Investigating the Dynamic Properties of Reward Processing: A Shift in Incentive Motivation Converts an Aversive Salt Cue into an Appetitive Motivational Magnet
Year: 2011
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Increased diagnosis of disorders caused by abnormalities within reward circuitry, including addiction, illustrates the need to further define reward processing and enhance treatment.Focus has been placed on incentive salience or 'wanting', which dictates the value of a Pavlovian conditioned stimulus (CS) through associations with rewards (UCS), and converts a CS into a motivational magnet that energizes individuals' effort to acquire rewards.We investigated whether incentive salience can be dynamically altered at salt CS re-encounter in the sodium depleted state and without re-experiencing the UCS in such state, to convert an aversive salt CS into an appetitive motivational magnet.Further, we activated the central amygdala (CeA) through µ opioid agonist DAMGO to measure the CeA's role in dynamic incentive motivation.All testing was conducted in an autoshaping apparatus.The results illustrate that incentive salience can be rapidly altered, causing individuals to 'want' a CS they have never 'liked'.
Author: Larijani, Mary
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W197524701