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Hedonic Hot Spots in the Brain
Abstract
Hedonic “liking” for sensory pleasures is an important aspect of reward, and excessive ‘liking’ of particular rewards might contribute to excessive consumption and to disorders such as obesity. The present review aims to summarize recent advances in the identification of brain substrates for food ‘liking’ with a focus on opioid hot spots in the nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum. Drug microinjection studies have shown that opioids in both areas amplify the ‘liking’ of sweet taste rewards. Modern neuroscience tools such as Fos plume mapping have further identified hedonic hot spots within the accumbens and pallidum, where opioids are especially tuned to magnify ‘liking’ of food rewards. Hedonic hot spots in different brain structures may interact with each other within the larger functional circuitry that interconnects them. Better understanding of how brain hedonic hot spots increase the positive affective impact of natural sensory pleasures will help characterize the neural mechanisms potentially involved in ‘liking’ for many rewards.
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“Additionally, there are multiple brain regions not addressed in this review that contribute to reward processing, including the subthalamic nucleus and ventral pallidum, the subiculum, the lateral habenula, and the extended amygdala [736,737].”
From Reward circuitry dysfunction in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders and genetic syndromes: animal models and clinical findings (2012) · cites this paper as [737]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Peciña, S., Smith, K. S., & Berridge, K. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Peciña, Susana
- Venue
- The Neuroscientist
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2006-12
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 500-511
- ISSN
- 1073-8584 (ISSN-L)
- 1089-4098
- OpenAlex
- W2016426141
- Cited by
- 441
- References
- 131
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 29 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 32
- FWCI
- 2.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Neuroscientist (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH-63649, R01MH063649)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA015188, R01DA015188)
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (DC-00011)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Keywords
- food liking, opioid signaling, nucleus accumbens, ventral pallidum, reward, sweet taste, neural circuits, obesity, overeating
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Brain, Brain Mapping, Emotions, Globus Pallidus, Humans, Neural Pathways, Nucleus Accumbens, Reward
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