Current Biology
Volume 31, Issue 21, 8 November 2021, Pages 4748-4761.e8
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Article
Dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens core signals perceived saliency

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.052Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • NAc core dopamine only mimics reward prediction error in select reward contexts

  • RPE does not model dopamine release during negative reinforcement

  • Dopamine signaling in the NAc core does not support valence-free prediction error

  • NAc core dopamine tracks valence-free perceived saliency in all conditions

Summary

A large body of work has aimed to define the precise information encoded by dopaminergic projections innervating the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Prevailing models are based on reward prediction error (RPE) theory, in which dopamine updates associations between rewards and predictive cues by encoding perceived errors between predictions and outcomes. However, RPE cannot describe multiple phenomena to which dopamine is inextricably linked, such as behavior driven by aversive and neutral stimuli. We combined a series of behavioral tasks with direct, subsecond dopamine monitoring in the NAc of mice, machine learning, computational modeling, and optogenetic manipulations to describe behavior and related dopamine release patterns across multiple contingencies reinforced by differentially valenced outcomes. We show that dopamine release only conforms to RPE predictions in a subset of learning scenarios but fits valence-independent perceived saliency encoding across conditions. Here, we provide an extended, comprehensive framework for accumbal dopamine release in behavioral control.

Keywords

prediction error
associative learning
fear conditioning
negative reinforcement
reward
aversive learning
aversion
novelty
attention
rescorla wagner

Data and code availability

  • All data reported in this paper will be shared by the lead contact upon request

  • All original codes have been deposited at Github and are publicly available as of the date of publication: https://github.com/kutlugunes.

  • Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

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