Difference between wanting and liking
Regarding reward, what is the difference between wanting and liking? Describe the brain regions involved with Complete the following readings from your textbook: Freberg, L. (2019). Discovering Behavioral Neuroscience: An Introduction to Biological Psychology (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, Inc.
Chapter 9: Homeostasis, Motivation, and Rewind
Chapter 11: Sleep and Waking each.
Sample Solution
Wanting something is an anticipatory response, whereas liking something involves the actual hedonic experience of reward (Freberg, 2019). Wanting is driven by dopamine signaling in the nuclei accumbens and ventral tegmental area and is associated with learning how to identify cues that predict rewards. Liking can be thought of as a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction associated with having received the reward. It is mediated by opioid neurotransmission from projections from the ventral pallidum to the nucleus accumbens and is under the control of endocannabinoid signaling (Freberg, 2019).
The brain regions involved with wanting are primarily located in subcortical areas such as striatum including both caudate nucleus and putamen. The activity in these regions allows us to form associations between stimuli that indicate rewards such as food or money. This connection can lead to anticipation when we observe these cues again later on (Freberg, 2019). Additionally dopamine pathways travel through prefrontal cortical regions modulating executive functions related to reward-seeking behavior which are necessary for making decisions about whether or not to pursue a certain action based on its potential outcome.
Liking involves activation of opioid systems within several different brain areas such as ventral tegmental area, limbic system structures like amygdala and hypothalamus which regulate emotion processing, memory formation, stress responses etc; finally ending at nucleus accumbens where it maximally increases motivation levels so animals will strive towards achieving their goal (Freberg, 2019). Endorphins released during pleasant experiences reduce pain signals while also stimulating reward centers throughout the brain thus producing feelings of pleasure. Interestingly cannabinoid receptors may play a role in regulating this process since they interact with opioids influencing our reactions when faced with rewarding situations (Freberg., 2019)
