Helen Schwerdt, assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, has received a $2.5 million NIH R01 grant to investigate dopamine's role in learning from rewards and punishments ...

The team focused its attention on the striatum, a region within the brain's basal ganglia, where neurons use dopamine to influence neural circuits involved in a variety of processes, including ...

The neuroscientists have discovered that a small group of dopamine neurons in the striatum play a crucial role in balancing several essential brain functions, including those related to reward ...

Dopaminergic neurons in the basal ganglia normally fire in a random but continuous manner, so that striatal dopamine concentrations are maintained at a relatively constant level. In the dopamine ...

A large number of computational models of information processing in the basal ganglia have been developed in recent years. Prominent in these are actor-critic models ...

in the midbrain to the striatum and is essential for the control of movement. Current treatments that boost striatal dopamine levels have adverse side effects, lose efficacy over time and do not ...

Professor Berry is interested in how individual differences in the dopamine system shape functional interactions among prefrontal cortex, striatum and hippocampus. Her research combines behavior and ...

Romantic chemistry involves emotional, physical, and intellectual compatibility, driven by attractiveness and kindness. Brain ...