Final Report Summary - REWARDING THE TONGUE (Carmelo M Vicario Reward and Punishment: what somatosensory intra-oral activity can tell about the value of goods.)
From the anatomo-functional point of view, the evidence of a link between the excitability of the MTA and the reward system activity suggests might be provided of a direct connectivity with the reward system, similarly to what has been reported in non human primates.
The evidence that the MTA excitability is sensitive to aversion provides also interesting insights to the current debate about the origin of morality. In particular, the results suggest that social and moral disgust might be evolved from sensory (primary) disgust.
Finally, the existence of a functional link between the MTA and the reward system provides support to a further hypothesis that might have important implications for clinical practice and, more in general, for the European Sanitary System. It provides the rationale for the suggestion that the MTA might be a cortical target for the modulation of reward system via non-invasive brain stimulation.
This might open the road to new research protocols for the treatment of clinical disorders characterized by deranged reward system activity such as, for example, eating disorders, pathological gambling, alcohol abuse.