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5.9 - Reward, Pleasure and Motivation

from 5 - Neural Circuits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2023

By
Wolfram Schultz
Edited by
Mary-Ellen Lynall ,
Peter B. Jones  and
Stephen M. Stahl
Mary-Ellen Lynall
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Peter B. Jones
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Stephen M. Stahl
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
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Summary

Rewards are crucial for individual and evolutionary survival and have three major functions: learning, approach (motivation, decision making) and emotion. Neurophysiological work in animals has elucidated neuronal mechanisms for learning and approach. Key brain centres for reward are dopamine neurons, the striatum, the orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala, each of them interconnected and associated with other brain structures in which reward information is often processed in conjunction with sensory and motor mechanisms. Although it is difficult to make categorical functional distinctions between highly connected brain structures, some simplification is possible: dopamine neurons play a prime role in reinforcement learning and updating of economic decision variables; striatum neurons confer reward information to movements and decisions; the orbitofrontal cortex has a prime function in decisions; and the amygdala, classically known for fear processing, has a substantial role in reward processes suitable for economic decision making. Any disturbance in these crucial neuronal survival mechanisms has serious consequences for the welfare of individuals.

Type
Chapter
Information
Cambridge Textbook of Neuroscience for Psychiatrists , pp. 199 - 207
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

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