Distinct Reward Properties are Encoded via Corticostriatal Interactions.

ABSTRACT: The striatum serves as a critical brain region for reward processing. Yet, understanding the link between striatum and reward presents a challenge because rewards are composed of multiple properties. Notably, affective properties modulate emotion while informative properties help obtain future rewards. We approached this problem by emphasizing affective and informative reward properties within two independent guessing games. We found that both reward properties evoked activation within the nucleus accumbens, a subregion of the striatum. Striatal responses to informative, but not affective, reward properties predicted subsequent utilization of information for obtaining monetary reward. We hypothesized that activation of the striatum may be necessary but not sufficient to encode distinct rew

SUBMITTER: Smith DV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4735713 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature