Dopamine is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that is essential in controlling the brain’s reward and pleasure centres, and therefore plays a huge role in the development and maintenance of addictions. It can function as both inhibitory and excitatory, depending on where in the brain, and at which particular receptor site it binds to. Dopamine is also largely involved in motor control, mating behaviour and cognitive functions such as attentional focus and motivation.Integrative Psychiatry. (n.d.). Dopamine: Excitatory Neurotransmitter. [online] Available at: https://www.integrativepsychiatry.net/dopamine-excitatory-neurotransmitter.html [Accessed 19 Nov. 2018]. Klein, M., Battagello, D., Cardoso, A., Hauser, D., Bittencourt, J. and Correa, R. (2018). Dopamine: Functions, Signaling, and Association with Neurological Diseases. Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology. [online] Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30446950 [Accessed 19 Nov. 2018]. Nieoullon, A., 2002. Dopamine and the regulation of cognition and attention. Progress in neurobiology, 67(1), pp.53-83. Di Chiara, G. and Bassareo, V., 2007. Reward system and addiction: what dopamine does and doesn’t do. Current opinion in pharmacology, 7(1), pp.69-76.