Impact of Medication on Dopamine System and Compulsive Gambling

1min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The medication Anne is taking for her Parkinson's disease is causing her powerful and potent dopamine system, leading to a compulsive gambling addiction. The drug forces her neurons to fight hard to find a pattern, intoxicating her brain with the possibility of learning how to succeed and crack an uncrackable code. Anne's compulsive gambling addiction disappeared almost immediately after going off the medication, with her neurons assuming the normal state.

First aired way back in 2009, this episode is all about a wonderfully slippery and smarty-pants word for randomness, Stochasticity, and how it may be at the very foundation of our lives. Along the way, we talk to a woman suddenly consumed by a frenzied gambling addiction, hear from two friends whose meeting seems to defy pure chance, and take a close look at some very noisy bacteria.

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Videos - Stochasticity Music Video (https://zpr.io/uZiH9j9ZU6be)

Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org.

Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.