Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22236117›Full record

ArticleCurrent pharmaceutical design2012

"Liking" and "wanting" linked to Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS): hypothesizing differential responsivity in brain reward circuitry.

Kenneth Blum, Eliot Gardner, Marlene Oscar-Berman, Mark Gold

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Current pharmaceutical design, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 101 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
101citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
8.9field-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

101 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 212 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. Prenatal drug exposure, behavioral problems, and drug experimentation among African-American urban adolescents.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2014
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  10. PGx-BasedCurrent neuropharmacology · 2026
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  14. Validation and psychometric evaluation of the Turkish version of the Reward Deficiency Syndrome Questionnaire (RDSQ-29).Dusunen adam : Bakirkoy Ruh ve Sinir Hastaliklari Hastanesi yayin organi · 2025
    Article
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  19. Dopaminergic Homeostatic Therapy (DHTActa scientific neurology · 2025
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41 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

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Kenneth BlumDepartment of Psychiatry and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA. drd2gene@aol.com
Eliot Gardner
Marlene Oscar-Berman
Mark Gold
University of Florida · US

Funding

AFFECTIVE AND CONATIVE CHANGES IN ALCOHOLISMR01AA007112 · NIAAA · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI BERMAN, MARLENE OSCAR · 1987 to 2019
$8.3M
Basic brain mechanisms underlying drug addiction, craving, and relapseZIADA000478 · NIDA · NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE · PI GARDNER, ELIOT · 2009 to 2023
$7.9M
AFFECTIVE AND CONATIVE CHANGES IN ALCOHOLISMK05AA000219 · NIAAA · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI BERMAN, MARLENE OSCAR · 1997 to 2011
$1.8M
NIAAA NIH HHS K05 AA000219NIAAA NIH HHS K05 AA 00219NIAAA NIH HHS R01 AA007112NIAAA NIH HHS R01 AA07112
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In an attempt to resolve controversy regarding the causal contributions of mesolimbic dopamine (DA) systems to reward, we evaluate the three main competing explanatory categories: "liking,""learning," and "wanting" [1]. That is, DA may mediate (a) the hedonic impact of reward (liking), (b) learned predictions about rewarding effects (learning), or (c) the pursuit of rewards by attributing incentive salience to reward-related stimuli (wanting). We evaluate these hypotheses, especially as they relate to the Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS), and we find that the incentive salience or "wanting" hypothesis of DA function is supported by a majority of the evidence. Neuroimaging studies have shown that drugs of abuse, palatable foods, and anticipated behaviors such as sex and gaming affect brain regions involving reward circuitry, and may not be unidirectional. Drugs of abuse enhance DA signaling and sensitize mesolimbic mechanisms that evolved to attribute incentive salience to rewards. Addictive drugs have in common that they are voluntarily selfadministered, they enhance (directly or indirectly) dopaminergic synaptic function in the nucleus accumbens (NAC), and they stimulate the functioning of brain reward circuitry (producing the "high" that drug users seek). Although originally believed simply to encode the set point of hedonic tone, these circuits now are believed to be functionally more complex, also encoding attention, reward expectancy, disconfirmation of reward expectancy, and incentive motivation. Elevated stress levels, together with polymorphisms of dopaminergic genes and other neurotransmitter genetic variants, may have a cumulative effect on vulnerability to addiction. The RDS model of etiology holds very well for a variety of chemical and behavioral addictions.

Indexed as

RewardAnimalsBehavior, AddictiveBrainDopamineHumansNeuroimagingSignal TransductionSubstance-Related DisordersSyndromeDopamine

Identifiers

PMID22236117
PMCPMC3651846
OpenAlexW2127079332

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
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.