Functional magnetic resonance imaging of reward prediction

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Technical and conceptual advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging now allow visualization of real-time changes in oxygenation of deep subcortical regions, leading to rapid advances in scientific characterization of the neural substrates that underlie reward prediction in humans. RECENT FINDINGS: Neuroimaging research over the past year has focused on determining the necessary neural substrates for reward prediction. SUMMARY: While the orbitofrontal cortex has long been implicated in modality-specific reward representation, the ventral striatum (particularly the nucleus accumbens) may play a role in modality-independent representations of predicted reward. On the other hand, the…