Study in mice offers insights into the brain circuitry underlying certain types of reward-based choices. Researchers identified distinct groups of brain cells activated when animals anticipate a ...

As young people reach adulthood, their preferences for sweet foods typically decline. But for people with obesity, new research suggests that the drop-off may not be as steep and that the brain's ...

Cocaine addiction isn’t simply a failure of willpower — it’s the result of lasting biological changes in the brain.

Using computational models, the researchers studied how the brain's reward-learning system functions in those with depression, especially among individuals experiencing anhedonia, the inability to ...

For almost a century, psychology and neuroscience researchers have been trying to understand the processes via which humans and other animals acquire new skills or learn to deal with specific ...

In a study in the Journal of Affective Disorders, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute scientists Pearl Chiu and Brooks Casas investigate how brain signals involved in reward learning might help ...

Dopamine – a brain chemical associated with reward – appears to prompt people to move faster when they want something, researchers recently reported in the journal Science Advances.

Surprise rewards may boost movement speed, hinting that dopamine signals in the brain help control motivation and physical vigor.

Every day, our brain makes thousands of decisions, big and small. Any of these decisions—from the least consequential, such as picking a restaurant, to the more important, such as pursuing a different ...

Research in mice identifies brain circuitry that supports certain reward-based decisions. Every day, our brain makes thousands of decisions, big and small. Any of these decisions -- from the least ...