Prospective contingency explains behavior and dopamine signals during associative learning.

ABSTRACT: Associative learning depends on contingency, the degree to which a stimulus predicts an outcome. Despite its importance, the neural mechanisms linking contingency to behavior remain elusive. In the present study, we examined the dopamine activity in the ventral striatum-a signal implicated in associative learning-in a Pavlovian contingency degradation task in mice. We show that both anticipatory licking and dopamine responses to a conditioned stimulus decreased when additional rewards were delivered uncued, but remained unchanged if additional rewards were cued. These results conflict with contingency-based accounts using a traditional definition of contingency or a new causal learning model (ANCCR), but can be explained by temporal difference (TD) learning models equipped with an appropri

SUBMITTER: Qian L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12148708 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature