Latest

ventral striatum

This shows a brain, shopping carts, and bags.

·December 15, 2024·7 min read

Why We Buy What We Buy: The Neuroscience of Shopping

New research in neuroeconomics explores the brain processes behind shopping decisions, revealing how factors like brand recognition, pricing, and online versus in-person experiences influence purchases. The ventral striatum, a brain region linked to reward, evaluates products even without active decision-making.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·February 16, 2023·4 min read

Is the Brain Wired Differently in People With Addiction?

Study reveals functional connectivity abnormalities in brain areas associated with reward processing, habit formation, and decision-making in those with substance use disorders and addiction.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 21, 2022·3 min read

No Pain, No Gain? How the Brain Chooses Between Pain and Profit

The ventral striatum plays a crucial role when it comes to choices about future pain versus future profit.

This shows a drawing of a woman with cannabis leaves in her hair

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 13, 2022·6 min read

How Cannabis Affects Our Cognition and Psychology

Researchers investigate how cannabis can influence a number of cognitive and psychological processes.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 19, 2022·4 min read

Mine or Ours: The Brain’s Choice

The ventral striatum plays a critical role in how we view shared or private natural resources, a new study reports.

This shows a brain and a finger shooting lightening out of it

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·November 22, 2021·8 min read

Novel Brain Stimulation Approach Treats Severe Depression

Combining deep-brain stimulation with intracranial EEG, researchers achieved an individualized understanding of specific brain networks that contributed to an individual's depression symptoms and identified stimulation patterns best suited to each patient for symptom relief.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·October 29, 2021·4 min read

Brain Circuitry for Both Positive and Negative Valence Affected by Trauma

The severity of PTSD symptoms was associated with fewer risky choices and increased activation of the amygdala. Decreased activity in the ventral striatum, an area of the brain associated with processing positive valence such as reward, predicted more severe PTSD symptoms 14 months post trauma.

Featured Neuroscience

·December 3, 2020·6 min read

A New View of How the Brain Decides to Make an Effort

The ventral striatum plays a key role in decision making, weighing the cost versus the benefit of making a physical effort.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 16, 2020·2 min read

The molecular mechanisms of depression

Study reveals how the brain's opioid system is linked to mood changes associated with depression and anxiety. Neuroimaging revealed, in those with depression, there is a decreased number of opioid receptors in specific areas of the brain.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·March 18, 2020·4 min read

Psychosis linked to the omission of chemical rewards in brain: Mouse study

Researchers investigate the role the dopamine 2 receptor plays in psychosis.

This shows a person standing on a bridge

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 13, 2019·3 min read

Formation of habitual use drives cannabis addiction

Individual differences in the striatum of habitual cannabis users distinguish between who is at increased risk of addiction and cannabis use disorder.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 13, 2019·5 min read

Differences in brain activity in children with anhedonia

Using fMRI to examine the brains of children while resting, researchers discover anhedonia is associated with hyperconnectivity between the cingulo-opercular network and ventral striatum.