ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on elements of reinforcement associated with the medial forebrain bundle (MFB). The MFB is particularly interesting because it is a fiber system that courses through the length of the hypothalamus, a structure known to be critical for the expression of numerous fundamental behaviors important for the survival of the organism. The chapter suggests that a division of neurochemical/neuroanatomical reinforcement systems in the brain. It is concerned with a reexamination of reinforcement from a physiological vantage point, supplemented where appropriate by references to relevant data developed in an ethological, naturalistic framework. In addition to feeding and locomotion, hoarding behavior in rats has been found to be sensitive to manipulations of the mesolimbic ascending dopamine system. Neural substrates mediating brain stimulation reward (BSR). In light of the topographical correspondence between nigral cell bodies and striatal terminal regions, these results suggest that the nigrostriatal system is involved in BSR derived from the substantia nigra or MFB.
