Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.

1 paper

The positive valence system, adaptive behaviour and the origins of reward

Thomas J. Burton, Bernard W. Balleine

This paper outlines the structure and function of the "positive valence system," a set of brain and body processes that create positive or rewarding responses. It explains how an ascending arousal system senses bodily changes, activates motivational states, and links those states with sensory inputs to produce Pavlovian learning, emotional…

Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies Neural dynamics and brain function Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
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