Affiliations
Postdoctoral Fellow, Monell Chemical Senses Center
Education
PhD, Psychology, University of Michigan
Laboratory Of
Dr. Amber Alhadeff
Research Summary
Normal function of the brain systems that control motivated behaviors including feeding and drinking is necessary for our survival and well-being. It is becoming clear that brain reward systems that control affective responses and incentive motivation interact with ‘homeostatic’ systems in hindbrain and hypothalamus to control ingestive behavior. My research focuses on understanding how homeostatic systems influence brain reward systems to control motivation, and how dysregulations of these brain systems may contribute to obesity and drug addiction. To this end I combine in vivo neural recordings of brain activity and certain brain manipulations in behaving animals to better study ingestive behaviors, affect, and motivation.
Keywords
food intake, reward, motivation, ‘liking’, obesity, drug addiction, affective neuroscience
Representative Publications
Morales I, Berridge KC. Optogenetic hedonic hotspots in orbitofrontal cortex and insula: causing enhancement of sweetness ‘liking’. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Aug 3:2024.07.31.606067. doi: 10.1101/2024.07.31.606067. PMID: 39211252; PMCID: PMC11361101.
Morales I, Berridge KC. ‘Liking’ and ‘wanting’ in eating and food reward: Brain mechanisms and clinical implications. Physiol Behav. 2020 Dec 1;227:113152. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.113152. Epub 2020 Aug 23. PMID: 32846152; PMCID: PMC7655589.
Morales I. Brain regulation of hunger and motivation: The case for integrating homeostatic and hedonic concepts and its implications for obesity and addiction. Appetite. 2022 Oct 1;177:106146. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106146. Epub 2022 Jun 23. PMID: 35753443.
