A new study conducted in rats shows that animals ignore social contact in favor of highly addictive opioid drugs. Researchers went on to show that this drug-seeking behavior could be reversed by stimulating a region of the brain. Researchers in the Arizona State University Department of Psychology previously used an animal model of opioid addiction and empathy to show that animals stopped prosocial behaviors - helping another animal - when heroin was available. The same research group has now shown that activating the anterior insula restored prosocial behaviors in opioid-addicted animals. The study will be published in Social Neuroscience and...