User talk:Bangoruniversity/sandbox

Reward Processing

Reward processing is associated with addictive behaviour. it consists of positive and negative reinforcement process, which further includes reward system and punishment. it has been seen that people are more likely to approach for the reward rather than punishment because of the involvement of nucleus accumbens. there is an increase in the level of dopamine which is related to reducing stress and gives pleasure, it is affected by reward mechanism. dopamine level leads to the anticipation and an urge to approach the reward. moreover, reward processing consists of conditional and unconditional stimuli which affect the response of the participant, for example, Pavlov dog experiment wherein dog was conditioned to press the lever on the ring of the bell. reward processing is associated with affective learning, people are more likely to repeat their behaviour in case of positive reinforcer or reward (including food) and less likely to repeat in case of negative which includes punishment. when there is an anticipation of reward, ventral striatal Nacc stimulates more compared to punishment. reward processing affects the several addictive behaviours, which includes alcohol abuse, gambling and use of other drugs. people engage in addictive behaviour for pleasure or when they are stressed, therefore they use it as a positive reinforcer (McClure, York, & Montague, 2004)