In the past decade the field of cognitive sciences has seen an exponential growth in the
number of computational modeling studies. Previous work has indicated why and how …

Insula function is considered critical for many motivated behaviors, with proposed functions
ranging from attention, behavioral control, emotional regulation, goal-directed and aversion …

The processing of rewards and losses are crucial to everyday functioning. Considerable
interest has been attached to investigating the anticipation and outcome phases of reward …

As the global population ages, older decision makers will be required to take greater
responsibility for their own physical, psychological and financial well-being. With this in …

When forming and updating beliefs about future life outcomes, people tend to consider good
news and to disregard bad news. This tendency is assumed to support the optimism bias …

Compared with reward seeking, punishment avoidance learning is less clearly understood
at both the computational and neurobiological levels. Here we demonstrate, using …

Anhedonia (hyposensitivity to rewards) and negative bias (hypersensitivity to punishments)
are core features of major depressive disorder (MDD), which could stem from abnormal …

Background Inflammation rapidly impairs mood and cognition and, when severe, can
appear indistinguishable from major depression. These sickness responses are …

Whether maximizing rewards and minimizing punishments rely on distinct brain systems
remains debated, given inconsistent results coming from human neuroimaging and animal …

Adolescence is a period of life characterised by changes in learning and decision-making.
Learning and decision-making do not rely on a unitary system, but instead require the …