Reward learning is key to survival for individuals. Individuals that rapidly recognize rewarding contexts and respond accordingly to obtain the reward, such as nutrition and safety, outcompete those who cannot. Attention plays an important role in the recognition of reward cues and the establishment of reward history that reciprocally guides attention to reward stimuli. However, the neurological processes of the interplay between reward and attention remain largely elusive, due to the diversity of the neural substrates that participate in these two processes. In a recent review paper, Professor Shuai Liu and his team delineate the complex and differentiated locus coeruleus norepinephrine (LC-NE) system in relation to different behavioral and cognitive substrates of reward and attention. They propose that the LC-NE system is an important hub in the interplay between reward and attention as well as a critical therapeutic target for psychiatric disorders characterized by compromised functions in reward and attention. This review is published in Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry.
Journal Reference
Zhang, Y., Chen, Y., Xin, Y., Peng, B., & Liu, S.* (2023). Norepinephrine system at the interface of attention and reward. Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry. 125, 110751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2023.110751.