwell High School, West Caldwell, New Jersey

Ann Sowd, Jackson High School, Massillon, Ohio

Sandra Sundlof, Wheaton High School, Wheaton, Maryland

Kay Thornton, Perry High School, Perry, Iowa

Linda Wright, Creekview High School, Carrollton, Texas

Lois Wysocki, Radnor High School, Radnor, Pennsylvania

Special Thanks

BSCS and Videodiscovery thank the following individuals for providing resources or reviewing specific activities in this unit:

Dr. William Armstrong, University of Tennessee;

Dr. Richard Cannon, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute;

Dr. Monica Skarulis, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases;

Dr. Michael Phelps, UCLA School of Medicine;

Dr. Johannes Czernin, UCLA School of Medicine;

David Twomey, UCLA School of Medicine; and

Jim Strommer, UCLA School of Medicine.

Cover Image Description

The cover shows a positron emission tomography (PET) image of a human brain. Blood flow to a particular brain area, the amygdala, increases when a person addicted to cocaine experiences cravings for the drug. The image, when compared with those taken of people who aren’t addicted to cocaine, reveals that just eliciting memories of drug abuse in the addicted person is sufficient to cause changes in brain activity.

This material is based on work supported by the National Institutes of Health under Contract No. 263-98-C-0056. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the funding agency.

Fourth printing, 2010. Copyright © 2000 by BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc. Third printing, 2004; second printing, 2003. All rights reserved. You have the permission of BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc., to reproduce items in this module for your classroom use. The copyright on this module, however, does not cover reproduction of these items for any other use. For permissions and other rights under this copyright, please contact BSCS, 5415 Mark Dabling Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO 80918-3842; www.bscs.org; info@bscs.org; (719) 531-5550.

Revised and reprinted March 2010
NIH Publication No. 09-4871 ISBN: 1-929614-05-5

Please contact the NIH Office of Science Education with questions about this supplement at supplements@science.education.nih.gov.