Evidence map›Paper›PMID 17905440›Full record

ReviewBrain research reviews2007

Behavioral functions of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system: an affective neuroethological perspective.

Antonio Alcaro, Robert Huber, Jaak Panksepp

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Brain research reviews, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 189 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
189citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
8.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

189 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 607 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. Deep brain stimulation of the brainstem.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2021
    Pooled it
  7. CID: a valid incentive delay paradigm for children.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2013
    Trial
  8. Reward changes salience in human vision via the anterior cingulate.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2010
    Trial
  9. Article
  10. The Neurochemical Orchestra of the Runner's High: A Narrative Review of Neuromodulatory Mechanisms with a Focus on Endocannabinoids.The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry · 2026
    Review
  11. ENX-104: a selective and potent DNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
    Article
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129 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Antonio AlcaroDepartment of Biological Sciences and J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior, Bowling Green State University, Life Science Building, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA. antonioalcaro@yahoo.it
Robert Huber
Jaak Panksepp
Bowling Green State University · US

Funding

Ethopharmacological Characterization of Reward SystemsR21DA016435 · NIDA · BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY · PI HUBER, ROBERT · 2004 to 2006
$414k
NIDA NIH HHS 1R21DA016435-01A1NIDA NIH HHS R21 DA016435
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The mesolimbic dopaminergic (ML-DA) system has been recognized for its central role in motivated behaviors, various types of reward, and, more recently, in cognitive processes. Functional theories have emphasized DA's involvement in the orchestration of goal-directed behaviors and in the promotion and reinforcement of learning. The affective neuroethological perspective presented here views the ML-DA system in terms of its ability to activate an instinctual emotional appetitive state (SEEKING) evolved to induce organisms to search for all varieties of life-supporting stimuli and to avoid harms. A description of the anatomical framework in which the ML system is embedded is followed by the argument that the SEEKING disposition emerges through functional integration of ventral basal ganglia (BG) into thalamocortical activities. Filtering cortical and limbic input that spreads into BG, DA transmission promotes the "release" of neural activity patterns that induce active SEEKING behaviors when expressed at the motor level. Reverberation of these patterns constitutes a neurodynamic process for the inclusion of cognitive and perceptual representations within the extended networks of the SEEKING urge. In this way, the SEEKING disposition influences attention, incentive salience, associative learning, and anticipatory predictions. In our view, the rewarding properties of drugs of abuse are, in part, caused by the activation of the SEEKING disposition, ranging from appetitive drive to persistent craving depending on the intensity of the affect. The implications of such a view for understanding addiction are considered, with particular emphasis on factors predisposing individuals to develop compulsive drug seeking behaviors.

Indexed as

AffectAnimalsBehaviorBehavior, AnimalDopamineElectric StimulationHumansLimbic SystemSubstance-Related DisordersDopamine

Identifiers

PMID17905440
PMCPMC2238694
OpenAlexW2129541348

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.