Using drugs such as alcohol and morphine among others can be addictive in some individuals, and progress into a substance abuse disorder. The mesolimbic dopaminergic system (MD-system) is involved in the reward process during the development of drug addiction. The MD-system is critical for survival and affects different behaviors in both man and animal. Neurochemical pathways drive for instance physical activity, food intake, love and reproduction and are part of the natural reward process involved partly in the release of dopamine (DA) into frontal lobes. Within the MD-system opioid receptors throughout the brain are affected by drug intake, and activation of these receptors modulate DA-release in brain regions involved in reward-behavior. The aim of this study was to evaluate gene expression of MOR and DOR within the endogenous opioid system (EO-system) in relation to voluntary physical activity, a natural reinforcer. Further on investigations of the drug alcohol was compared to the natural reinforcer sucrose using voluntary consumption. For both experiments qRT-PCR was used to measure mRNA levels of MOR and DOR from brain areas of interest. We found a small significant up regulation in NAc, PFC and VTA but for DOR in VTA a down regulation in gene expression of physical exercising mice. Additionally these two different genes OPRM1- and the OPRD1- gene are down regulated in VTA and NAc due to alcohol- and sugar-intake. This implicate that the natural reward system and their ORs point in the direction of earlier findings; the opioid receptors have a key role in regulate alcohol intake and the natural rewarding stimuli as food intake.

Recent evidence suggesting that the endogenous cannabinoid (ECB) system can be selectively manipulated to facilitate or impair the extinction of learned behaviours — specifically regarding drug-induced aversive memories — has important consequences for research on opiate withdrawal and abstinence. Data presented here support and expand previous findings that the ECB system has an important function in the extinction of aversively motivated behaviors and is mediated by i) an increase in available endogenous CB1 receptor agonists, primarily anandamide, and ii) the exogenous CB1 receptor agonist Δ9-THC, in a manner that is dependent upon both the dose and route of administration. Experiments demonstrated that the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitor, URB597, which blocks deactivation of endogenous CB1 ligands, such as anandamide, significantly facilitated extinction of naloxone-precipitated morphine withdrawal-induced conditioned cue aversion, whereas the CB1 receptor antagonist/inverse agonist SR141716 significantly impaired extinction. Several experiments demonstrated that neither the CB1 antagonist AM251 nor the FAAH inhibitor URB597 had any effect on extinction learning for morphine-induced conditioned cue preference. A method was developed for analysing cannabinoid levels in blood by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) to compare bioavailable levels of Δ9-THC and its primary psychoactive metabolite. Experiments were designed to meet three primary objectives: 1) to provide further support for the role of the ECB system in the extinction of aversively-motivated behaviours, 2) to compare bioavailable levels of Δ9-THC and its primary psychoactive metabolite, 11-OH-Δ9-THC, after pulmonary and parenteral administration, and 3) to demonstrate that the route of administration of Δ9-THC can have a significant impact on whether or not it facilitates or impairs extinction learning. Results showed that inhaled Δ9-THC dose- and time-dependently facilitated rates of extinction learning of the conditioned aversion whereas injected Δ9-THC significantly impaired extinction. These data suggest that the route of administration of Δ9-THC has important consequences for its resulting pharmacokinetic and behavioural effects, specifically, that pulmonary exposure facilitates, whereas parenteral exposure impairs, rates of extinction learning for conditioned cue aversion. Thus, pulmonary administration of Δ9-THC may prove more beneficial for pharmacological potentiation of extinction learning for aversive memories, such as those supporting drug-craving/seeking in opiate withdrawal-syndrome. / NSERC and OGS

La dépression est une maladie chronique, récurrente et potentiellement mortelle qui affecte plus de 20 % de la population à travers le monde. Les mécanismes sous-jacents de la dépression demeurent incompris et la pharmacothérapie actuelle, largement basée sur l’hypothèse monoaminergique, fait preuve d’une efficacité sous optimale et d’une latence thérapeutique élevée. Par conséquent, la recherche est amenée à élaborer de nouveaux traitements pharmacologiques. Pour détecter leur action, il est avant tout nécessaire de développer des outils expérimentaux adéquats. Dans cette optique, notre but a été de mesurer l’anhédonie, un symptôme cardinal de la dépression, chez le rat de laboratoire. L’anhédonie a été définie comme une réduction de la récompense et a été mesurée avec le test de consommation de sucrose et la technique d’autostimulation intracérébrale. En vue d’induire l’anhédonie, nous avons effectué une bulbectomie olfactive, une procédure qui entraîne divers changements biochimiques, cellulaires et comportementaux similaires à ceux de l’état dépressif et qui peuvent être renversés par un traitement antidépresseur chronique. Nos résultats montrent que la bulbectomie olfactive produit également l’anhédonie, reflétée par une réduction durable de la consommation de sucrose et par une réduction de l’efficacité de l’amphétamine dans le test d’autostimulation intracérébrale. Ces effets ont été présents jusqu’à trois à quatre semaines suivant la chirurgie. La bulbectomie olfactive a aussi été associée à une augmentation de l’élément de réponse liant l’AMPc dans le striatum, un index moléculaire associé à l’anhédonie. Ces découvertes suggèrent que l’anhédonie peut être produite et étudiée de façon fiable dans le modèle de bulbectomie olfactive et que le circuit de récompense pourrait constituer une cible cohérente pour de nouvelles drogues en vue du traitement de la dépression. / Depression is a chronic, recurrent and potentially deadly disorder that affects over 20 % of the population worldwide. The mechanisms underlying depression are still not understood and current pharmacotherapy, based largely on monoaminergic hypotheses, is plagued by suboptimal efficacy and delayed therapeutic latency. This has lead to a search for novel pharmacological treatments. To achieve this, it is first necessary to develop adequate experimental tools. With this in mind, we aimed to measure anhedonia, a cardinal symptom of depression, in laboratory rats. We defined anhedonia as a reduction in reward, and measured it with the sucrose intake test and in the intracranial self-stimulation paradigm. In order to induce anhedonia, we surgically removed the olfactory bulbs, a procedure that results in a host of behavioral, cellular and biochemical changes that are qualitatively similar to those observed in clinical depression. These changes are long-lasting and reversed by chronic antidepressant treatment, validating olfactory bulbectomy as an animal model of depression. Our results show that olfactory bulbectomy also produces anhedonia, reflected by a stable and long-lasting reduction in sucrose intake as well as a reduction in the rewarding effectiveness of amphetamine in the self-stimulation paradigm. These effects were present even after three to four weeks post-surgery. Olfactory bulbectomy was also associated with increased striatal cAMP response element binding, a molecular index associated with depressive-like behaviour. These findings suggest that anhedonia can be reliably produced and studied within the olfactory bulbectomy model and that reward circuitry may comprise a logical target for novel drugs to treat depression.

L’habenula, un noyau épithalamique, est située au centre de la voie dorsale diencéphalique. Cette voie relie les structures limbiques et les ganglions de la base aux cellules monoaminergiques du mésencéphale. En particulier, l’habenula latérale (HbL) projette directement aux cellules dopaminergiques et GABAergiques de l’aire tegmentale ventrale (ATV). L’ATV est le site d’origine de la voie mésolimbique dopaminergique, une voie impliquée de façon cruciale dans la manifestation des comportements dirigés. L’importance de cette projection habenulaire pour le comportement demeure encore méconnue. Ainsi, l’objectif de cette étude est d’approfondir notre compréhension du rôle de régulation de l’HbL sur les comportements dépendants de la neurotransmission dopaminergique. MATÉRIEL ET MÉTHODES: Des rats adultes mâles Sprague-Dawley ont été anesthésiés avec de l’isofluorane et installés sur un appareil stéréotaxique. L’acide iboténique, une neurotoxine agoniste des récepteurs glutamatergiques, était infusée bilatéralement dans l’HbL (0,25 μg/0,25 μl/côté). Les rats du groupe contrôle recevaient des infusions NaCl 0,9%. Les rats de l’expérience d’autostimulation intracérébrale (ASIC) étaient aussi implantés d’une électrode monopolaire dans le mésencéphale postérieur. Un groupe de rats était testé pour leur réponse de locomotion à l’amphétamine (0; 0,5 ou 1 mg/kg, intrapéritonéal), dix jours suivant la lésion de l’HbL. La locomotion était mesurée dans des chambres d’activité, chacune équipée de deux faisceaux parallèles infrarouges. Le jour du test, les rats étaient pesés et placés dans la chambre d’activité puis leur activité locomotrice de base était mesurée pendant une heure. Les rats recevaient ensuite une dose d’amphétamine ou le véhicule (NaCl 0,9%) par voie intrapéritonéale et l’activité locomotrice était mesurée pendant deux heures supplémentaires. Un groupe de rats distinct a été utilisé dans l’expérience d’ASIC. Commençant sept jours suivant la lésion, les rats étaient entraînés à appuyer sur un levier afin de s’autoadministrer des stimulations électriques, au cours de sessions quotidiennes. Nous avons ensuite mesuré chacun des taux de réponses d’une série de stimulations aux fréquences décroissantes. À partir d’une courbe réponses-fréquences, le seuil de récompense était inféré par la fréquence de la stimulation nécessaire pour produire une réponse semi-maximale. Les seuils de récompense étaient stabilisés à un niveau similaire pour l’ensemble des rats. Enfin, l’effet sur la récompense de l’amphétamine était testé aux mêmes doses employées pour l’expérience de locomotion. RÉSULTATS: Une lésion neurotoxique de l’HbL n’a pas altéré les niveaux de base de l’activité locomotrice dans chaque groupe. Cependant, une telle lésion a potentialisé l’effet de locomotion de l’amphétamine (1 mg/kg) pendant la première heure suivant son administration, et une tendance similaire était observable pendant la seconde heure. À l’inverse, nous n’avons observé aucune interaction entre une lésion à l’HbL et l’effet amplificateur sur la récompense de l’amphétamine. CONCLUSION: Nos résultats révèlent une importante contribution fonctionnelle de l’HbL à la locomotion induite par l’activation de la voie mésolimbique dopaminergique avec une dose de 1 mg/kg d’amphétamine. À l’opposé, aucun effet sur la récompense n’a été observé. Ces résultats suggèrent que l’activation psychomotrice et l’amplifiation de la récompense produite par l’amphétamine dépendent de substrats dissociables, chacun étant différentiellement sensible à la modulation provenant de l’HbL. / The habenula, an epithalamic nucleus, is centrally located within the dorsal diencephalic conduction system. This dorsal pathway connects the limbic forebrain and basal ganglia to midbrain monoaminergic cell groups intricately involved in the control of behavior. In particular, the lateral habenula (LHb) projects to, among other sites, the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Indeed, recent work has revealed direct LHb innervation of VTA dopamine as well as GABA cells. Little is known, however, about the behavioral relevance of this innervation but this knowledge is of potential importance, since the VTA gives rise to the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, a system critically involved in goal-directed behavior. Our aim here was to begin to understand the contribution of the LHb to dopamine-dependent behaviors. To do this, we produced neurotoxic lesions of the LHb and measured amphetamine-enhanced locomotion and intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS), two behaviors highly sensitive to mesolimbic dopamine neurotransmission. METRIALS AND METHODS: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetised with isoflurane and mounted onto a stereotaxic apparatus. Ibotenic acid, an excitatory neurotoxin at glutamatergic receptors, was infused bilaterally into the LHb (0.25 μg/0.25 μl/side). Sham-lesioned rats received infusions of 0.9% sterile saline. Rats in the ICSS experiment were additionally implanted with a monopolar stimulation electrode in the posterior mesencephalon. One group of rats was tested for their locomotor response to amphetamine (0, 0.5 or 1 mg/kg, i.p.), ten days after LHb lesion. Locomotion was measured in rectangular activity chambers, each equipped with two parallel infrared photobeams. On test day, rats were weighed, placed in the activity chamber and baseline locomotor activity was measured for 1 hour. Rats then received amphetamine or vehicle (0.9% saline) and locomotor activity was measured for 2 more hours. A separate group of rats was used in the ICSS experiment. Beginning seven days post-lesion, rats were trained to press a lever in order to self-administer trains of stimulation pulses. We then measured response rates at each of a series of pulse frequencies during daily sessions. From these response-frequency curves, we obtained estimates of reward thresholds, defined as the pulse frequency necessary for half-maximal responding. Baseline reward thresholds were matched across all rats and once stable, we tested the reward-enhancing effect of amphetamine, at the same doses tested in the locomotion experiment. RESULTS: Neurotoxic lesions of the LHb did not alter baseline locomotor activity in either group. Amphetamine enhanced locomotor activity throughout the entire 2 hour test. Importantly, the locomotor stimulant effect of amphetamine (1 mg/kg) was significantly greater in lesioned rats during the first hour, and a similar tendency was observed during the second hour. On the other hand, we did not observe any difference in amphetamine-induced enhancement of reward between lesioned and sham rats, at any dose or any time post-injection. CONCLUSION: Our findings reveal an important functional contribution of the LHb to dopamine-mediated locomotion. On the other hand, the clear dissociation between the locomotor-stimulant and rewarding effects of amphetamine suggests that the neural substrates mediating these two are dissociable and differentially sensitive to LHb modulation.

La contribution de la neurotransmission dopaminergique dans le noyau accumbens à l’effet de récompense induit par la stimulation électrique du cerveau a été l’objet de plusieurs années de recherche. Cependant, d’autres sites recevant des terminaisons dopaminergiques pourraient contribuer à moduler la récompense dans d’autres régions cérébrales. Parmi elles, on retrouve l’habenula qui reçoit des projections dopaminergiques de l’aire tegmentale ventrale. La contribution de cette voie au phénomène de récompense en général et à l’effet de recompense induit par l’autostimulation intracrânienne est peu connue. Le but de cette recherche était d’étudier la contribution de la dopamine mésohabenulaire à l’effet de recompense induit par la stimulation électrique du raphé dorsal. Des rats ont été implantés d’une bicanule dans l’Hb et d’une électrode dans le raphé dorsal. Le paradigme du déplacement de la courbe a été utilisé pour évaluer les changements dans l’effet de récompense à la suite de l’injection intra-habenulaire d’amphétamine (10-40 μg). À titre de contrôles positifs, des rats ont reçu l’amphétamine dans le core et dans le shell (1-20 μg) du noyau accumbens. Les injections d’amphétamine dans l’habenula n’ont pas changé l’effet de récompense induit par la stimulation électrique. Dans le noyau accumbens, les injections dans le shell et le core provoquent des augmentations dans l’effet de récompense comme il a déjà été démontré. Nos résultats suggèrent que la neurotransmission dopaminergique dans l’habenula latérale ne contribue pas significativement au circuit soutenant l’effet renforçant de la stimulation électrique du cerveau. / The contribution of nucleus accumbens dopamine neurotransmission to reward and reinforcement has been the focus of many years of study. Other terminal sites have received comparatively less research attention, but may be potentially important. One of these sites is the lateral habenula, which receives dopaminergic innervation from cells arising from the ventral tegmental area. Very little is known about the contribution of this pathway to reward in general and to the rewarding effect of electrical brain stimulation in particular. The goal of this study was to study the contribution of mesohabenular dopamine to reward induced by electrical stimulation of the dorsal raphe. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with bilateral cannulae in the lateral habenula and a stimulation electrode aimed at the dorsal raphe nucleus. Using the curveshift paradigm, we measured the rewarding effect of intra-habenular infusions of amphetamine (10-40 μg). Control rats received amphetamine infusions into nucleus accumbens core or shell subregions (1-20 μg). Our findings show that regardless of concentration, intra-habenular amphetamine did not alter brain stimulation reward. Infusions into the nucleus accumbens enhanced the rewarding effectiveness of the stimulation, as previously shown. Our findings suggest that dopaminergic neurotransmission within the lateral habenula does not contribute significantly to the circuitry that mediates the rewarding effect of electrical brain stimulation.

本研究旨在探討獎賞、成就目標取向與情緒與大學生頓悟性問題表現之關係，以及這些變項對大學生頓悟性問題的影響。本研究以台北地區的154位大學生為研究對象，其中男性有35位，女性有119位。研究工具包含創造性頓悟問題測驗、目標導向量表、以及三維情緒量表。本研究採單因子共變數分析與二因子共變數分析方式進行資料分析，研究發現陳述如下： 一、大學生之頓悟性問題解決表現在不同獎賞類型下沒有差異。 二、大學生之頓悟性問題解決表現在不同獎賞類型與四種成就目標取向交互作用 下沒有差異。 三、大學生之頓悟性問題解決表現在不同獎賞類型與八種情緒交互作用下沒有差 異。 四、四種成就目標取向與八種情緒對大學生之頓悟性問題解決表現有複雜的交互 作用效果；在成就目標取向與正向情緒交互作用下，頓悟性問題並無差異，但 在成就目標取向與負向情緒交互作用下，當負向情緒程度較低時，有較佳的頓 悟性問題表現。 / The main purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among rewards, achievement goals, and emotions in insight problem solving performances of college students. The participants in this study were 154 college students from Taipei area. Among the participants, 35 were males and 119 were females. Moreover, the employed instruments included Creative Insight Problem Test, The multiple Goals Scale, and The Inventory of Three-dimention Emotions. The collected data was analyzed by one-way ANCOVA and two-way ANCOVA. The main findings of this study were as follows: 1. Reward types did not have effects on college students’ insight problems performances. 2. The interactions of reward types and achievement goals did not have effects on college students’ insight problems performances. 3. The interactions of reward types and emotions did not have effects on college students’s insight problem performances. 4. The interactions of achievement goals and emotionshad complex effects on college students’ insight problem performances. Specifically, the interactions of achievement goals and positive eomotoions did not have effects on college students’ insight problem solving performances. On the contray, the interactions of achievement goals and negative eomotoions had effects on college students’ insight problem solving performances; those who with a low-degree of negative emotions had better insight problem solving performances than their counterparts.

Performance management is a process through which employees‟ performance is evaluated in order to reward such performance that meets the required standards, and to develop employees who fail to attain the required expectations. The overall organisational performance hinges on the effectiveness with which a performance management system is developed and implemented. The current study focuses on the extent to which performance management is effectively developed and implemented at the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and the correlation that this has with service delivery. To achieve this objective a number of research questions and objectives were posed and formulated in chapter one. The hypotheses for the study are: a well-designed performance management system with well thought out practices and procedures can improve the delivery of services in the City of Johannesburg; and a well-designed performance management system with well thought out practices and procedures cannot improve the delivery of services in the City of Johannesburg. In order to validate the hypotheses, the structured questionnaires on the performance management system and service delivery were compiled. A questionnaire for employees consisted of close-ended questionnaire statements and open-ended questions. Another questionnaire with only close-ended questionnaire statements was issued to residents to elicit responses on service delivery by the City of Johannesburg. Frequency analysis, which lends itself to correlation analysis, of employees‟ responses and residents‟ feedback was conducted. The correlation analysis between employees‟ responses to performance management system and residents‟ responses to service delivery was conducted using the Pearson Correlation. The findings of the study are: Growth and Development Strategy and the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) are not adhered to in the daily operations in the municipality. Managers and subordinates set objectives jointly but are, however, not participants in the evaluation of the municipality’s performance. The employees of the municipality are aware of the existence of the performance management system but it is applied only to more senior officials. Employees and managers are not involved in the evaluation of the municipality‟s performance. Training does not capacitate employees to work effectively with the Balanced Scorecard. The information technology architecture is not supportive of the implementation of the performance management system. Key performance areas were found to lack uniformity in the municipality and therefore created „silos‟ in the municipality. The key performance indicators are developed without the involvement of the communities, including employees, especially at the lower level of management. The critical success factors are understood by employees and are linked to major tasks and job responsibilities. Tax and rates accounts are issued in time. Tax and rates accounts are inaccurate. The municipality does not maintain street lights regularly. The municipality does not maintain sewage systems regularly. There is no relationship between the performance management system and service delivery. The recommendations for improving the performance management system were made and the researcher developed an appropriate model of performance that is oriented to effective service delivery. / Thesis (PhD (Public Management and Governance))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka värden som på längre sikt har avgörande betydelse för att engagera en kund med avseende på lojalitetsprogram. Metod: I studien användes en kvantitativ metod där en enkät med stängda svarsalternativ skickades ut till ca 30 000 respondenter. Till enkäten användes ordinal- och nominalskala för att möjliggöra Spearman’s rho korrelationsanalys med hjälp av statistiska mjukvaran IBM SPSS. Analyserna användes sedan för acceptera eller förkasta de hypoteser som deducerats från teorin. Resultat: Resultatet visade att trots en pågående negativ trend för lojalitetsprogram så skapar de engagemang och är betydande för kunden. Det värde som visade sig ha signifikant betydelse för engagemanget var kundens mervärde. Kundens mervärde leder till upprepade köp och har en direkt påverkan på kundens lojalitet och kundens uppfattning av programmet som påverkar engagemanget. Resultatet av studien kan därför ses som en pågående interaktionsprocess där företagets aktiviteter påverkar kundens engagemang både i och utanför lojalitetsprogrammet. Ett ökat mervärde i interaktionsprocessen till följd av företagets aktiviteter och kundens värdering av varumärket, ökar kundens engagemang, vilket möjliggör att lojalitet kan skapas genom program på längre sikt. Förslag till fortsatta studier: Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för de värden som engagerar kunden med avseende på lojalitetsprogram. Författarnas ambition är att vidare forskning ska ta avstamp i studiens resultat och den modell som utvecklats. Förhoppningen är att studien ska ligga till grund för empirisk tillämpning inom servicenäringen samt utgöra underlag vid strategiska beslut och marknadsundersökningar.

Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Family Studies and Social Work, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-54).

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Na atualidade observa-se vastos estudos sobre os processos na área do Design acerca de como projetar experiências e prototipar interações entre pessoas e sistemas, e mesmo entre pessoas por intermédio de sistemas. Enquanto todo tipo de produto produz uma experiência de uso, com a evolução da interatividade as relações estabelecidas entre os usuários e os produtos tornaram-se mais complexas e modificaram-se ao longo dos anos. A abordagem teórica destinada a tratar essas questões também expandiu e diversificou-se simultaneamente. A partir de um estudo sobre os processos interativos e o campo teórico relacionado, foi possível identificar um fenômeno relativamente recente em interfaces nas quais pode ser verificado um alto nível de interação, a saber: os sistemas de recompensa. Cabe salientar que este termo foi emprestado da Neurociência, aonde é utilizado para descrever o circuito responsável pelo gerenciamento do comportamento através da indução de prazer e dor. Portanto, o autor desta dissertação propõe uma acepção do termo no âmbito do design de componentes interativos para designar o artifício, que muitas interfaces atuais incorporaram, de conceder aos usuários a possibilidade de apreciarem, ou não, determinado conteúdo em rede. Assim, pode-se compreender que o emprego do termo aqui é metafórico. Neste processo os usuários podem fornecer outros tipos de feedback ao sistema, como por exemplo um comentário, ou compartilhamento, estimulando assim uma série de desdobramentos interativos e repercussões para a experiência de uso do produto. Este trabalho propõe uma investigação qualitativa sobre as interações concernentes aos sistemas de recompensa, abordando tanto questões objetivas funcionais dos sistemas, quanto questões referentes ao feedback dos usuários. O Facebook será amplamente analisado, por ter sido uma interface pioneira na manipulação dos sistemas de recompensa, na qual estes componentes alcançaram um alto nível de desenvolvimento até este momento. A justificativa para esta pesquisa se deve a dois fatores particularmente relevantes: primeiro, a ausência de conteúdo significativo na literatura relacionada atual. Em segundo lugar, a notável expansão dos sistemas criados com esta finalidade, conforme será demonstrado no estudo. O objetivo deste projeto é compreender de que forma o design dos sistemas de recompensa influenciam o fluxo de interações e o comportamento dos usuários atualmente. Para tanto, esta pesquisa procura verificar como determinados aspectos teóricos do design - dedicados à compreensão da dinâmica de processos interativos - se aplicam a experiências reais de interação no mundo contemporâneo. Por exemplo, diversos modelos e frameworks nas áreas de HCI (Interação Humano-Computador), UX (experiência do usuário), e design de experiências destacam conceitos condizentes com aspectos identificados nos sistemas de recompensa que por sua vez encontram-se em processo de desenvolvimento, guiados por tendências comerciais de uma forma quase que intuitiva, no sentido de que pouca atenção tem sido dada na literatura sobre as bases neuronais que fazem este processo funcionar. Desta forma, pretende-se fornecer subsídios para uma melhor compreensão do impacto que os sistemas de recompensa analisados nesta dissertação desempenham sobre a experiência de uso entre consumidores e produtos delineados dentro deste paradigma / This is a research about the design of reward systems on interactive contemporary interfaces of communication. After a research made on User Experience (UX) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) theory fields, it was possible to identify some particular kind of interface component which was, according to this study, capable of accomplishing several UX and HCI objectives related to affection and complex interaction relations on the generation of a valuable experience. This particular kind of component is the primal object of this study, which was designated by the author as Reward Systems, in a metaphorical meaning, besides the original conception of reward systems in neuroscience. These are components that allows user to appreciate some kind of content retrieving status to it. Facebook is widely discussed, because it was a pioneer in handling the interface of reward systems, where these components have reached a high level of development so far. This research is particularly relevant due to two factors: first, the lack of meaningful content in the current related literature. Secondly, the remarkable expansion of systems designed for this purpose, as will be demonstrated in the study. The project goal is to understand how the design of reward systems influence the flow of interactions and behavior of users today. In order to accomplish this, the research seeks to ascertain how certain theoretical aspects of design - dedicated to understanding the dynamics of interactive processes - apply to real interaction experiences in the contemporary world. For example, several models and frameworks in areas of HCI (Human Computer Interaction) and UX (user experience) highlight concepts consistent with those identified in reward systems which are in process of constant development, guided by commercial tendencies almost in a intuitive manner. Little attention has been paid in literature on neuroscience bases which make this process work.