Dopamine D2-like receptor stimulation blocks negative feedback in visual and spatial reversal learning in the rat: behavioural and computational evidence.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Dopamine D2-like receptors (D2R) are important drug targets in schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease, but D2R ligands also cause cognitive inflexibility such as poor reversal learning. The specific role of D2R in reversal learning remains unclear.

Objectives

We tested the hypotheses that D2R agonism impairs reversal learning by blocking negative feedback and that antagonism of D1-like receptors (D1R) impairs learning from positive feedback.

Methods

Male Lister Hooded rats were trained on a novel visual reversal learning task. Performance on "probe trials", during which the correct or incorrect stimulus was presented with a third, probabilistically rewarded (50% of trials) and therefore intermediate stimulus, revealed individual learning curves for the proces

SUBMITTER: Alsio J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6695374 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature