Psychology & Psychiatry

How gambling distorts reality and hooks your brain

To call gambling a "game of chance" evokes fun, random luck and a sense of collective engagement. These playful connotations may be part of why almost 80 percent of American adults gamble at some point in their lifetime. ...

Neuroscience

How time affects learning

Associations between neutral stimuli and monetary rewards are strengthened over the course of weeks of learning, according to a human study published in JNeurosci that investigated learning over an extended period of time. ...

Addiction

Bile acids from the gut could help to treat cocaine abuse

Bile acids that aid fat digestion are also found to reduce the rewarding properties of cocaine use, according to a study publishing on July 26 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by India Reddy, Nicholas Smith, and Robb ...

Neuroscience

A gene required for addictive behavior

Cocaine can have a devastating effect on people. It directly stimulates the brain's reward center, and, more importantly, induces long-term changes to the reward circuitry that are responsible for addictive behaviors. Alban ...

Neuroscience

Serotonin and confidence underlie patience in new study

People usually have the ability to put aside the desire for immediate gratification in anticipation of something good. But this isn't just a human trait—a new study shows that mice can be patient, too, revealing a link ...

Overweight & Obesity

Brain stimulation may reduce food cravings as obesity treatment

Stimulating the brain to alter its intrinsic reward system shows promise in the treatment of obesity, according to results presented in Barcelona at the European Society of Endocrinology annual meeting, ECE 2018. The technique ...

Neuroscience

How the brain responds to injustice

Punishing a wrongdoer may be more rewarding to the brain than supporting a victim. That is one suggestion of new research published in JNeurosci, which measured the brain activity of young men while they played a "justice ...

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