Anatomy and Cell Biology 4451F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Mesolimbic Pathway, Nucleus Accumbens, Operant Conditioning
12 Sep 2018
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Document Summary
Causes of pleasure or joy (not necessarily all the time) Mesolimbic dopamine promotes appetitive behaviours (behaviours that lead to reward) Encompasses a lot of visceral and somatic responses of body. We need motivation so we feed and mate. We need reward learning (positive reinforcement of successful behaviours) that lead to good foo, mating, etc. n order for us to learn strategies and make sure successful behaviours will be repeated. There are only two areas in the brainstem that contain dopaminergic neurons: substantia nigra and tegmental area. Substantial nigra neurons they joining projection called medial forebrain bundle. The neurons of substantia nigra normally project to dorsal striatum these are not the reward system, they are important for motor systems. In terms of reward system, the important thing is ventral tegmental area. They contain dopaminergic neurons that project through medial forebrain bundle to ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens) and also project to limbic system and cortical areas.
