OBJECTIVES Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with elevated reward sensitivity and persistent positive affect, yet the neural mechanisms underlying these patterns are not well understood. In the present study, we examined putative disruptions in communication within a well-known cortico-limbic reward circuit during reward processing as a potential contributing mechanism to these symptoms. ME...

Three studies were conducted to examine the effects of reward on children's and adult's creativity. The primary hypothesis was that explicitly contracting to do an activity in order to receive a reward will have negative effects on creativity, but receiving no reward or only a noncontracted-for reward will have no such negative effects. All three studies provided support for this hypothesis. Mo...

What we eat, when and how much, all are influenced by brain reward mechanisms that generate "liking" and "wanting" for foods. As a corollary, dysfunction in reward circuits might contribute to the recent rise of obesity and eating disorders. Here we assess brain mechanisms known to generate "liking" and "wanting" for foods and evaluate their interaction with regulatory mechanisms of hunger and ...

In the 1960s, discovery of pleasure system (defined as reward system) in the brain that may underlie drug reward and addiction encouraged many scientists to investigate the mechanisms by which drug abuse affects central nervous system function. In this regard, investigators developed several drugs targeting the brain reward system for drug dependence therapy. However, no positive results obtain...

BACKGROUND Two objectives of the NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative are to identify (a) mechanisms that are common to multiple psychiatric disorders, and (b) mechanisms that are unique to specific psychiatric symptoms, and that reflect markers of differential risk for these symptoms. With respect to these objectives, a brain-behavior dimension that has received considerable attenti...

Gambling disorder (GD) frequently co-occurs with alcohol use and anxiety disorders, suggesting possible shared mechanisms. Recent research suggests reward uncertainty may powerfully enhance attraction towards reward cues. Here, we examined the effects of adolescent ethanol exposure, anxiety, and reward uncertainty on cue-triggered motivation. Male and female adolescent rats were given free acce...