In my last blog post, I wrote about using a continuous reinforcement schedule when you want to establish a new behavior. And I hinted that you should change that schedule after the behavior is ...

Every parent has offered incentives: “If you’re patient while I get the tires rotated, we’ll get ice cream afterwards.” Or, “if you play nicely with your cousin, you can use the iPad before dinner.” ...

Issuers are fine-tuning their rewards strategies, using carrots that can encourage fiscal responsibility and help them weed out less-desirable accounts. While traditional rewards programs based on ...

One part of the basal ganglia, known as the nucleus accumbens (NAc), is composed of medium spiny neurons (MSNs). The MSNs, in which the dopamine D1 receptor (D1R) and dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) ...

One reason some people find slot machines so addictive is that they never know when dropping a quarter will win a jackpot. The uncertainty helps keep some people playing. In one experiment, the ...

"You can have ice cream if you finish all your homework." "I’ll give you a lollipop if you sit in the dentist chair." "We will stop at McDonald's on the way home if you behave in the car." Do these ...

Your small business must achieve the goals you set so it can succeed. However, you must achieve those goals by motivating others in your organization. The threat of punishment has long been ...

Along with a pat on the back, a student at Rea Elementary in Costa Mesa can get a “shark bite” for remembering to follow the rules. Shark bites are slips of paper given out for showing good ...

If your child is struggling with certain behaviors or responsibilities, help may be as simple as creating a sticker chart. Parents, particularly those of young children, have used behavior charts to ...

Researchers discover that the phosphorylation of a newly identified protein kinase substrate downstream of the dopamine signaling pathway regulates the brain reward behavior. The nucleus accumbens, ...