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 ...

When faced with multiple food options and ultimately choosing one, the factors of that decision-making process may be more physiological than previously assumed. A group of scientists recently ...

Using computational models, the researchers studied how the brain's reward-learning system functions in those with depression, especially among individuals experiencing anhedonia, the inability to ...

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 study found that vaporized cannabis rapidly increases food intake by activating brain reward circuits rather than true hunger signals. Participants and rats ate more even when full, and blocking ...

Many of us know the feeling of hoping a treatment will work. We try a new medicine or a vaccine and we tell ourselves it will help. Most people think of this as a simple mindset. But scientists have ...

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 ...