Maged1 Gene Protects Against Cocaine Addiction
A new study reports mice lacking the Maged1 gene are unable to acquire an addiction to cocaine.... Read More...
VTA
Dopamine’s Role in Unlearning Fearful Association
Researchers report dopamine neurons may play a role in fear extinction. The study suggests targeting dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area could be of therapeutic benefit to reduce the impact of learned fear in PTSD and anxiety disorders.... Read More...
How Your Brain Decides Between Knowledge and Ignorance
Researchers report the brain's reward network could play an influential role in evaluating the opportunity to gain new information, just as it does to evaluate rewards such as food or financial gain.... Read More...
Neural Circuit Mechanisms of Emotion Identified
Researchers shed light on the mechanisms behind the anxiolytic CRH circuit in the ventral tegmental area of the brain.... Read More...
Detecting Diminishing Dopamine Firing Cells in Brain Could Reveal Earliest Signs of Alzheimer’s
According to researchers, if the ventral tegmental area is unable to produce the correct amount of dopamine for the hippocampus, it will not work efficiently and the impairment can result in dementia.... Read More...
In Pursuit of Pleasure, the Brain Learns to Hit the Repeat Button
According to researchers, the brain learns to reproduce brain activity patterns that lead to reward. The findings could lead to new avenues for treating addiction and OCD, researchers report.... Read More...
How the Brain Selectively Remembers New Places
MIT researchers have identified a brain network that allows the brain to record memories of new places.... Read More...
Discovery Could Lead to New Treatments for Addiction and Anxiety
Researchers have identified a specific network in the brain that appears to be associated with risk and reward assessment.... Read More...
Higher Estrogen Levels Linked to Increased Alcohol Sensitivity in Brain’s Reward Center
Neurons in the ventral tegmental area, an area of the brain considered to be the reward center, fire more rapidly to alcohol when estrogen levels are elevated, a new study reports. The study may shed light on how alcohol addiction develops in some women.... Read More...
A New Target For Marijuana
Findings shed light on the effect of marijuana on the developing brain and provide a target for cannabis use disorder.... Read More...
How ‘Love Hormone’ Oxytocin Spurs Sociability
Researchers pinpoint the brain circuitry involved in social reward and shed new light on oxytocin's role in social behavior.... Read More...
Low-Dose Diazepam Can Increase Social Competitiveness
Researchers from EPFL have uncovered how diazepam, a common anxiolytic, can increase mitochondrial activity in neural pathways associated with motivation.... Read More...