Reward and the Brain

This course will provide an overview of the neural basis of reward. We will read and discuss the classic and contemporary literature on both animal and human models. Topics to be covered include: 1) historical development of the concept of reward and its relationship with reinforcement; 2) reward, homeostasis, and motivation; 3) relationship between reward and learning (reinforcement learning, Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning); 4) contribution of dopamine and other neuromodulators to reward; 5) neural substrates of intracranial self stimulation; 6) limbic cortico-basal ganglia circuit contributions to reward.