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part of the brain. This area processes information received<br />
from the environment, decides risks, and develops a response<br />
based on instinctive judgment. This is applicable to<br />
routines such as driving, locking a door, or the measure of a<br />
step when walking up steps. The basal ganglia are responsible<br />
for telling us when and how something needs to be<br />
done, and when it is done. For example, it is responsible for<br />
telling you that you are thirsty, telling you to drink something,<br />
and telling you when you've had enough to drink.<br />
There are a variety of areas where this is applicable,<br />
which include motor function, bodily-function regulation,<br />
cognition, emotions, habit, and learning.<br />
In OCD, the hormone and neurotransmitter of primary<br />
interest in this part of the brain is dopamine. Dopamine is<br />
responsible for the brain's judgment of what is good or bad.<br />
For example, the habit of locking the front door before<br />
bed starts here. The basal ganglia works <strong>with</strong> memory, so it<br />
remembers that you feel good (dopamine) when you lock<br />
the door. It sends a signal to go and lock the door before<br />
bed. The memory part of this may come from a previous<br />
experience of going to bed <strong>with</strong>out locking the door, which<br />
led to bad feelings (dopamine), which caused you to get up<br />
and lock the door.<br />
The brain remembers the relief you felt when you locked<br />
the door, and stores the experience in instinctive memory.<br />
The more times this occurs and creates good feelings, the<br />
stronger the instinct grows, and it eventually becomes a<br />
habit. This is relative to the learning association <strong>with</strong> this<br />
part of the brain. As it remembers things that make you feel<br />
good, it also remembers things that make you feel bad, and<br />
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