Dopamine is a critical modulator of both learning and motivation. This presents a problem:
how can target cells know whether increased dopamine is a signal to learn or to move? It is …

The obesity epidemic is a leading cause of health problems in the United States, increasing
the risk of cardiovascular, endocrine, and psychiatric diseases. Although many people lose …

Benzodiazepines can ameliorate social disturbances and increase social competition,
particularly in high-anxious individuals. However, the neural circuits and mechanisms …

The rewarding properties of social interactions play a critical role in the development and
maintenance of social relationships, and deficits in social reward are associated with various …

Mesolimbic dopamine perturbations modulate performance of reward-seeking behavior,
with tasks requiring high effort being especially vulnerable to disruption of dopamine …

In neuroscience literature, dopamine is often considered as a pleasure chemical of the
brain. Dopaminergic neurons respond to rewarding stimuli which include primary rewards …

Preclinical studies implicate insulin signaling as a modulator of dopamine transmission, but
human data is currently limited. We hypothesize that changes in the expression of insulin …

Five years ago, we introduced the thrift hypothesis of dopamine (DA), suggesting that the
primary role of DA in adaptive behavior is regulating behavioral energy expenditure to …

Salt intake is an essential dietary requirement, but excessive consumption is implicated in
hypertension and associated conditions. Little is known about the neural circuit mechanisms …

Interventions targeting cognitive disorders often hinge on assumptions that humans and
nonhuman animals recruit equivalent cognitive mechanisms during decision-making …