Neuroscience Bite: The Ventral Tegmental Area

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The Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) is the second major dopamine production site in the brain (the other one here adjacent in blue - the SNpc - we talked about last week. The key difference is obvious - the SNpc projects to the midbrain whereas the VTA projects to the cortex - thus its role in reward learning, depression, obsession, and a myriad of other things!