Abstract: What roles do mesolimbic and neostriatal dopamine systems play in reward? Do they mediate the hedonic impact of rewarding stimuli? Do they mediate hedonic reward learning and associati˝e prediction? Our review of the literature, together with results of a new study of residual reward capacity after dopamine depletion, indicates the answer to both questions is 'no'. Rather, dopamine systems may mediate the incenti˝e salience of rewards, modulating their motivational value in a manner separable from hedonia and reward learning. In a study of th...
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Topics: 
Neuroscience
Cognitive psychology