The art of thinking · 7 · Brain and learning
Reward system
Also known as: Brain reward system, Mesolimbic dopamine system, Reward prediction error
German: Belohnungssystem
In neuroscience, the reward system is the set of brain structures involved in learning from, wanting and responding to rewards — centrally the dopamine neurons of the midbrain and their targets such as the ventral striatum and prefrontal cortex; their activity signals the difference between expected and received reward.
- Cognitive psychology
- Brain research
- Learning
In one sentence
The reward system: brain structures, centrally midbrain dopamine neurons, involved in learning from and wanting rewards; dopamine signals prediction errors.
Example
In the experiments summarized by Schultz, Dayan and Montague (1997), dopamine neurons responded to an unexpected reward, shifted their response to a cue that predicted the reward, and dipped when an expected reward did not come.
What the research shows
James Olds and Peter Milner (1954) found that rats would press a lever repeatedly to receive electrical stimulation of certain brain regions, the starting point of research on a brain reward system. Wolfram Schultz, Peter Dayan and P. Read Montague (1997) showed that the activity of midbrain dopamine neurons matches a reward prediction error: more activity when a reward is better than expected, no change when it is as expected, less when it is worse. Kent C. Berridge and Terry E. Robinson (1998) argued that dopamine is more closely tied to “wanting” (incentive salience) than to “liking” (the pleasure of a reward itself).
Evidence status
The prediction-error account of dopamine is one of the best-supported findings of systems neuroscience, with debates about its limits. The popular description of dopamine as a “pleasure hormone”, and claims about “dopamine hits” from digital media, simplify or go beyond this research.
How it applies
- Careful wording: When a text uses pleasure or reward as an image, it should not present the image as a finding about dopamine.
- No advice on health: The entry describes research; it gives no recommendations on media use, addiction or therapy.
External references
- Olds, J., & Milner, P. (1954). Positive reinforcement produced by electrical stimulation of septal area and other regions of rat brain. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 47(6), 419–427. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0058775
- Schultz, W., Dayan, P., & Montague, P. R. (1997). A neural substrate of prediction and reward. Science, 275(5306), 1593–1599. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.275.5306.1593
- Berridge, K. C., & Robinson, T. E. (1998). What is the role of dopamine in reward: hedonic impact, reward learning, or incentive salience? Brain Research Reviews, 28(3), 309–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0173(98)00019-8
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