Reduced WAVE1 levels decreased preference for cocaine in mice, researchers report.
Different types of reward have unique effects on the basal ganglia nuclei. Food rewards influence the left hemisphere of the brain, while erotic rewards engage the right lateral globus and left caudate. Financial rewards engage the basal ganglia bilaterally.
Researchers uncover a casual relationship between behavioral control and a specific imbalance in brain function that exists during adolescence.
What we find pleasurable may be down to our genetics. Researchers found nucleus accumbens activation and physical anhedonia were influenced by shared genes. The experience of pleasure and physical anhedonia also appear to share some of the same genes.
According to researchers, blocking the activity of oxytocin restored normal social behavior in stressed mice.
Alpha synuclein's non-amyloidal component (NAC) aids the protein's movement through axons. When the NAC region is removed, alpha-synuclein did not move within axons.
Researchers report that for memory formation, the nucleus accumbens is both upstream and influential.
In mice, the insular cortex processes negative emotions and bodily discomfort. The findings shed light on emotional processing in animals and humans.
Using neuroimaging technology, researchers note increased activity in areas of the brain associated with empathy in subjects who underwent compassion training.
A new study sheds light on how the brain processes rewards and provides a deeper understanding on the neurobiology of depression.
A new study aims to shed light on the roles sub-regions of the nucleus accumbens play in addiction.
Glutamatergic neural connections between the prelimbic prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens appear to be responsible for co-morbid anxiety and OCD behaviors.
