Explain the role of one neurotransmitter on one human behavior.

Dopamine in love

Dopamine is the neurotransmitter associated with the reward and pleasure centers of the brain and it plays a role
in motivation, addiction, attention, and desire. Dopamine allows us to see rewards and motivates us to take
action towards them. When individuals fall in love, dopamine activates the reward centers of the brain, which
helps to make love a pleasurable experience, similar to the euphoric effects associated with cocaine. Dopamine
circuits in the brain appear to greatly contribute to feelings of engagement and excitement. These feelings occur
when seeking necessary resources for survival, such as food and sex, and also when pursuing interests that
promote rewarding experiences, such as pursuing a new partner. Dopamine is primarily responsible for feelings
of elation and excitement during the attraction phase

In 2005, Fisher led a research team that published a study that included the first functional MRI (fMRI) images of
the brains of individuals in the throes of romantic love. Her team analyzed 2,500 brain scans of college students
who viewed pictures of someone special to them and compared the scans to ones taken when the students looked at
pictures of acquaintances. Photos of people they romantically loved caused the participants’ brains to become
active in regions rich with dopamine, the so-called feel-good neurotransmitter. Two of the brain regions that
showed activity in the fMRI scans were the caudate nucleus, a region associated with reward detection and
expectation and the integration of sensory experiences into social behavior, and the ventral tegmental area, which is
associated with pleasure, focused attention, and the motivation to pursue and acquire rewards. The ventral
tegmental area is part of what is known as the brain’s reward circuit, which, coincidentally, was discovered by
Olds’s father, James, when she was 7 years old. This circuit is considered to be a primitive neural network,
meaning it is evolutionarily old; it links with the nucleus accumbens. Some of the other structures that contribute to
the reward circuit—the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex are exceptionally sensitive to (and
reinforcing of) behavior that induces pleasure, such as sex, food consumption, and drug use.

Love may be associated with the heart, but it blooms in the brain. When we experience love, especially early on,
the brain releases high amounts of dopamine. Love has an addictive quality, as anyone who has experienced it
can attest. The euphoric feeling of dopamine release causes a high that has been compared to that of
cocaine. Dopamine is what is responsible for bodily changes associated with attraction, too. When you're around
someone you have strong romantic feelings for, you may notice your pulse quicken, your breathing gets
shallow, or your cheeks warm up. These are all biological processes that are partially caused by increased levels
of dopamine. Cortisol and norepinephrine may also be increased, causing us to experience a feeling of urgency
and to think frequently about the person we have romantic feelings for.