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Abstract:
Affilation: Dept. of Radiology, MGH-NRM Center Abstract: The
behaviorist emphasis on reward and reinforcement that has dominated
research on drug abuse largely neglects the information processing
and representational aspects of reinforcement processes. Functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have recently begun to
localize specific subcortical and paralimbic networks related to
potential reward-related information processing. These regions
include the amygdala, sublentiuclar extended amygdala (SLEA) of the
basal forebrain, and nucleus accumbens/subcallosal cortex
(NAc/SCC), the anterior cingulate and insula. In this presentation
studies of fMRI activation of these processing two human cocaine
infusion studies, one monetary reward experiment, one thermal
reward experiment, and will be used to develop novel hypothesis
emphasizing the cognitive and information processing roles of these
regions. One hypothesis is that activation in the NAc/SCC is the
evaluation of goal-object incidence data for the computation of
conditional probabilities regarding goal-object availability. These
studies provide a framework for integrating cognition and
motivation at the neuronal level.
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