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TL;DR: In a lab study of 187 UK students, a few minutes spent vividly imagining good future events made those with more low-mood symptoms feel more in control of their goals. It did not make anyone feel their goals were more likely or more important. Key Findi…
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TL;DR: A 2026 preprint on medRxiv tested transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS), a noninvasive ear-based stimulation method, during a grip-strength reward task and found that people with severe depressive symptoms made more efficient effort choices unde…
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Daily Cognitive Precision Predicted Goal Follow-Through TL;DR: Sharper-than-usual cognitive days predicted same-day follow-through: a one-standard-deviation jump in precision translated to roughly 40 extra minutes of goal-directed work. Key Findings Sharper da…
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GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) show promise in regulating the reward system and potentially treating motivation and reward-processing disorders. Highlights: Regulation of Reward System Dysfunction: GLP-1RAs influence the brain’s reward system, which is inv…
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Aerobic exercise reduces depressive symptoms by decreasing inflammation, boosting dopamine transmission, and enhancing motivation and cognitive control. Highlights: Depression & Dopamine: Depression is linked to disrupted dopamine transmission, affecting rewar…
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Researchers have uncovered new insights into how fasting alters dopamine signaling in the brain’s reward circuitry. Their findings, published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, suggest that fasted mice exhibit enhanced dopamine release in the ventral tegmental…
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Research reveals that our perception of multitasking is often an illusion – most cognitive tasks cannot actually be done simultaneously. Surprisingly, this illusion of multitasking can improve performance on activities, even when the tasks remain unchanged. Ke…
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Researchers explored how our brain’s reward system connects to depression and other common mental health problems like social anxiety and eating disorders. They found that a dampened reward response seems to follow, rather than precede, symptoms of depression…
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