Why do you walk to the refrigerator when you are hungry?

As hunger strikes you, the stomach ask for food, salivation starts, and you cannot think about anything but food. But, have you ever thought how comes that the nervous system tells to your legs that you need to walk and search for food?
The striatum is a structure responsible for the initiation of movements, in particular of those that produce reward. The striatum contains opioid receptors that participate in the hedonic evaluation of food. Pratt and Kelley (2005) found that an injection of a muscarinic receptor antagonist (scopolamine) into the striatum reduces the food intake. Water intake is not affected. At the same time, blockade of muscarinic receptors reduces the levels of proenkephalin.
Pratt and Kelley observed that after the muscarinic receptor blockade, the plasma levels of leptin, a satiety signal, were reduced. Contrary to what happen after a meal. So, the animal has the hunger signals, but it does not see the pleasure in eating.