Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones · chapter 8 · id atomic-habits-c8-02-dopamine-is-released-not-just-

“Dopamine is released not just when you experience pleasure but when you ANTICIPATE it. The anticipation of a reward -- not the fulfillment of it -- is what drives action.”

holdsconfidence: high⚠ extracted by pipeline, re-audit pending

Receipts

Berridge 2009, Inquiry (Neuroscience)DOI registry: valid

Wanting (incentive salience) and liking (hedonic pleasure) are dissociable neural systems. Dopamine mediates wanting/anticipation, not liking/enjoyment.

Schultz 1998, Journal of NeurophysiologyDOI registry: valid

Wolfram Schultz's work shows dopamine neuron firing shifts from reward receipt to reward-predicting cues as learning progresses. Prediction error signaling.

This claim is a stable, citable object. If you can falsify a verdict, tell us — corrections are loud here.