Recent research indicates that bodily inflammation may disrupt the brain’s ability to process rewards and risks in American Indian adults who have experienced depression. The study found that higher ...

MIT neuroscientists have found that the brain’s sensitivity to rewarding experiences — a critical factor in motivation and attention — can be shaped by socioeconomic conditions. In a study of 12 to 14 ...

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 ...

Scientists discerned that a person’s neural and behavioral outcomes shifted when simply vividly imagining a positive ...

A shift in a single brain protein can reshape how cues turn into habits, opening new possibilities for treating addiction and neurological disorders.

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 ...

ADHD stimulants may improve performance not by sharpening focus, but by making the brain more awake and motivated.

Researchers have gained a new understanding of how the brain processes reward and risk information. Neuroscientists show how nerve cells in the so-called amygdala not only encode the probability and ...

People who are depressed very often show reduced interest in experiencing or obtaining pleasure, a symptom called anhedonia that research has traced to dysfunction in the brain’s reward system. In ...

A rare brain-recording study found tirzepatide briefly muted activity linked to 'food noise'; months later the signals and ...

What appears to be “high performance” often reflects a reward system running on fumes rather than sustainable focus.

New research shows jazz improvisation relies on shifting brain networks as musicians move from memory to creative freedom.