Dopamine as a teaching signal: some evidence from human pharmacological studies
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1
Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, France
Computational models of reinforcement learning have shown that reward prediction errors can explain how performance is improved in variety of situations. Dopamine neurons seem to signal such prediction errors (actual minus predictive reward) in the primate brain. Accordingly, dopamine release has been assumed to represent a teaching signal that is used to update the values of environmental cues and/or undertaken actions. This hypothesis has been corroborated by a number of pharmacological studies manipulating dopamine transmission. However, substantial literature has implicated dopamine in other processes that also participate in goal-directed behaviour, such as motivation and choice. In my talk, I will address this controversy by presenting a comprehensive series of pharmacological studies in human patients that specifically tested the implication of dopamine in the different incriminated processes: motor skill learning, instrumental learning, incentive motivation, inter-temporal choices and effort-based decision-making. Results systematically supported the theory that dopamine serves as a teaching signal. These results might provide insight into several pathological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome and pathological gambling.
Keywords:
Dopamine,
goal-directed behavior
Conference:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Symposium: Oral Presentation
Topic:
Symposium 24: Adaptive, goal-directed behavior: prefrontal cortex and beyond
Citation:
Pessiglione
M
(2011). Dopamine as a teaching signal: some evidence from human pharmacological studies.
Conference Abstract:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00604
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Received:
14 Nov 2011;
Published Online:
28 Nov 2011.
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Correspondence:
Dr. Mathias Pessiglione, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France, mathias.pessiglione@gmail.com