Over the past 20 years there has been an increasing number of brain imaging studies on the
mechanisms underlying reward motivation in humans. This narrative review describes …

The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex/dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dmPFC/dACC) is a brain
area subject to many theories and debates over its function (s). Even its precise anatomical …

The COVID-19 pandemic has been increasingly documented to cause negative impacts on
mental health outcomes, eg posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Dispositional optimism …

Aversive motivation plays a prominent role in driving individuals to exert cognitive control.
However, the complexity of behavioral responses attributed to aversive incentives creates …

Humans are immensely curious and motivated to reduce uncertainty, but little is known
about the neural mechanisms that generate curiosity. Curiosity is inversely associated with …

Formal thought disorder (FTD) is a clinical key factor in schizophrenia, but the
neurobiological underpinnings remain unclear. In particular, the relationship between FTD …

Self-control denotes the ability to override current desires to render behavior consistent with
long-term goals. A key assumption is that self-control is required when short-term desires …

Why do some mental activities feel harder than others? The answer to this question is
surprisingly controversial. Current theories propose that cognitive effort affords a …

To invest effort into any cognitive task, people must be sufficiently motivated. Whereas prior
research has focused primarily on how the cognitive control required to complete these …

Emotion is represented in limbic and prefrontal brain areas, herein termed the affective
salience network (ASN). Within the ASN, there are substantial unknowns about how valence …