An important result of the conditioned physiologic processes involved in drug addiction is that ordinary, healthful rewards lose their former motivational power. In a person with addiction, the reward and motivational systems become reoriented through conditioning to focus on the more potent release of dopamine produced by the drug and its cues. The landscape of the person with addiction becomes restricted to one of cues and triggers for drug use. However, this is only one of the ways in which addiction changes motivation and behavior.
