Reward system

The reward system is a group of neural structures responsible for incentive salience (i.e., "wanting" or desire), pleasure (i.e., "liking" or hedonic value), and positive reinforcement. Reward is the attractive and motivational property of a stimulus that induces appetitive behavior – also known as approach behavior – and consummatory behavior. In its description of a rewarding stimulus (i.e., "a reward"), a review on reward neuroscience noted, "any stimulus, object, event, activity, or situation that has the potential to make us approach and consume it is by definition a reward." In operant conditioning, rewarding stimuli function as positive reinforcers; the converse statement is also true: positive reinforcers are rewarding.