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reward system

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·May 22, 2020·5 min read

Wired for marriage: The neural and genetic links to romantic love

Researchers have identified both genetic and neural mechanisms associated with romantic love and attachment. The maintenance of romantic love is not only associated with subcortical brain regions but also higher-order centers of the brain. The propensity to sustain romantic love appears to also be affected by genetic variability, specifically with genes associated with dopamine, vasopressin, and oxytocin.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 3, 2020·5 min read

Do people become more selfless as they age?

A recent study reveals people are more likely to become more altruistic and charitable as they age.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 9, 2020·5 min read

Aha! + Aaaah: Creative insight triggers a neural reward signal

Neuroimaging study sheds light on what drove the evolutionary development of human creativity.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 5, 2020·3 min read

Triglycerides control neurons in the reward circuit

Dietary triglycerides directly alter signaling in the reward circuit to regulate behavior. The findings reveal a potential mechanism by which triglyceride-rich diets may lead to adaptions in dopamine signaling that underlie reward deficit and compulsive behaviors.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·February 12, 2020·4 min read

Study links human gene variant to THC reward in adolescent females

A variant of the FAAH gene increases vulnerability to THC in females and has a larger-scale impact on brain regions responsible for reward processing.

This shows a drawing of a brain made up of cog wheels

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·January 23, 2020·3 min read

How the brain processes rewards

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.

Autism Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·January 18, 2020·4 min read

What people who don’t like music might tell us about social interaction

Musical anhedonia, a neurological condition where people don't enjoy music, affects 5% of the population. Researchers are exploring if this same condition could also be what impairs social bonding for some people on the autism spectrum.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·January 18, 2020·2 min read

Music helps researchers find link between prediction and pleasure

Exposing subjects to music composed in an unfamiliar scale, researchers test whether reward can be derived solely from newly formed predictions.

This shows the mPFC and striatum highligted on a brain scan

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·January 17, 2020·5 min read

Rich rewards: ADHD medication’s effect on the brain

Methylphenidate may boost norepinephrine levels in the prefrontal cortex, which in turn regulates dopaminergic neurons firing in the striatum, when a reward is delivered. The study sheds new light on how medications for ADHD affect the reward system in the brain.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·January 14, 2020·4 min read

Sugar changes the chemistry of your brain

After 12 days of sugar intake, researchers noted major changes in both the dopamine and opioid systems of pigs' brains. Alterations in the opioid system were seen following the very first intake of sugar.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·November 26, 2019·5 min read

One shot of ketamine could reduce problem drinking

A single shot of ketamine administered to heavy drinkers following reactivation of their drinking memories led to a rapid decrease in the urge to drink. The effect lasted for over nine months.