Researchers identified a key molecule that highlights how the immune system is linked to the release of dopamine.

Some people bounce back from trauma, but others get caught in depressive loops that sap the joy from their lives. Researchers at UCSF find a brain signature of resilience in mice that suggests a new ...

Is addiction a choice or a disease? A psychiatrist explains how repeated substance use changes brain reward 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 ...

In our day-to-day lives, we're constantly making a slew of decisions, from immediate matters to prospects on the far horizon. But the evolutionary nuts-and-bolts of how our brains weigh these numerous ...

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 ...

Ever wonder why starting feels harder than finishing? Brain research shows stress can quietly block motivation before action ...