AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The hypothalamus is important for coordinating an individual’s interest in rewards with the body’s physiological state. This region integrates brain function with the physiological needs of the organism.

Detailed explanation-2: -To promote adaptive behaviors such as obtaining food, water, and sexual activity, the pituitary signals secretion of hormones that interact with the reward system (1, 10). Thus, the hypothalamus is the command center interconnecting the reward pathway with the body and environmental stimuli.

Detailed explanation-3: -The dopaminergic pathway mostly involved in reward is the so-called mesolimbic system, which is formed by projections of midbrain dopamine neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the striatum, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, and many other structures of the limbic system.

Detailed explanation-4: -The paraventricular thalamus (PVT) is associated with reward-related behaviors, including learning cue–reward associations, attributing incentive salience to stimuli, and performing goal-motivated behaviors (Haight and Flagel, 2014; Hsu et al., 2014).