In its conclusions, the book emphasizes seven major points. First and foremost is the common biological and behavioral basis of motivation and reward. In the vertebrates, at least, all motivated behaviors involve stimuli that function as rewards, and thus, direct and modify behavior. Activation of neurons in the lateral hypothalamus and anatomically related structures (ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens) make up a major component of the arousal of motivated behavior and reward. In addition, dopamine appears to be a neurotransmitter that plays a major role in both.
Second, peripheral and central-neural interaction is the rule in the biological control of motivated behavior and reward. The brain is sensitive to the internal environment and monitors metabolic and visceral events in the periphery, integrating this information with sensory information from the external environment as well as with information from past experience. All of these inputs control the brain, and in turn, the brain's output controls the periphery, including both the internal and external environment. Many of the pathways involved in motivation and reward have been traced, and we are beginning to develop concepts of how the motor control of motivation and reward is generated.
Third, the brain is organized in a hierarchical fashion, and so is behavior. While major integrators lie in the hypothalamus, they are under the influence of more rostral structures and exert their effects through a number of other integrators lying caudally in the neuraxis. What we are learning is that important components in the hierarchy of behavioral control also lie in the brainstem, even the caudal medulla. What may be even more important for our thinking is that the basic units of motivated behavior may be revealed here, including the specific responses of acceptance and rejection and approach and withdrawal.
Fourth, the study of brain-stimulation reward shows us that the psychophysical methods practiced by sensory psychobiologists are fruitful in the investigation of motivation and reward. Clearer behavioral measures, with emphasis on the quantitative rather than the qualitative, are important to the development of the field. Recent progress in quantitative psychobiology and structure-function relations in the field of vision is very encouraging and is being frankly emulated in self-stimulation studIes. (Stellar and Stellar 1985, 4–5)
References
Stellar, James R., and Eliot Stellar. 1985. The neurobiology of motivation and reward. New York: Springer-Verlag.
In its conclusions, the book emphasizes seven major points. First and foremost is the common biological and behavioral basis of motivation and reward. In the vertebrates, at least, all motivated behaviors involve stimuli that function as rewards, and thus, direct and modify behavior. Activation of neurons in the lateral hypothalamus and anatomically related structures (ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens) make up a major component of the arousal of motivated behavior and reward. In addition, dopamine appears to be a neurotransmitter that plays a major role in both.
Second, peripheral and central-neural interaction is the rule in the biological control of motivated behavior and reward. The brain is sensitive to the internal environment and monitors metabolic and visceral events in the periphery, integrating this information with sensory information from the external environment as well as with information from past experience. All of these inputs control the brain, and in turn, the brain's output controls the periphery, including both the internal and external environment. Many of the pathways involved in motivation and reward have been traced, and we are beginning to develop concepts of how the motor control of motivation and reward is generated.
Third, the brain is organized in a hierarchical fashion, and so is behavior. While major integrators lie in the hypothalamus, they are under the influence of more rostral structures and exert their effects through a number of other integrators lying caudally in the neuraxis. What we are learning is that important components in the hierarchy of behavioral control also lie in the brainstem, even the caudal medulla. What may be even more important for our thinking is that the basic units of motivated behavior may be revealed here, including the specific responses of acceptance and rejection and approach and withdrawal.
Fourth, the study of brain-stimulation reward shows us that the psychophysical methods practiced by sensory psychobiologists are fruitful in the investigation of motivation and reward. Clearer behavioral measures, with emphasis on the quantitative rather than the qualitative, are important to the development of the field. Recent progress in quantitative psychobiology and structure-function relations in the field of vision is very encouraging and is being frankly emulated in self-stimulation studIes. (Stellar and Stellar 1985, 4–5)
References
Stellar, James R., and Eliot Stellar. 1985. The neurobiology of motivation and reward. New York: Springer-Verlag.