Caroline Vouillac‐Mendoza

This study investigates how neuronal activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) changes with attention load and nicotine, finding distinct mechanisms for attention and gamma oscillations.

This study shows that pre-existing attentional deficits predict nicotine intake escalation in rats, and withdrawal from nicotine causes attentional deficits that are reversed by acute nicotine.

The paper identifies brain regions associated with preference for sweet water over cocaine in rats using fos mapping, showing cocaine induces more global activation but saccharin activates regions related to taste and reward delay.

This study reconciles the dopamine hypothesis of addiction with cocaine choice behavior by showing pharmacokinetics, not pharmacodynamics, determines reward preference in rats.