While the ventral striatum (VS) is involved in behavior guided by motivational information, the critical role of this region has yet to be clearly defined. For example, is VS critical for encoding associative information, or is its role limited to its use, and does VS serve a more general role in instrumental performance? This panel will consider these and other issues. Ann Kelley will begin by discussing the role of corticostriatal networks in guiding instrumental responding. Data will be presented on the effects of neuropharmacological manipulations of corticolimbic systems on the acquisition of instrumental responding. These data indicate that plasticity in VS may serve a fundamental role in selecting adaptive responses. John Parkinson will expand on this idea, discussing the role of cortical input to VS in instrumental and Pavlovian settings. These data suggest that VS selects among multiple convergent inputs to determine the appropriate response. Next, Stan Floresco will discuss electrophysiological data on the integration of limbic and dopaminergic inputs in the VS and prefrontal cortex. These data reveal that dopamine may gate neural activity in both VS and prefrontal cortex. The similarity between this function and the putative role of VS in response selection will be considered. Finally Barry Setlow will discuss the role of VS and input from basolateral amygdala in guiding responses based on motivational information. These data suggest that representations of value in basolateral amygdala are critical during learning, whereas representations in VS may be more important for the use of this information.