The present paper considers recent progress in our understanding of the afferent/ascending
neural pathways and neural circuits of interoception. Of particular note is the extensive role …

Interoception refers to the process by which the nervous system senses, interprets, and
integrates signals originating from within the body, providing a moment-by-moment mapping …

Depression and obesity are common conditions with major public health implications that
tend to co-occur within individuals. The relationship between these conditions is …

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a critical role in the generation and regulation of emotion.
However, we lack an integrative framework for understanding how different emotion-related …

Various environmental stressors, such as extreme temperatures (hot and cold), pathogens,
predators and insufficient food, can threaten life. Remarkable progress has recently been …

The role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in human pavlovian threat
conditioning has been relegated largely to the extinction or reversal of previously acquired …

Affective experiences are commonly represented by either transient emotional reactions to
discrete events or longer term, sustained mood states that are characterized by a more …

Reinforcement learning theory powerfully characterizes how we learn to benefit ourselves.
In this theory, prediction errors—the difference between a predicted and actual outcome of a …

The estimated values of choices, and therefore decision-making based on those values, are
influenced by both the chance that the chosen items or goods can be obtained (availability) …

The brain mechanism for controlling continuous behavior in dynamic contexts must mediate
action selection and learning across many timescales, responding differentially to the level …