Researchers discover a new dopamine signal in the striatum that acts as a guidance system, encoding trajectory errors to steer behavior toward goals.

Scientists have long known that dopamine helps the brain learn from rewards, but a new computational model shows how for people with schizophrenia this learning system can break down and ...

The other day at my office, a colleague brought in his new kitten. Work stopped as everyone gathered around for pets and cuddles. I asked my friend Giuseppe Giannotti why people find kittens and ...

A small region of the brain, known as the ventral tegmental area (VTA), plays a key role in how we process rewards. It produces dopamine, a neuromodulator that helps predict future rewards based on ...

Cocaine addiction isn’t simply a failure of willpower — it’s the result of lasting biological changes in the brain. Researchers at Michigan State University discovered that repeated cocaine use ...

Researchers discover a neural circuit that rewards gnawing behavior with dopamine, explaining repetitive oral habits in animals and humans.

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 led by ...