Incentive motivation: ‘wanting’ roles of central amygdala circuitry

•Central amygdala (CeA) amplifies incentive motivation for food and drug rewards.•Optogenetic CeA excitation focuses incentive motivation on laser-paired rewards.•Optogenetic CeA excitation even creates maladaptive ‘wanting’ for an aversive shock.•CeA amplifies ‘wanting’ (incentive salience) but not ‘liking’ (hedonic impact). The central nucleus of amygdala (CeA) mediates positively-valenced reward motivation as well as negatively-valenced fear. Optogenetic or neurochemical stimulation of CeA circuitry can generate intense incentive motivation to pursue and consume a paired natural food, sex, or addictive drug reward, and even create maladaptive ‘wanting what hurts’ such as attraction to a shock rod. Evidence indicates CeA stimulations selectively amplify incentive motivation (‘wanting’) but not hedonic impact (‘liking’) of the same reward. Further, valence flips can occur for CeA contributions to motivational salience. That is, CeA stimulation can promote either incentive motivation or fearful motivation, even in the same individual, depending on situation. These findings may carry implications for understanding CeA roles in neuropsychiatric disorders involving aberrant motivational salience, ranging from addiction to paranoia and anxiety disorders.