Neural activity ramps in frontal cortex signal extended motivation during learning.

ABSTRACT: Learning requires the ability to link actions to outcomes. How motivation facilitates learning is not well understood. We designed a behavioral task in which mice self-initiate trials to learn cue-reward contingencies and found that the anterior cingulate region of the prefrontal cortex (ACC) contains motivation-related signals to maximize rewards. In particular, we found that ACC neural activity was consistently tied to trial initiations where mice seek to leave unrewarded cues to reach reward-associated cues. Notably, this neural signal persisted over consecutive unrewarded cues until reward-associated cues were reached, and was required for learning. To determine how ACC inherits this motivational signal we performed projection-specific photometry recordings from several inputs to ACC d

SUBMITTER: Regalado JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11262795 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature