Prof. Dr. Kent Berridge, University of Michigan, USA
Liking and wanting usually go together for pleasant rewards, but turn out to have separable brain mechanisms. ‘Liking’ is generated by a surprisingly frail and tiny network of hedonic hotspots in brain limbic structures, whereas ‘wanting' for pleasures has a much more robust and larger brain network involving dopamine systems. Surprisingly, the ‘wanting’ system also may have a paradoxical relation to fear. The distinction between liking and wanting systems has implications for understanding mood disorders in several clinical conditions, including addictions, depression and schizophrenia