Abstract
Reward processing plays a major role in goal-directed behavior and motivation. On the neural level, it is mediated by a complex network of brain structures called the dopaminergic reward system. In the last decade, neuroscientific researchers have become increasingly interested in aspects of social interaction that are experienced as rewarding. Recent neuroimaging studies have provided evidence that the reward system mediates the processing of social stimuli in a manner analogous to nonsocial rewards and thus motivates social behavior. In this context, the neuropeptide oxytocin is assumed to play a key role by activating dopaminergic reward pathways in response to social cues, inducing the rewarding quality of social interactions. Alterations in the dopaminergic reward system have been found in several psychiatric disorders that are accompanied by social interaction and motivation problems, for example autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, addiction disorders, and schizophrenia.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Beaver JD, Lawrence AD, van Ditzhuijzen J et al (2006) Individual differences in reward drive predict neural responses to images of food. J Neurosci 26:5160–5166. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0350-06.2006
Berridge KC, Robinson TE (1998) What is the role of dopamine in reward: hedonics, learning, or incentive salience? Brain Res Rev 28:308–367
Braams BR, Güroǧlu B, De Water E et al (2014) Reward-related neural responses are dependent on the beneficiary. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 9:1030–1037. doi:10.1093/scan/nst077
Chevallier C, Kohls G, Troiani V et al (2012) The social motivation theory of autism. Trends Cogn Sci 16:231–238
Daniel R, Pollmann S (2014) A universal role of the ventral striatum in reward-based learning: evidence from human studies. Neurobiol Learn Mem 114:90–100. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2014.05.002
Delmonte S, Balsters JH, McGrath J et al (2012) Social and monetary reward processing in autism spectrum disorders. Mol Autism 3:7. doi:10.1186/2040-2392-3-7
Diaconescu AO, Jensen J, Wang H et al (2011) Aberrant effective connectivity in schizophrenia patients during appetitive conditioning. Front Hum Neurosci 4:239. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2010.00239
Dichter G, Adolphs R (2012) Reward processing in autism: a thematic series. J Neurodev Disord 4:20. doi:10.1186/1866-1955-4-20
Eisenegger C, Pedroni A, Rieskamp J et al (2013) DAT1 polymorphism determines L-DOPA effects on learning about others’ prosociality. PLoS ONE. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067820
Enter D, Colzato LS, Roelofs K (2012) Dopamine transporter polymorphisms affect social approach-avoidance tendencies. Genes, Brain Behav 11:671–676. doi:10.1111/j.1601-183X.2012.00791.x
Evans SL, Monte OD, Noble P, Averbeck BB (2013) Intranasal oxytocin effects on social cognition: a critique. Brain Res 1580:69–77. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2013.11.008
Fareri DS, Niznikiewicz MA, Lee VK, Delgado MR (2012) Social network modulation of reward-related signals. J Neurosci 32:9045–9052. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0610-12.2012
Fett AKJ, Shergill SS, Joyce DW et al (2012) To trust or not to trust: the dynamics of social interaction in psychosis. Brain 135:976–984. doi:10.1093/brain/awr359
Gregory R, Cheng H, Rupp HA et al (2015) Oxytocin increases VTA activation to infant and sexual stimuli in nulliparous and postpartum women. Horm Behav 69:82–88. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2014.12.009
Gromann PM, Heslenfeld DJ, Fett AK et al (2013) Trust versus paranoia: abnormal response to social reward in psychotic illness. Brain 136:1968–1975. doi:10.1093/brain/awt076
Groppe SE, Gossen A, Rademacher L et al (2013) Oxytocin influences processing of socially relevant cues in the ventral tegmental area of the human brain. Biol Psychiatry 74:172–179
Gross J, Woelbert E, Zimmermann J et al (2014) Value signals in the prefrontal cortex predict individual preferences across reward categories. J Neurosci 34:7580–7586. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5082-13.2014
Guastella A, Hickie I (2015) Oxytocin treatment, circuitry and autism: a critical review of the literature placing oxytocin into the autism context. Biol Psychiatry. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.06.028
Haber SN, Knutson B (2010) The reward circuit: linking primate anatomy and human imaging. Neuropsychopharmacology 35:4–26. doi:10.1038/npp.2009.129
Izuma K, Saito DN, Sadato N (2008) Processing of social and monetary rewards in the human striatum. Neuron 58:284–294. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2008.03.020
Juckel G, Schlagenhauf F, Koslowski M et al (2006a) Dysfunction of ventral striatal reward prediction in schizophrenia. Neuroimage 29:409–416. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.07.051
Juckel G, Schlagenhauf F, Koslowski M et al (2006b) Dysfunction of ventral striatal reward prediction in schizophrenic patients treated with typical, not atypical, neuroleptics. Psychopharmacology 187:222–228. doi:10.1007/s00213-006-0405-4
Kirsch P, Schienle A, Stark R et al (2003) Anticipation of reward in a nonaversive differential conditioning paradigm and the brain reward system: an event-related fMRI study. Neuroimage 20:1086–1095. doi:10.1016/S1053-8119(03)00381-1
Klucharev V, Hytönen K, Rijpkema M et al (2009) Reinforcement learning signal predicts social conformity. Neuron 61:140–151. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2008.11.027
Knutson B, Adams CM, Fong GW, Hommer D (2001) Anticipation of increasing monetary reward selectively recruits nucleus accumbens. J Neurosci 21:RC159
Knutson B, Gibbs SEB (2007) Linking nucleus accumbens dopamine and blood oxygenation. Psychopharmacology 191:813–822. doi:10.1007/s00213-006-0686-7
Kohls G, Schulte-Rüther M, Nehrkorn B et al (2013) Reward system dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 8:565–572. doi:10.1093/scan/nss033
Kohls G, Thönessen H, Bartley GK et al (2014) Differentiating neural reward responsiveness in autism versus ADHD. Dev Cogn Neurosci 10:104–116. doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2014.08.003
Krach S, Paulus FM, Bodden M, Kircher T (2010) The rewarding nature of social interactions. Front Behav Neurosci 4:22. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2010.00022
Lega B, Kahana M, Jaggi J (2011) Neuronal and oscillatory activity during reward processing in the human ventral striatum 22:795–800. doi:10.1097/WNR.0b013e32834b2975.Neuronal
Liu X, Hairston J, Schrier M, Fan J (2011) NIH Public Access 35:1219–1236. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.12.012.Common
Luman M, Tripp G, Scheres A (2010) Identifying the neurobiology of altered reinforcement sensitivity in ADHD: a review and research agenda. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 34:744–754
McGregor IS, Bowen MT (2012) Breaking the loop: oxytocin as a potential treatment for drug addiction. Horm Behav 61:331–339. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.12.001
Mier D, Kirsch P (in press) Social-cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Curr Top Behav Neurosci
Mirenowicz J, Schultz W (1996) Preferential activation of midbrain dopamine neurons by appetitive rather that aversive stimuli. Nature 379:449–451
Moll J, Krueger F, Zahn R et al (2006) Human fronto-mesolimbic networks guide decisions about charitable donation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:15623–15628. doi:10.1073/pnas.0604475103
Morelli SA, Torre JB, Eisenberger NI (2014) The neural bases of feeling understood and not understood. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 1–7. doi:10.1093/scan/nst191
Müller-Pinzler L, Krach S, Krämer UM, Paulus FM (in press) The social neuroscience of interpersonal emotions. Curr Top Behav Neurosci
Paulus FM, Rademacher L, Schäfer TAJ, Müller-Pinzler L, Krach S (2015) Journal impact factor shapes scientists’ reward signal in the prospect of publication. PLoS One 10(11):e0142537. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142537
Peters J, Bromberg U, Schneider S et al (2011) Lower ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation in adolescent smokers. Am J Psychiatry 168:540–549. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2010.10071024
Poustka L, Kamp-Becker I (in press) Current practice and future avenues in autism therapy. Curr Top Behav Neurosci
Preller KH, Herdener M, Schilbach L et al (2014) Functional changes of the reward system underlie blunted response to social gaze in cocaine users. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111:2842–2847. doi:10.1073/pnas.1317090111
Rademacher L, Krach S, Kohls G et al (2010) Dissociation of neural networks for anticipation and consumption of monetary and social rewards. Neuroimage 49:3276–3285. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.10.089
Rekers Y, Haun DBM, Tomasello M (2011) Children, but not chimpanzees, prefer to collaborate. Curr Biol 21:1756–1758. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.08.066
Rilling J, Gutman D, Zeh T et al (2002) A neural basis for social cooperation. Neuron 35:395–405. doi:10.1016/S0896-6273(02)00755-9 [pii]
Robinson TE, Berridge KC (2000) The psychology and neurobiology of addiction: an incentive-sensitization view. Addiction 95(Suppl 2):S91–S117. doi:10.1080/09652140050111681
Sauer C, Montag C, Reuter M, Kirsch P (2013) Imaging oxytocin? dopamine interactions: an epistasis effect of CD38 and COMT gene variants influences the impact of oxytocin on amygdala activation to social stimuli. Front Neurosci 7:1–9. doi:10.3389/fnins.2013.00045
Scheele D, Wille A, Kendrick KM et al (2013) Oxytocin enhances brain reward system responses in men viewing the face of their female partner. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110:20308–20313. doi:10.1073/pnas.1314190110
Scheres A, Milham MP, Knutson B, Castellanos FX (2007) Ventral striatal hypo responsiveness during reward anticipation in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biol Psychiatry 61:720–724. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.04.042
Schlagenhauf F, Huys QJM, Deserno L et al (2014) Striatal dysfunction during reversal learning in unmedicated schizophrenia patients. Neuroimage 89:171–180. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.11.034
Schultz W (2013) Updating dopamine reward signals. Curr Opin Neurobiol 23:229–238. doi:10.1016/j.conb.2012.11.012
Scott-Van Zeeland AA, Dapretto M, Ghahremani DG et al (2010) Reward processing in autism. Autism Res 3:53–67. doi:10.1002/aur.122
Sescousse G, Li Y, Dreher J-C (2014) A common currency for the computation of motivational values in the human striatum. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 1–7. doi:10.1093/scan/nsu074
Skuse DH, Gallagher L (2009) Dopaminergic-neuropeptide interactions in the social brain. Trends Cogn Sci 13:27–35. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2008.09.007
Solomon M, Frank M, Ragland J et al (2015) Feedback-driven trial-by-trial learning in autism spectrum disorders. Am J Psychiatry 172:173–181
Spreckelmeyer KN, Krach S, Kohls G et al (2009) Anticipation of monetary and social reward differently activates mesolimbic brain structures in men and women. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 4:158–165. doi:10.1093/scan/nsn051
Stark R, Schienle A, Girod C et al (2005) Erotic and disgust-inducing pictures—differences in the hemodynamic responses of the brain. Biol Psychol 70:19–29. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.11.014
Strang S, Park SQ (in press) Human cooperation and its underlying mechanisms. Curr Top Behav Neurosci
Strathearn L (2011) Maternal neglect: oxytocin, dopamine and the neurobiology of attachment. J Neuroendocrinol 23:1054–1065
Strauss GP, Waltz JA, Gold JM (2014) A review of reward processing and motivational impairment in schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 40:107–116. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbt197
Tripp G, Wickens JR (2008) Research review: dopamine transfer deficit: a neurobiological theory of altered reinforcement mechanisms in ADHD. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discip 49:691–704
Von Rhein D, Cools R, Zwiers MP et al (2015) Increased neural responses to reward in adolescents and young adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and their unaffected siblings. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 54:394–402. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2015.02.012
Wrase J, Schlagenhauf F, Kienast T et al (2007) Dysfunction of reward processing correlates with alcohol craving in detoxified alcoholics. Neuroimage 35:787–794. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.11.043
Zaghloul KA, Blanco JA, Weidemann CT et al (2009) Human substantia nigra neurons encode unexpected financial rewards. Science 323:1496–1499. doi:10.1126/science.1167342
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rademacher, L., Schulte-Rüther, M., Hanewald, B., Lammertz, S. (2015). Reward: From Basic Reinforcers to Anticipation of Social Cues. In: Wöhr, M., Krach, S. (eds) Social Behavior from Rodents to Humans. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2015_429
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2015_429
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47427-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47429-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)