The last ten years of attention research have witnessed a revolution, replacing a theoretical
dichotomy (top-down vs. bottom-up control) with a trichotomy (biased by current goals …

There is growing consensus that reward plays an important role in the control of attention.
Until recently, reward was thought to influence attention indirectly by modulating task …

INTRODUCTION The drive to seek and experience reward is conserved across species and,
in mammals, involves interactions between subcortical dopaminergic systems and limbic …

In the past decade, neuroimaging research has begun to identify key brain regions involved
in self-referential processing, most consistently midline structures such as the posterior …

Abstract Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, while on the run, purportedly burned two
million dollars in banknotes to keep his daughter warm. A stark reminder that, in life …

All neuronal circuits are subject to neuromodulation. Modulatory effects on neuronal
processing and resulting behavioral changes are most commonly reported for higher order …

Reinforcement learning describes motivated behavior in terms of two abstract signals. The
representation of discrepancies between expected and actual rewards/punishments …

Reward motivation has been demonstrated to enhance declarative memory by facilitating
systems-level consolidation. Although high-reward information is often intermixed with lower …

The neurotransmitter dopamine is required for the reinforcement of actions by rewarding
stimuli. Neuroscientists have tried to define the functions of dopamine in concise conceptual …

Highlights•Associative reward learning biases attention in favor of reward-predictive
stimuli.•Reward-evoked dopamine release gives rise to plasticity in the visual system.•Such …