Nov 30, 2025
3 min read
Researchers have successfully modified human reward learning using non-invasive transcranial ultrasound stimulation targeting a deep brain structure associated with motivation.
Summary: Researchers have succeeded in manipulating human reward learning by using non-invasive transcranial ultrasound stimulation to target a deep brain structure linked to motivation.After brief stimulation, participants rapidly learned from positive feedback and repeated reward choices in a more consistent manner.
The result showed the importance of deep brain stimulation surgery but without visualization or surgery.The findings suggest that ultrasound could become a safer and more personalized tool to restore energy to the brain.
- Deep brain placement: Ultrasound Better flexibly macleleus accont without surgery.
- Fast reward for learning: Employees showed an increase in positive things after the stimulus.
- Therapeutic potential: This technology could one day help treat addiction, depression, and eating disorders.
Source: University of Plymouth
The nucleus accumbens is the smallest part of the human brain that is used when we feel something pleasurable and helps us learn behaviors that lead to rewards.
A new study shows for the first time that transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) can be used to alter its effects on human behavior.
By applying the technique for just over a minute at a time, the researchers were able to influence how people learned the link between certain cues and rewards.
The result is that they are more likely to repeat an option that has paid off in the past, their learning rates after positive results increase rapidly.
Until now, these results could only be achieved through surgical procedures such as deep brain stimulation (DBS), which involves electrodes being attached directly to areas in a person's brain.
However, these things were relating to the study now that shows their own economic can be used by people who need helps the things which are needed.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications and was led by researchers from the University of Plymouth.It also involved the University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, Brown University and the VA Providence Health System.
Professor Elsa Fouragnan, director of the Center for Therapeutic Ultrasound and Brain Research and Imaging Center (BRIC) at the University of Plymouth, led the research.
He said: "Nuclear stress has been at the heart of motivation and reinforcement learning theories for decades. It is where dopamine signals and limbic inputs converge to shape the strength of reward reinforcers."
"We were able to point to clear links between specific impulsivity-related learning characteristics and structures that were hitherto inaccessible without surgery. The fact that we can now modulate this area non-invasively and in a personalized way opens up extraordinary possibilities for clinical translation."
The study is part of ongoing research at the University of Plymouth to the benefits of schools including depression and anxiety disorders.
In this project, the researchers recruited 26 healthy participants who visited the bric center four times - and to plan their intervention, followed by three methods where different psychological areas are used.
Less than 10 minutes after the participation, the researchers observed the changes in the activity and the main behavior and placed the participants in the scanning task-one hour.
Participants' performance on the tasks was also analyzed against the performance of patients with bilateral deep brain stimulation electrodes directed at the nucleus accumbens as part of treatments for treatment-resistant anorexia nervosa.
The results showed that while DBS often modulated reward-seeking behavior, TUS had a different and pleasurable effect—however, both lead to altered human learning and reward sensitivity.
Professor Fauragnan added: "This study is one of the most important that I have had the privilege of leading so far. We have discovered a clear link between a specific cognitive process and brain structure, which until now was out of reach without surgery. This marks a turning point for neurotechnology, showing that non-invasive ultrasound may one day help restore mental balance and behavior."
Key questions answered:
A: A deep reward center called the Nucleus Accumbens directs motivation and learning.
Answer: People learned faster because of positive outcomes and repeated choices more often.
Answer: The first such effect requires invasive brain surgery.
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About this neurotechnology and learning research news
Author: Alan Williams
Source: University of Plymouth
Contact: Alan Williams - University of Plymouth
Image: Image from Neuroscience News
Original research: Open Access.
"Non-invasive ultrasound neuromodulation of the human nucleus accumbens affects reward sensitivity", Elsa Furganen et al.Nature Communication
Noninvasive ultrasound neuromodulation of the human nucleus accumbens
In particular, we affect the deep brain regions that correspond to the deep brain regions, which leads to improvements in flexibility in both neurology and therapy.
We show that non-invasive transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) can selectively modulate deep brain activity and influence learning and decision-making, compared to deep brain stimulation (DBS).
We tested whether TUS can induce neural and behavioral responses by targeting the nucleus accumbens (NACC) using a reinforcement task.
It's been twenty-five pair of good powers in a tus-femri's subjects: tus the narrows, the participants do the femris work.
TUS-NAcc modulated BOLD responses to reward expectancies in the NACC and surrounding areas.
It also affected reward-related behavior, including the use of a win-stay strategy, learning rates after rewards, learning curves, and repetition rates of rewarded alternatives.DBS-NAcc confounded the same features by confirming target capture.
These results establish TUS as an important mechanism of brain dysfunction.
