Dopamine – a brain chemical associated with reward – appears to prompt people to move faster when they want something, researchers recently reported in the journal Science Advances.

Surprise rewards may boost movement speed, hinting that dopamine signals in the brain help control motivation and physical vigor.

Study in mice offers insights into the brain circuitry underlying certain types of reward-based choices. Researchers identified distinct groups of brain cells activated when animals anticipate a ...

Humans and animals share a remarkable capacity to sense when others are in distress and respond with comforting behavior. But the motivation for doing so, and why it sometimes breaks down, has been ...

Cocaine addiction isn’t simply a failure of willpower — it’s the result of lasting biological changes in the brain.

Elena Mainetto, from Radboud University, Margaret Westwater, from the University of Oxford, and colleagues at the University of Cambridge explored whether they could change how much people enjoy ...

New research shows The amygdala helps choose between competing strategies when rewards are uncertain and decisions get confusing.

Scientists identify the protein DeltaFosB as the "master switch" that rewires the brain's memory and reward circuits, driving chronic cocaine addiction and relapse.

As young people reach adulthood, their preferences for sweet foods typically decline. But for people with obesity, new research suggests that the drop-off may not be as steep and that the brain's ...

Research in mice identifies brain circuitry that supports certain reward-based decisions. Every day, our brain makes thousands of decisions, big and small. Any of these decisions -- from the least ...