What roles do mesolimbic and neostriatal dopamine systems play in reward? Do they
mediate the hedonic impact of rewarding stimuli? Do they mediate hedonic reward learning
and associative prediction? Our review of the literature, together with results of a new study
of residual reward capacity after dopamine depletion, indicates the answer to both questions
isno'. Rather, dopamine systems may mediate the incentive salience of rewards, modulating
their motivational value in a manner separable from hedonia and reward learning. In a study …