Prolonged dopamine signalling in striatum signals proximity and value of distant rewards.

ABSTRACT: Predictions about future rewarding events have a powerful influence on behaviour. The phasic spike activity of dopamine-containing neurons, and corresponding dopamine transients in the striatum, are thought to underlie these predictions, encoding positive and negative reward prediction errors. However, many behaviours are directed towards distant goals, for which transient signals may fail to provide sustained drive. Here we report an extended mode of reward-predictive dopamine signalling in the striatum that emerged as rats moved towards distant goals. These dopamine signals, which were detected with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV), gradually increased or--in rare instances--decreased as the animals navigated mazes to reach remote rewards, rather than having phasic or steady tonic pro

SUBMITTER: Howe MW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3927840 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature