Affiliations: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany
Note: [] Corresponding author: Henrik Walter, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, D-10117 Berlin, Germany. Tel.: +49 30450517141; Fax: +49 30450517921; E-mail: Henrik.Walter@charite.de
Abstract: In this paper the concept of incentive motivational salience is briefly described, pioneering studies on the subject of the mesolimbic motivational system are reviewed, and studies we have been involved in conducting which elaborate on this subject are discussed. In particular, we aim to show that the mesolimbic motivational system is recruited as a reaction to primary and secondary reinforcers as a function of salience, that is independent of valence. Furthermore, studies showing that both psychological and pharmacological interventions can affect the function of the mesolimbic motivational system and how its' dysfunction is related to psychopathological phenomena with an emphasis on psychosis are discussed.
