These advances have resulted from improvements in the spatial and especially temporal resolution of neuroimaging techniques. Together, these findings reveal a picture of incentive processing in which the ventral striatum assesses expected gain and the dorsal striatum uses that estimate to inform future actions and cognitions. Over the course of approximately a decade of research, we have learned lessons that might facilitate future investigations. First, valuation appears to be a dynamic and componential process. Second, different stages of this process recruit different striatal components, perhaps in an ascending progression (see also Chapter 24 of this volume). Third, spatiotemporal resolution is key for elucidating this process, and so further technical advances should facilitate theoretical developments. The findings have also forced a re-examination of some theoretical assumptions.

First, neural processing of gains does not appear to be the opposite of processing of losses. Different circuits may handle these distinct incentive processing demands, enabling animals simultaneously to process potential gain and potential loss. Even within the striatum, the evidence for responsiveness to losses is weaker in the ventral striatum than in the dorsal striatum. Additional findings from our labs and others ’ suggest that other brain regions (the insula, for instance) may play a more prominent role in responses to loss. Second, the brain responds differently during anticipation of incentives than in response to incentive outcomes.

 While the ventral striatum appears more active during anticipation, the dorsal striatum appears to respond more robustly to outcomes, particularly if the outcomes inform what an animal needs to do next. Hopefully, re-examination of these assumptions will generate more robust assumptions that can support more inclusive and predictive theories of choice. Mostly, we have learned how much we have yet to learn. For instance, other types of valuation beg for investigation.

Barry Demp Coaching