TY - JOUR
AU - Aldridge, J Wayne
AB - This chapter examines brain mechanisms of reward utility operating at particular decision moments in life-moments such as when one encounters an image, sound, scent, or other cue associated in the past with a particular reward or perhaps just when one vividly imagines that cue. Such a cue can often trigger a sudden motivational urge to pursue its reward and sometimes a decision to do so. Drawing on a utility taxonomy that distinguishes among subtypes of reward utility-predicted utility, decision utility, experienced utility, and remembered utility-it is shown how cue-triggered cravings, such as an addict's surrender to relapse, can hang on special transformations by brain mesolimbic systems of one utility subtype, namely, decision utility. The chapter focuses on a particular form of decision utility called incentive salience, a type of "wanting" for rewards that is amplified by brain mesolimbic systems. Sudden peaks of intensity of incentive salience, caused by neurobiological mechanisms, can elevate the decision utility of a particular reward at the moment its cue occurs. An understanding of what happens at such moments leads to a better understanding of the mechanisms at work in decision making in general.
TI - Decision Utility, Incentive Salience, and Cue-Triggered "Wanting"
JF - Oxford series in social cognition and social neuroscience
DA - 2025-05-29
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/pubmed/decision-utility-incentive-salience-and-cue-triggered-wanting-CBhDJfuIUm
SP - 509
EP - 533509533
VL - 2009
IS - 
DP - DeepDyve
ER -