Critical periods when dopamine controls behavioral responding during Pavlovian learning.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Learning the association between rewards and predictive cues is critical for appetitive behavioral responding. The mesolimbic dopamine system is thought to play an integral role in establishing these cue-reward associations. The dopamine response to cues can signal differences in reward value, though this emerges only after significant training. This suggests that the dopamine system may differentially regulate behavioral responding depending on the phase of training.

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to determine whether antagonizing dopamine receptors elicited different effects on behavior depending on the phase of training or the type of Pavlovian task.

Methods

Separate groups of male rats were trained on Pavlovian tasks in which distinct audio cue

SUBMITTER: Lefner MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10039755 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature