Doctor Abraham Zangen discusses the key structures underlying the brain reward system, a complex neural network that includes the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus.

So the hippocampus is part of the limbic system. It is more associated with memory function and spatial memory and long-term memory. However, there is interaction between the hippocampus and the nucleus accumbens by glutamatergic neurons that project from the ventral subiculum (a subregion of the hippocampus) to the nucleus accumbens and was shown to have a critical role in reward functions. The brain reward system is very complex, I mean it is not just one region in the brain – the nucleus accumbens – it is the whole network. The projection coming from the hippocampus to the accumbens appears to be very important in reward function.

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