A Boston University-led research team has discovered a dopamine signal in the brain that helps determine whether you are moving toward or away from a goal, potentially shedding new light on how the ...

It has long been known as the arbiter of reward in the brain, but recent findings could upend this classic theory of dopamine ...

As the brain ages, dopamine-producing cells and receptors gradually disappear, but surviving cells can ramp up dopamine production to compensate. It’s a kind of biological workaround — and, as ...

Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered that an FDA-approved compound promotes neuroprotective effects in experimental models of Parkinson's disease. The compound, N-acetyl-L-leucine (NALL), ...

They're marketed as a natural alternative to prescription drugs and popular on social media, but do they work?

Dopamine has a dark side. Substances that give us great pleasure, from coffee to cocaine, can raise dopamine levels too high.

What happens in the human brain when we learn from positive and negative experiences? To help answer that question and better understand decision making and human behavior, scientists are studying ...

When you are feeling hungry, the brain takes the necessary steps toward consuming a meal. Many of these steps are not well known, but a new study published in the journal Metabolism by researchers at ...

People who have pulled an all-nighter may be familiar with that “tired and wired” feeling. Although the body is physically exhausted, the brain feels slap-happy, and almost giddy. Northwestern ...

What happens in the human brain when we learn from positive and negative experiences? To help answer that question and better understand decision-making and human behavior, scientists are studying ...

For the first time, dopamine regulation has been mapped in real time, deep inside the brains of three humans, revealing how the brain neurotransmitter plays an essential role in not just recognizing ...