The major molecular and anatomical substrates of drug related reward in mammals have received considerable attention. In contrast, molecular mechanisms and specific neuroanatomical targets of drug associated reward in invertebrate models of drug addiction have gone largely unexplored. With a modular nervous system amenable to molecular techniques, crayfish offer a novel system for simultaneousl...

The dopamine system has been implicated in guiding behavior based on rewards. The pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTN) of the brainstem receives afferent inputs from reward-related structures, including the cerebral cortices and the basal ganglia, and in turn provides strong excitatory projections to dopamine neurons. This anatomical evidence predicts that PPTN neurons may carry reward inf...

Background Neurobiological research in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has paid little attention on brain mechanisms that cause and maintain restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests (RRBIs). Evidence indicates an imbalance in the brain's reward system responsiveness to social and non-social stimuli may contribute to both social deficits and RRBIs. Thus, this study's central aim was to ...

The expectation of being rewarded for one’s actions is crucial for motivation and goal-directed behaviour. Imaging studies have identified the dopaminergic reward system, especially the nucleus accumbens, as the underlying brain structure for the anticipation of rewards. Dysfunction of this system is the central problem in a variety of psychiatric disorders leading to abnormal brain activation ...

Markov reward models are an important formalism by which to obtain dependability and performability measures of computer systems and networks. In this context, it is particularly important to determine the probability distribution function of the reward accumulated during a nite interval. The interval may correspond to the mission period in a mission-critical system , the time between scheduled...