I want to learn more about current research on dopamine and brain function – specifically how the brain uses bursts of dopamine to reward correct predictions. Does anybody have any recommendations?
Ideally the book you recommend will be general enough to be accessible to general reader with a strong science background, and will contain cites to more technical primary sources if I want to dig deeper.
Does such a book (or at least something close to it) exist?
I don’t know about a book, but here is a relevant article:
Schultz, W., Dayan, P., & Montague, P.R. (1997). A Neural Substrate of Prediction and Reward. Science, 275, 1593-1599.
Also, which might be more what you need:
Roy A. Wise (2003/2005). Reward, Brain Mechanisms of. In L. Nadel (Ed.). The Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, Vol. 3 (pp. 968-974). (Nature Publishing/Wiley).
(If you can’t get these from your library, I might be able to help. ;))
As far as books go, I would look for a general introductory college textbook on neuroscience. It won’t all be focused on this this topic, but will probably have a chapter or section. I would not think it very likely that there are introductory level books specifically about the topic. It is possible, but I doubt it. Books about it are more likely to be edited symposia. Those are primary literature, at least as technical as journal articles (though maybe more discursive).
Just finished reading Happiness: The Science behind Your Smile by Daniel Nettle and I think it would be right up your alley. Relies heavily on hard scientific research and gives an overview of a bunch of study results, but does it in a very straightforward and non-boring, not overly technical way. I’d recommend it to anyone.
Thanks for the suggestions!