The brain reward areas serve to acknowledge and reinforce beneficial behaviors, for example eating when you're hungry.
Not exact matches
Unlike the non-dieters, the dieters tended to show a heightened response in the
areas of their
brains linked with processing
rewards, and a lowered response in the parts of their
brains linked with a sense of control.
The
brain regions that process
reward, motivation, and taste didn't react as strongly, whereas the
areas that promote overall self - control had a boost in activity.
Research has linked the positive feeling we often experience while talking about ourselves to higher levels of activation in
areas of the
brain associated with
reward.
Small victories build new androgen receptors in the
areas of the
brain responsible for
reward and motivation.
These newly implicated
areas of the
brain are generally associated with
reward, and have been linked to the pleasurable feelings and motivational states associated with stimuli such as sex, cocaine, and good food.
A study from 2014 confirmed the link between pornography use and decreased
brain matter in the
areas of motivation and decision making, impaired impulse control and desensitization to sexual
reward.
Looking inside the
brains of animals exposed to chronic social defeat stress, the scientists observed hyperactive firing of neurons in the ventral tegmental
area (VTA), a critical part of a
reward circuit.
The mice cranked out this protein in their
reward circuits, a
brain area that drives us to seek pleasure - inducing experiences and a key component in addiction.
In that third round, the participants responded positively, activating
areas in their
brains that some scientists call the «
reward circuit» — or the «ventral striatum.»
The experiments highlighted an
area of the
brain known as the «nucleus accumbens», which has been long - associated with motivation,
reward and depression — in humans too.
It is not surprising that addiction can be traced to an
area of the
brain that controls learning and memory as well as
reward.
«Opioids have both analgesic and
rewarding effects and they have these effects through mu opioid receptors and these receptors are expressed in pain terminals in the spinal cord and in
areas of the
brain that regulate pain but are also expressed in
areas that regulate
reward and a sense of pleasure,» Boyle said, referring to cells found in a person's central nervous system that bind to naturally occurring opioid compounds and reduce pain and make people feel much better.
The Disney ad stoked big responses in the orbito - frontal cortex and ventral striatum, two
areas associated with feelings of
reward, the parts of the
brain that say, «I like that!»
This pruning changes the relative density of receptors in the circuit linking the
area of the
brain involved with processing
rewards (the basal ganglia) and the
area of the
brain implicated in inhibition and control (the prefrontal cortex).
This work provides an insight into the
areas of the
brain that are activated when an individual is presented with an aversive food and suggests that the
reward circuit may also encode disgust.
These changes, in this crucial
area of the
brain, might help explain why addicts lose interest in natural
rewards, some researchers suggest.
The real - time fMRI scans revealed that when the volunteers successfully got the avatar to follow their gaze,
brain areas involved in
reward and motivation were activated.
Even more surprisingly, the researchers observed that
areas of the
brain, the globus pallidus and the substantia nigra, which participate in the
reward circuit (activated when we love something), were more involved in people who do not like cheese than in those who do.
«We discovered that rhythmic oscillations of groups of neurons in the prefrontal cortex — an
area of the
brain involved in decision - making and executive functions — controlled the strength of oscillations in neurons of the neighbouring nucleus accumbens, an
area involved in pleasure,
reward and addiction,» says Liu.
When subjects decided to donate their money, Harbaugh and Mayr found,
brain areas involved in processing
rewards lit up more than they did when the decision to donate was not their own, but was instead dictated by the experimenters.
Other
brain researchers had identified certain cell types and
areas of the
brain associated with fear,
reward, addiction, and depression.
The researchers found that sleep deprivation affected the putamen, an
area of the
brain that plays a role in goal - based movements and learning from
rewards.
An August 15 functional MRI study in NeuroImage shows that in CG patients reminders of the deceased activate a
brain area associated with
reward processing, pleasure and addiction.
To regulate mood, the prefrontal cortex acts as a pacemaker to coordinate the actions of the amygdala, which governs stress responses, and the ventral tegmental
area, which plays a role in the
brain's
reward circuitry.
The odors activated
reward - related
areas of the
brain, the same regions that trigger a pleasurable rush of dopamine when we get our hands on a desirable bit of food.
The
reward - related, or «hedonic,» component is centralized in the mesolimbic dopamine system,
areas of the
brain usually referenced when we talk about the effects of sex, drugs and rock»n' roll.
Brain networks associated with social pain became activated in all women, but in the CG patients reminders of the deceased also excited the nucleus accumbens, a forebrain
area most commonly associated with
reward.
Fathers of daughters had greater responses to their daughters» happy facial expressions in
areas of the
brain important for visual processing,
reward, emotion regulation, and face processing than fathers of sons.
The researchers found that in two out of the three
brain areas being recorded, neurons fired in the presence or absence of the juice
reward only.
The chronic dieters showed activations in
areas of the
brain associated with desire and expectation of
reward, however.
Steve Chang and his colleagues from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, used electrodes to directly record neuronal activity in three
areas of the
brain prefrontal cortex that are known to be involved in social decision - making, while monkeys performed
reward - related tasks.
After an eight - minute training period, the subjects showed heightened levels of activity in
areas known to be part of the
brain's
reward circuitry, the amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), associated with the pictures alone.
Mice in booze camp In the new study, performed on adolescent male mice, ethanol alcohol exposure seemed to enhance synaptic plasticity in the ventral tegmental
area (VTA), a part of the
brain that plays a critical role in the
reward pathway.
Compared to controls, patients with depression had decreased fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of the structural integrity of white matter connections, around an
area near the deep gray matter of the
brain that is strongly associated with the
brain's
reward circuit.
To help solve the paradox of aggregation and pair bonding, the researchers examined the striatum, a
brain area that regulates both social and sexual behaviors and that encodes
reward signals via a molecule called dopamine.
A study out of none other than the University of Cambridge found the same engagement of several
brain areas — all involved in
reward and motivation — in people with compulsive sexual behavior as previously found in people struggling with drug addiction.
«The origin was initially traced to the substantial reduction in motor symptoms, overlooking the role of the
brain stimulation
area — the subthalamic nucleus — in the
reward system.
Prior research showed that the mPOA is important for social and reproductive behavior in all vertebrate species studied from fish to human, but it has been unclear whether this
area drives social motivation through circuit connections with
reward systems in the
brain.
The blunted dopamine signaling to ethanol arose due to changes in the circuitry in the ventral tegmental
area, the heart of the
brain's
reward system.
Despite being objective losses, near - misses activate a particular
reward - related
area in the middle of our
brain: the striatum.
Over the following year, those whose
brains showed less activation in
areas known to respond to natural
rewards like foods ended up gaining more weight — though only if they had a particular genetic makeup.
The researchers think that a junk diet causes lasting changes in the
reward circuit parts of the rats»
brain, for example, the orbitofrontal cortex, an
area of the
brain responsible for decision - making.
In the new study, Page's team looked at effects in
brain areas that process
rewards.
Until now, the
area of the
brain where these neurons are found, called the ventral tegmental
area (VTA), had only been associated with the
reward system — not stress from withdrawal.
These people received 2 minutes of TMS to excite or inhibit the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a
brain area involved in
reward.
They focused on the ventral striatum, a small
area of the
brain that processes
reward but is also known to help control movement.
But all three labels also elicited some activity in the
brain area associated with
reward, the ventral striatum, as well as other regions related to desire and feeling connected.»
Researchers who've looked at the
brains of the lovelorn say rejection by a romantic partner lights up
areas of the
brain that are associated with addiction,
reward, craving, and depression.
They found that individuals with genetic variations to the RASGRF2 gene had higher activation of the ventral striatum
area of the
brain (closely linked to the VTA and involved in dopamine release) when anticipating
reward in a cognitive task.