FoundationalConceptsNeuroscience

Nucleus Amygdala

accumbens Brainstem

Hypothalamus

Hippocampus

Figure 21.4. Medial view of brain showing locations of the hypothalamus and

some of its oxytocinergic and vasopressinergic neural projections to other

nearby structures involved in the neural regulation of emotion.

The best-known reward circuit involves dopaminergic neurons
in the ventral tegmental area projecting to the nucleus accumbens
and the medial prefrontal cortex (Fig. 21.5). As always, the closer one
looks, the more complex the interconnectivity becomes. Neural con-
nections between the ventral tegmental area, the nucleus accumbens,
and the medial prefrontal cortex are reciprocal. In addition, all three
of these areas are interconnected with the hypothalamus, amygdala,
and hippocampus. Functional brain imaging has indicated activation
of this pathway in connection with all kinds of behaviors experienced
as enjoyable—listening to music, eating chocolate, ingesting other