What a stimulus predicts, not what it depicts, determines striatal reward signals

Free viewing of emotional pictures activates motivational circuits as a function of arousal and valence, yet, because no real outcomes are delivered, anticipatory wanting and consummatory liking cannot be dissociated. Gustatory neuroimaging paradigms deliver actual rewards but use impoverished, affectively neutral cues that do not engage natural selective attention. We bridged these paradigms by presenting emotional images alongside food photographs that either predicted juice delivery (Food+) or did not (Food-), all within a single fMRI session. On each Food+ trial, participants indicated in real time whether they wanted the juice, enabling a within-subject dissociation of anticipatory from