All parts of the brain › Functions › Reward

What part of the brain controls reward, pleasure and motivation?

A network, not one centre: dopamine cells in the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain project to the striatum (the caudate nucleus, the putamen and, lowest of all, the nucleus accumbens) and to the prefrontal cortex; the orbitofrontal cortex weighs options and predicts their outcomes, and the amygdala feeds the nucleus accumbens. [1]

The 3D brain needs JavaScript. The list of parts still says what each one does for reward, pleasure and motivation.

Not lit: the nucleus accumbens (not a shape in this model). Lit: whole parts; region borders not drawn.

Slice

All 6 parts are lit together. Drag to turn, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap a part on the brain or a name in the list to focus it; .

Not lit: the nucleus accumbens, the ventral (lowest) part of the striatum, where the caudate nucleus and putamen merge under the front of the brain; it takes in the ventral tegmental area’s dopamine and holds one of the “hedonic hotspots”. It is not a separate shape in this atlas (BodyParts3D), so the caudate nucleus and putamen that hold it are lit and no marker is placed at a guessed position. [2][1] See the nucleus accumbens’s page, lit in the parts that hold it.

The ventral tegmental area is a region on the midbrain, not a separate shape. The 3D model has no shape for it, so the whole midbrain is lit; the region’s exact border is not drawn.

Reward: 6 parts lit

Midbrain, caudate nucleus, putamen, orbitofrontal cortex, prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Tap one to see where it is and what it does.

The parts and their roles

Holds the ventral tegmental area, whose dopamine neurons respond to cues that a reward is present and project to the striatum and prefrontal cortex; the activity of these neurons appears to be linked to reward prediction. [1][3] Where is the midbrain?
Part of the dorsal striatum; the striatum as a whole is broadly involved in acquiring and eliciting learned behaviours in response to a rewarding cue. [4][1] Where is the caudate nucleus?
The other half of the dorsal striatum, joined to the caudate nucleus by bands of grey matter; with it, it takes in dopamine from the midbrain and links rewarding cues to learned actions and habits. [4][5] Where is the putamen?
On the underside of the frontal lobe, above the eye sockets; it evaluates options and predicts their outcomes to guide decisions, and is one of the places where boosting signals enhances “liking” reactions to sweet tastes. [1][6] Where is the orbitofrontal cortex?
Receives the mesocortical dopamine pathway from the ventral tegmental area; its activated neurons project on to many other regions, supporting the planning and control side of going after a goal. [1][7] Where is the prefrontal cortex?
Receives input from the ventral tegmental area and sends output to the nucleus accumbens, tying cues in the world to their emotional value. [1][8] Where is the amygdala?

Named areas on the lit gyri

The ventral tegmental area, on the : A group of dopamine-making neurons on the floor of the midbrain, close to the midline; it responds to cues that signal a reward is coming and sends the mesolimbic pathway to the striatum and the mesocortical pathway to the prefrontal cortex. [3][1]

How they work together

Two dopamine pathways leave the ventral tegmental area: the mesolimbic pathway to the striatum (including the nucleus accumbens) and the mesocortical pathway to the prefrontal cortex. [1]
“Wanting” and “liking” are separable: dopamine drives incentive salience, the wanting of a reward, and Berridge and Kringelbach argue it does not cause pleasure itself; “liking” comes from small hedonic hotspots, such as one in the medial shell of the nucleus accumbens and one in the ventral pallidum. [1]
Worked example: a sound that has come to signal food. The cue alone sets off the ventral tegmental area, the striatum links the cue to the action that earns the food, and the orbitofrontal cortex compares this option with the others before you act. [1][6]
Honest limit: these parts are a network seen working together in imaging and animal studies, not a single pleasure centre; several of the key nuclei (the ventral tegmental area, the nucleus accumbens, the ventral pallidum) are millimetres across and are not shapes in this model, so their containers are lit instead. [1][2]

Choosing between options leans on the same orbitofrontal cortex, which evaluates choices and predicts their outcomes, and on the caudate nucleus. [6] What part of the brain controls decision-making?

Fear is the other side of the same value system: the amygdala, lit on both pages, tags things in the world as worth approaching or worth avoiding. [8][9] What part of the brain controls fear?

Sources

Facts describe anatomy and normal function only. A part lit here takes part in reward, pleasure and motivation; it does not do it alone, and it does other jobs too. The 3D model is the adult male BodyParts3D brain (credits and licence); on it the brainstem includes the midbrain, pons and medulla, so lighting the brainstem lights all three.