Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Reward is an appealing or appetitive concept that can be applied to an object or a situation, which positively reinforces a response, satisfies a motive or intent, or signals pleasure.
Muller et al. demonstrate that reward signals recorded from the frontal cortex of nonhuman primates exhibit a population-based scheme for learning probability distributions over reward values. This study provides evidence that neural signals outside of the midbrain reflect the principles of distributional reinforcement-learning theory.
A study in mice helps to resolve a debate surrounding striatal DA dynamics and reward benefit or cost and also reveals motivation and transient striatal DA release have a bidirectional causal relationship.
Increasing levels of glial-derived neurotrophic factor using a gene-therapy approach in a macaque model of alcohol use disorder resulted in a lower tendency to relapse into alcohol consumption after a period of abstinence.