How do we know if it was worth the wait in line to get a meal at the new restaurant in town? To do this our brain must be able to signal how good the meal tastes and associate this feeling with the restaurant. This is done ...
Oct 16, 2017
0
753
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have uncovered the mechanism by which neurons keep up with the demands of repeatedly sending signals to other neurons. The new findings, made in fruit flies and mice, challenge ...
Aug 17, 2017
1
326
When a cheetah chases a gazelle, it's not raw speed that predicts the outcome of the contest. Instead, it's the animal that times its movements better that has the advantage. That ability to consciously guide movements over ...
Dec 15, 2016
0
21
To flexibly deal with our ever-changing world, we need to learn from both the negative and positive consequences of our behaviour. In other words, from punishment and reward. Hanneke den Ouden from the Donders Institute in ...
Nov 22, 2013
0
1
(HealthDay)—Many people who have tried to give up fatty foods in favor of healthier choices have found themselves obsessing over cookies or chips. Choosing a salad over a cheeseburger can feel like a Herculean act of will.
Aug 15, 2013
1
0
To make decisions, we need to estimate the value of sensory stimuli and motor actions, their "goodness" and "badness." We can imagine that good and bad are two ends of a single continuum, or dimension, of value. This would ...
Aug 1, 2013
0
1
Researchers at Emory University have identified a protein that stimulates a pair of "orphan receptors" found in the brain, solving a long-standing biological puzzle and possibly leading to future treatments for neurological ...
May 21, 2013
0
0
Humans are adept at setting goals and updating them as new situations arise—for example, a person who is playing a video game may switch to a new goal when their phone rings.
Dec 18, 2012
0
0
(Medical Xpress)—To John Salamone, professor of psychology and longtime researcher of the brain chemical dopamine, scientific research can be very slow-moving.
Dec 3, 2012
1
0
(Medical Xpress)—A group of scientists from the University of Copenhagen has created a model that shows how some types of ADHD medicine influence the brain's reward system. The model makes it possible to understand the ...
Nov 9, 2012
0
0
