Where and how does the brain code reward during social behavior? Almost all elements of
the brain's reward circuit are modulated during social behavior. The striatum in particular is …

Flexibly selecting appropriate actions in response to complex, ever-changing environments
requires both cortical and subcortical regions, which are typically described as participating …

Habits are notoriously difficult to break and, if broken, are usually replaced by new routines.
To examine the neural basis of these characteristics, we recorded spike activity in cortical …

The basal ganglia are implicated in a remarkable range of functions influencing emotion and
cognition as well as motor behavior. Current models of basal ganglia function hypothesize …

The striatum has been involved in complex behaviors such as motor control, learning,
decision-making, reward and aversion. The striatum is mainly composed of medium spiny …

Direct and indirect pathway striatal neurons are known to exert opposing control over motor
output. In this review, we discuss a hypothetical extension of this framework, in which direct …

The prevailing view is that striatal parvalbumin (PV)-positive interneurons primarily function
to downregulate medium spiny projection neuron (MSN) activity via monosynaptic inhibitory …

About a half a century has passed since dopamine was identified as a neurotransmitter, and
it has been several decades since it was established that people with Parkinson's disease …

Understanding habits at a biological level requires a combination of behavioral observations
and measures of ongoing neural activity. Theoretical frameworks as well as definitions of …

Obesity is a major health challenge facing many people throughout the world. Increased
consumption of palatable, high-caloric foods is one of the major drivers of obesity. Both …