The neurological basis of reward.

Here, T.J. Crow, from the Clinical Research Centre at Northwick Park Hospital, talks from a neurological perspective, about how both biological and psychological rewards affect the brain.

Segment 1 Crow discusses the theories of philosopher Jeremy Bentham which leads him into an introduction to his lecture on the neurological basis of reward. A short film is shown in which a rat, with electrodes implanted in its brain is shown to receive a reward when it presses a lever. Crow explains how this works, using a diagram of the rat's brain. He then talks about drugs which have an effect on the neuronal reward mechanisms. Time start: 00:00:00:00 Time end: 00:05:47:00 Length: 00:05:47:00 Segment 2 Crow talks about the Falck-Hillarp technique which studies reward systems in the rat's brain. Further diagrams show sections through the brain to reveal the dopamine neurones. Time start: 00:05:47:00 Time end: 00:10:21:00 Length: 00:04:34:00 Segment 3 Crow continues to look at cross sections of the brain in diagrams. He then discusses an experiment on electrically stimulated rats, comparing levels of noradrenaline. Time start: 00:10:21:00 Time end: 00:16:05:00 Length: 00:05:54:00 Segment 4 A further film clip is shown of a rat with electrodes implanted in its brain, again, stimulating reward when it presses a lever. The rat has electrodes first in its dopamine centres, then in the locus coeruleus. Time start: 00:16:05:00 Time end: 00:21:19:00 Length: 00:05:14:00 Segment 5 Using a series of cartoon illustrations depicting a rat trying to reach, then eat a slice of cake, Crow explains the neurological reward schema of the rat. Time start: 00:21:19:00 Time end: 00:24:51:03 Length: 00:03:32:00

This video is one of around 310 titles, originally broadcast on Channel 7 of the ILEA closed-circuit television network, given to Wellcome Trust from the University of London Audio-Visual Centre shortly after it closed in the late 1980s. Although some of these programmes might now seem rather out-dated, they probably represent the largest and most diversified body of medical video produced in any British university at this time, and give a comprehensive and fascinating view of the state of medical and surgical research and practice in the 1970s and 1980s, thus constituting a contemporary medical-historical archive of great interest. The lectures mostly take place in a small and intimate studio setting and are often face-to-face. The lecturers use a wide variety of resources to illustrate their points, including film clips, slides, graphs, animated diagrams, charts and tables as well as 3-dimensional models and display boards with movable pieces. Some of the lecturers are telegenic while some are clearly less comfortable about being recorded; all are experts in their field and show great enthusiasm to share both the latest research and the historical context of their specialist areas.