Midbrain Mutiny: v. 2

The explanatory power of economic theory is tested by the phenomenon of irrational
consumption, examples of which include such addictive behaviors as disordered and pathological
gambling. Midbrain Mutiny examines different economic models of disordered
gambling, using the frameworks of neuroeconomics (which analyzes decision making in the brain) and
picoeconomics (which analyzes patterns of consumption behavior), and drawing on empirical evidence
about behavior and the brain. The book describes addiction in neuroeconomic terms as chronic
disruption of the balance between the midbrain dopamine system and the prefrontal and frontal
serotonergic system, and reviews recent evidence from trials testing the effectiveness of
antiaddiction drugs. The authors argue that the best way to understand disordered and addictive
gambling is with a hybrid picoeconomic-neuroeconomic model.