Reward prediction error in the ERP following unconditioned aversive stimuli.

ABSTRACT: Reinforcement learning in humans and other animals is driven by reward prediction errors: deviations between the amount of reward or punishment initially expected and that which is obtained. Temporal difference methods of reinforcement learning generate this reward prediction error at the earliest time at which a revision in reward or punishment likelihood is signalled, for example by a conditioned stimulus. Midbrain dopamine neurons, believed to compute reward prediction errors, generate this signal in response to both conditioned and unconditioned stimuli, as predicted by temporal difference learning. Electroencephalographic recordings of human participants have suggested that a component named the feedback-related negativity (FRN) is generated when this signal is carried to the cortex.

SUBMITTER: Stewardson HJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8497484 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature