Understanding why we overeat unhealthy foods has been a long-standing mystery. And while we recognize that food acts as a strong reinforcer that guides our food decisions, the precise circuitry in our ...

In this illustration, fat, sugar, and the combination of both (chocolate) navigate a gut-brain maze. The blue path represents the sugar route, the green path signifies the fat route, and the yellow ...

A new brain imaging study reveals how ultra-processed foods reshape appetite circuits, raising concerns that these everyday products could be rewiring our eating habits from the inside out. Study: ...

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 ...

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 ...

Researchers have recently uncovered new insights into how the brain’s reward system functions in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its relationship with psychological ...