Charlotte Gruson is working on a thesis built around a concept that is a large part of current western popular culture known as “the brain reward system” or “the brain value system”. The objective of the research is to understand the complexities of the reward system and its manipulation by society. Specifically, this research will explore the knowledge developed in regards to this system that comes from the biological, the theoretical, and the cultural fields with a strict focus on neuroscience laboratories on the French territory. The objective is to carry out a historical-conceptual tracing of the reward system/value system and to answer the next question : Which was first, the use or the discovery of the concept?