There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
We present a brief overview of the incentive sensitization theory of addiction. This
posits that addiction is caused primarily by drug-induced sensitization in the brain
mesocorticolimbic systems that attribute incentive salience to reward-associated stimuli.
If rendered hypersensitive, these systems cause pathological incentive motivation
('wanting') for drugs. We address some current questions including: what is the role
of learning in incentive sensitization and addiction? Does incentive sensitization
occur in human addicts? Is the development of addiction-like behaviour in animals
associated with sensitization? What is the best way to model addiction symptoms using
animal models? And, finally, what are the roles of affective pleasure or withdrawal
in addiction?