Figure 1. The novelty response and activated brain areas.
(A) Novel stimuli trigger an increase in behavioral response that rapidly decays as the stimulus becomes familiar with consecutive exposures. (B) Imaging studies in humans reveal that exposure to novelty increases the activity of MTL structures including the MFG (blue), PRC/ERC (light blue) or HPC (purple). Importantly, exposure to novelty raises the activity levels of midbrain DA centers within the VTA/SN (red) that are relevant for processing novelty-related salience. ERC, enthorinal cortex; HPC, hippocampus; MFG, middle frontal gyrus; PRC, perirhinal cortex; SN, substantia nigra; VTA, ventral tegmental area.