Forebrain substrates of reward and motivation.
Electrical stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle can reward arbitrary acts or motivate biologically primitive, species-typical behaviors like feeding or copulation. The subsystems involved in these behaviors are only partially characterized, but they appear to transsynaptically activate the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system. Basal function of the dopamine system is essential for arousal and motor function; phasic activation of this system is rewarding and can potentiate the effectiveness of reward-predictors that guide learned behaviors. This system is phasically activated by most drugs of abuse and such activation contributes to the habit-forming actions of these drugs.
Wise
Roy A
RA
Behavioral Neuroscience Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA. rwise@intra.nida.nih.gov
D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008474:Medial Forebrain Bundle / Q000502:physiology*; D009042:Motivation; D012201:Reward
D004298:Dopamine