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Story summary
- Japanese researchers at Nagoya University identified orexin neurons as crucial for reward motivation in rats.
- Genetic activation of orexin neurons made rats work harder for food rewards.
- Inhibiting orexin neurons caused rats to abandon the task more quickly.
- Real-time monitoring showed orexin activity rose before expected rewards and stayed high when rewards were omitted.
- Orexin activity increased proportionally with the effort required to obtain the reward.
