We have long been told a simple story about reward: Dopamine is the "wanting" molecule that drives us toward goals, and opioids are the "liking" molecules that provide the hit of pleasure once we get ...

Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences have found a surprising connection between a fungus associated with alcohol use disorder and the ...

Chronic alcohol consumption profoundly alters gene expression in key brain regions involved in reward, impulse control, and decision-making, according to a study led by researchers at the Institute ...

Ten years ago, popular psychology explained motivation quite simply: a person tries because he wants to have fun or avoid punishment. But modern neuroscience shows a more complex picture: our brain ...

I was a third-year medical student at Northwestern on my ICU rotation the first time I saw a dopamine drip. The patient was pale and motionless, his blood pressure dropping by the minute despite large ...

A new study from the University of Virginia reveals that a widely used class of weight-loss drugs does more than suppress appetite—it directly alters brain circuits that control motivation and reward.

Positive thinking may boost the body’s defenses against disease. Increasing activity in a brain region that controls motivation and expectation, specifically the brain’s reward system, is linked with ...

Romantic love is often described as a feeling, but brain imaging suggests it is also a long running neural project that reshapes how we experience reward, stress and safety. When infatuation settles ...

A new study is challenging one of neuroscience’s most enduring ideas: that the brain’s reward system exists to make us feel good. Instead, researchers argue that it is built to optimize energy.