This book addresses a fundamental question about the nature of behavior: how does the brain process reward and makes decisions when facing multiple options? The book presents the most recent and compelling lesion, neuroimaging, electrophysiological and computational studies, in combination with hormonal and genetic studies, which have led to a clearer understanding of neural mechanisms behind reward and decision making. The neural bases of reward and decision making processes are of great interest to scientists because of the fundamental role of reward in a number of behavioral processes (such as motivation, learning and cognition) and because of their theoretical and clinical implications for understanding dysfunctions of the dopaminergic system in several neurological and psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, drug addiction, pathological gambling, ...)
- Comprehensive coverage of approaches to studying reward and decision making, including primate neurophysiology and brain imaging studies in healthy humans and in various disorders, genetic and hormonal influences on the reward system and computational models.
- Covers clinical implications of process dysfunction (e.g., schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, eating disorders, drug addiction, pathological gambling)
- Uses multiple levels of analysis, from molecular mechanisms to neural systems dynamics and computational models.
" This is a very interesting and authoritative handbook by some of the most outstanding investigators in the field of reward and decision making ", Professor Edmund T. Rolls, Oxford Center for Computational Neuroscience, UK
Dr Jean-Claude Dreher (research director, CNRS, http://dreherteam.cnc.isc.cnrs.fr/en/). Dr Dreher is the director of the Neuroeconomics, Reward and Decision making team at the 'Centre de Neurosciences Cognitives' (Lyon, France). He studied Mathematics, psychopathology and Cognitive Neuroscience in Paris. The general approach of his research group is to characterize the brain mechanisms underlying motivation and decision making in healthy subjects and to study neurological and psychiatric disorders in which these mechanisms are dysfunctional. He received two Fellow Awards for Research Excellence at the NIH. He is the author of around 40 research papers and the editor of the 'Handbook of Reward and Decision Making' (Academic PRess, Elsevier, 2009). His research has been highlighted in major scientific journals (Nature Reviews Neuroscience, PNAS, TiCS) and featured in a international media (newspapers, radio and TV programs).
Léon Tremblay spends much of his time researching Neuroscience, Basal ganglia, Premovement neuronal activity, Striatum and Orbitofrontal cortex. His works in Primate and Prefrontal cortex are all subjects of inquiry into Neuroscience. His Basal ganglia research incorporates themes from Caudate nucleus, Dopamine and Putamen.
His study in Striatum is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing from both Dentate nucleus, Cerebrum and Reward system. Brain stimulation reward and Curiosity is closely connected to Cognitive psychology in his research, which is encompassed under the umbrella topic of Orbitofrontal cortex. His work investigates the relationship between Globus pallidus and topics such as MPTP that intersect with problems in Parkinsonism and Neurotoxin.
His most cited work include:
- Relative reward preference in primate orbitofrontal cortex (1126 citations)
- Reward Processing in Primate Orbitofrontal Cortex and Basal Ganglia (792 citations)
- The cerebellum communicates with the basal ganglia. (569 citations)
