The dopaminergic mechanisms that control reward-motivated behavior are the subject of
intense study, but it is yet unclear how, in humans, neural activity in mesolimbic reward …

Dopamine release in cortical and subcortical structures plays a central role in reward-related
neural processes. Within this context, dopaminergic inputs are commonly assumed to play …

How does the brain translate information signaling potential rewards into motivation to get
them? Motivation to obtain reward is thought to depend on the midbrain [particularly the …

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research suggests that the ventral striatum
(VS)/nucleus accumbens, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and broader mesocorticolimbic …

Converging evidence from both human neuroimaging and animal studies has supported a
model of mesolimbic processing underlying reward learning behaviors, based on the …

Reward has been shown to promote human performance in multiple task domains.
However, an important debate has developed about the uniqueness of reward-related …

Long-term potentiation in the hippocampus can be enhanced and prolonged by
dopaminergic inputs from midbrain structures such as the substantia nigra. This improved …

Reward processing involves both appetitive and consummatory phases. We sought to
examine whether reward anticipation vs outcomes would recruit different regions of ventral …

Invasive recording of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area
(SN/VTA) of behaving animals suggests a role for these neurons in reward learning and …

Over the past twenty years there has been an increasing number of brain imaging studies on
the mechanisms underlying reward motivation in humans. This narrative review describes …