Drug addiction poses a global public health challenge, with limited therapeutic options and modest efficacy. While numerous studies have shown that social status profoundly impacts mental health and ...

Could coffee help to counteract some of the effects of alcohol on the brain, and potentially limit the risk of addiction? That's what's suggested by a new study of how caffeine interacts with the ...

New findings published in the journal Nature Neuroscience have shed light on a mysterious pathway between the reward center of the brain that is key to how we form habits, known as the basal ganglia, ...

Ever wondered how your brain decides when to act? Initiating actions with a specific goal in mind is a complex process. Previous research has identified certain parts of the brain and chemical signals ...

Researchers report that cocaine addiction disrupts the dopamine neurons that govern how we perceive and learn from rewards. Though people with cocaine addiction have similar expectations of rewards ...

Methamphetamine doesn't just spike levels of the pleasure-inducing hormone dopamine in the reward pathways of the brain—it also provokes damaging brain inflammation through similar mechanisms.

Dopamine is one of the most extensively studied chemical messengers in the human brain, and yet scientists are still figuring out how it works to accomplish so much. For years, the classic view has ...

LOS ANGELES — Maybe you'd like to spend time on hobbies or hang out with friends, but nothing feels as exciting and engaging as it used to –– so you just squander another hour on social media. Your ...

The new study, from Brown University (U.S.), has been conducted on the brains of fruit flies (which serve as the deal model for studying many processes in all organisms, including humans). The ...

The same drugs that transformed obesity treatment are now being investigated for substance use disorders, fueling interest in ...