Functional Relevance of Different Basal Ganglia Pathways Investigated in a Spiking Model with Reward Dependent Plasticity.

ABSTRACT: The brain enables animals to behaviorally adapt in order to survive in a complex and dynamic environment, but how reward-oriented behaviors are achieved and computed by its underlying neural circuitry is an open question. To address this concern, we have developed a spiking model of the basal ganglia (BG) that learns to dis-inhibit the action leading to a reward despite ongoing changes in the reward schedule. The architecture of the network features the two pathways commonly described in BG, the direct (denoted D1) and the indirect (denoted D2) pathway, as well as a loop involving striatum and the dopaminergic system. The activity of these dopaminergic neurons conveys the reward prediction error (RPE), which determines the magnitude of synaptic plasticity within the different pathways. All

SUBMITTER: Berthet P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4954853 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature