Intake of saturated fats and simple carbohydrates, two of the primary components of a
modern Western diet, is linked with the development of obesity and Alzheimer's Disease …

It is commonly held that substance use comorbidity in schizophrenia represents self-
medication, an attempt by patients to alleviate adverse positive and negative symptoms …

Reward is one of the most important influences shaping behavior. Single-unit recording and
lesion studies in experimental animals have implicated a number of regions in response to …

Running wheels are commonly employed to measure rodent physical activity in a variety of
contexts, including studies of energy balance and obesity. There is no consensus on the …

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mediates energy metabolism and feeding
behavior. As a neurotrophin, BDNF promotes neuronal differentiation, survival during early …

There are numerous problems with the hypothesis that brain dopamine (DA) systems,
particularly in the nucleus accumbens, directly mediate the rewarding or primary …

Operant behavior is not only regulated by factors related to the quality or quantity of
reinforcement, but also by the work requirements inherent in performing instrumental …

The hippocampus (HPC) has been traditionally considered to subserve mnemonic
processing and spatial cognition. Over the past decade, however, there has been increasing …

Drugs of abuse dynamically regulate adult neurogenesis, which appears important for some
types of learning and memory. Interestingly, a major site of adult neurogenesis, the …

Many mammals have evolved to be social creatures. In humans, the ability to learn from
others' experiences is essential to survival; and from an early age, individuals are …