GLP-1 weight-loss drugs alter brain circuits in the amygdala and dopamine system to reduce the motivation to seek out high-calorie foods.

Some people bounce back from trauma, but others get caught in depressive loops that sap the joy from their lives. Now, scientists at UC San Francisco are learning how the brain creates these divergent ...

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.

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 ...

Stimulating the brain's self-control center via rTMS reduces smoking by 11 cigarettes a day, outperforming reward-suppression ...

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 ...

For many people who smoke, quitting is not just a matter of willpower. It is a tug-of-war in the brain – between the pull of ...

Researchers at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center found that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation targeting the dorsolateral ...