Figure 1

The pleasure cycle. The cyclical processing of rewards has classically been proposed to be associated with appetitive, consummatory and satiety phases [16,17]. Research has demonstrated that this processing is supported by multiple brain networks and processes, which crucially involves liking (the core reactions to hedonic impact), wanting (motivational processing of incentive salience) and learning (typically Pavlovian or instrumental associations and cognitive representations) [18-21]. These components wax and wane during the pleasure cycle and can co-occur at any time. Importantly, however, wanting processing tends to dominate the appetitive phase, while liking processing dominates the consummatory phase. In contrast, learning can happen throughout the cycle.