What is the defining property of addiction? We dust off a several-decades-long debate about
the relative importance of two forms of reinforcement—positive reinforcement, subjectively …

The past decades have seen a revolution in our understanding of brain diseases and in
particular of drug addiction. This has been largely due to the identification of …

The addiction‐relevant molecular, cellular, and behavioral actions of nicotine are derived
from its stimulatory effects on neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the …

Addictive drugs can activate systems involved in normal reward-related learning, creating
long-lasting memories of the drug's reinforcing effects and the environmental cues …

Midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons play a central role in a wide range of behaviors, from
attention and motivation to motor control and reinforcement. The release of DA is modulated …

BACKGROUND: Unaided attempts to quit smoking commonly fail during the first 2 weeks of
the nicotine withdrawal syndrome. Alterations in dopamine (DA) signaling correlate with …

Drug-induced changes in synaptic strength are hypothesized to contribute to appetitive
behavior and addiction. Nicotine, the major addictive substance in tobacco, activates …

Objective Allelic variation in the α5 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunit gene,
CHRNA5, increases vulnerability to tobacco addiction. Here, we investigated the role of α5 …

Addiction is a chronic brain disease that has dramatic health and socioeconomic
consequences worldwide. Multiple approaches have been used for decades to clarify the …

Nicotine and alcohol addiction are leading causes of preventable death worldwide and
continue to constitute a huge socio‐economic burden. Both nicotine and alcohol perturb the …