Brain mechanisms for reward cue attraction

Abstract:

Cues that predict reward engage reward seeking.  They can also acquire their own motivational properties, capturing attention and triggering cue-directed approach and interaction.  This is thought to reflect the cues being attributed with incentive salience.  I will discuss some recent work in which we show how connections between the nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum in the limbic system are important, but in surprising ways, for the incentive salience of cues.  Data will also be shown that suggest the attraction to cues can be powerfully enduring once it is acquired.