Prefrontal cortex and over anticipation of reward

ieet.org/index.php/IEE.../gilberthappy/

i'll check out the videos, but a quick note that usually reward and anticipation is considered along the lines of the dopaminergic pathway in the mesencephalon, mainly in the substantia nigra. i would suppose that the dopamine signals are interpreted in the prefrontal lobes as the intermediary to enact appropriate behavior.

www.hnl.bcm.tmc.edu/articles...Final.pdf

"The anticipation of future reward seems as if it could be closely associated with imagination as a whole"

well, it's actually phylogenetically older than that, mesencephalic, and would be a targeting system for most creatures, even those with little to no imagination. it's the signal that passes as an internal marker for a desirable activity, and as such would be basic and needed by just about any mobile creature. i believe you are right that in humans, much of reward seeking is predicated on internal modeling (imagination) and this allows us actually to place abstracted ideas themselves as rewards by which to direct behavior, rather than just experiences: a boon, and a bane.