The bivalent side of the nucleus accumbens
Open accessAbstract
An increasing body of evidence suggests that the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) is engaged in both incentive reward processes and in adaptive responses to conditioned and unconditioned aversive stimuli. Yet, it has been argued that NAcc activation to aversive stimuli may be a consequence of the rewarding effects of their termination, i.e., relief. To address this question we used fMRI to delineate brain response to the onset and offset of unpleasant and pleasant auditory stimuli in the absence of learning or motor response. Increased NAcc activity was seen for the onset of both pleasant and unpleasant stimuli. Our results support the expanded bivalent view of NAcc function and call for expansion of current models of NAcc function that are solely focused on reward.
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The ventral striatum and amygdala are not specific to approach and avoidant behavior; they are systems important for detecting and learning about appetitive and emotive information in the environment for adaptive behavior.
“the model does not suggest that the ventral striatum and amygdala are specific to approach and avoidant behavior given recent studies showing valence independence of these structures (Levita et al., 2009), but rather are systems that are important in detecting and learning about appetitive and emotive information in the environment for the development of adaptive behavior.”
From Adolescence: what do transmission, transition and translation have to do with it? (2010) · cites this paper as Levita et al., 2009
The VS does not respond solely to rewards.
“the VS neither responds solely to rewards [46]”
From Arrested development? Reconsidering dual-systems models of brain function in adolescence and disorders (2012) · cites this paper as [46]
Evidence of increased activation in reward-related brain regions alone is insufficient to conclude that stimuli are being experienced as rewarding, because these regions are activated to both positive and negative stimuli and possibly involved in other cognitive processes in addition to reward.
“Evidence of increased activation in 'reward-related' brain regions alone is insufficient to conclude that stimuli are being experienced as rewarding, because these regions are activated to both positive and negative stimuli and possibly involved in other cognitive processes in addition to reward [30].”
From Is there heightened sensitivity to social reward in adolescence? (2016) · cites this paper as [30]
The VS signals salient information of both positive and negative valence, rather than exclusively the reward value of positive stimuli.
“For example, the VS signals salient information of both positive and negative valence, rather than exclusively the reward value of positive stimuli [30]”
From Is there heightened sensitivity to social reward in adolescence? (2016) · cites this paper as [30]
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References 93 · Cited by 117
- Authors
- Levita, L., Hare, T. A., Voss, H. U., Glover, G., Ballon, D. J., & Casey, B. J.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Citigroup (US)
- Stanford University (US)
- Weill Cornell Medicine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Levita, Liat
- Venue
- NeuroImage
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-02
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1178-1187
- ISSN
- 1053-8119 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2659952
- OpenAlex
- W2170871903
- Cited by
- 117
- References
- 93
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 4.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.zora.uzh.ch
- Licence
- Locations
- NeuroImage (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (P50MH079513, MH079513, P50 MH52196, P50MH062196)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA018879)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- nucleus accumbens, aversive stimuli, incentive rewards, aversive conditioning, relief, auditory stimuli
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Auditory Perception, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Male, Motivation, Nucleus Accumbens, Reward
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