Patty
Huijgens
Sex and the brain: from hormones to behavior
Behavioral and Translational Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Sexual arousal can be felt in our bodies, but it all starts in our brains. A complex concert of sex hormones and firing brain cells cause feelings of sexual desire and pleasure. Through hormone treatments and by turning brain areas on or off in rats, we can study how the brain regulates the motivation for sexual behavior. Ultimately, this helps us understand how the brain makes us do what we do.
Jaume F.
Lalanza
Food or Sex or Both: studying the brain reward system
Behavioral and Translational Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Food and sex are examples of attractive and rewarding stimuli that induce approach and consummatory behavior. These stimuli are hardwired in the brain reward system that works by linking beneficial stimuli or actions to a feeling of pleasure. We want to find out if regular junk food eating changes how the reward system works, and also if it affects the response towards other rewards like sex.
Linnea
Volcko
What to eat? How diet impacts the brain and food choice
Behavioral and Translational Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
With nearly every meal we must choose between many options, which can differ hugely in their nutritional composition. These choices have profound consequences for our health and wellbeing. We use mice to study how a low-protein diet causes changes in food preference, and how the brain coordinates this. Ultimately, we want to know how decisions about what to eat are made based on nutritional needs.
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