Cited by 134Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesReinforcement Learning in Robotics

Role of Dopamine D2 Receptors in Human Reinforcement Learning

Open access
Eisenegger, Christoph, Naef, Michael, Linssen, Anke, Clark, Luke, Gandamaneni, Praveen K, Müller, Ulrich, Robbins, Trevor W·2014·Neuropsychopharmacology

Abstract

Influential neurocomputational models emphasize dopamine (DA) as an electrophysiological and neurochemical correlate of reinforcement learning. However, evidence of a specific causal role of DA receptors in learning has been less forthcoming, especially in humans. Here we combine, in a between-subjects design, administration of a high dose of the selective DA D2/3-receptor antagonist sulpiride with genetic analysis of the DA D2 receptor in a behavioral study of reinforcement learning in a sample of 78 healthy male volunteers. In contrast to predictions of prevailing models emphasizing DA's pivotal role in learning via prediction errors, we found that sulpiride did not disrupt learning, but rather induced profound impairments in choice performance. The disruption was selective for stimuli indicating reward, whereas loss avoidance performance was unaffected. Effects were driven by volunteers with higher serum levels of the drug, and in those with genetically determined lower density of striatal DA D2 receptors. This is the clearest demonstration to date for a causal modulatory role of the DA D2 receptor in choice performance that might be distinct from learning. Our findings challenge current reward prediction error models of reinforcement learning, and suggest that classical animal models emphasizing a role of postsynaptic DA D2 receptors in motivational aspects of reinforcement learning may apply to humans as well.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/npp.2014.84

Cites

76 of 76 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Sutton RS, Barto AG (1998). Reinforcement learning: an introduc- tion. IEEE Trans Neural Netw 9: 1054-1054.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Eisenegger, C., Naef, M., Linssen, A., Clark, L., Gandamaneni, P. K., Müller, U., & Robbins, T. W.
Affiliations
  • University of Vienna (AT)
  • University of London (GB)
  • Maastricht University (NL)
  • University of Cambridge (GB)
Corresponding author
Eisenegger, Christoph
Venue
Neuropsychopharmacology
Published
2014-04-09
Volume
39
Issue
10
Pages
2366-2375
ISSN
  • 0893-133X (ISSN-L)
  • 1740-634X
OpenAlex
W2036976328
Cited by
134
References
75
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 3
FWCI
5.03
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • Eli Lilly and Company
  • AstraZeneca
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
  • Medpace
  • Wellcome Trust (093875/Z/10/Z, 093875)
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (134135)
  • Vienna Science and Technology Fund (VRG13-007, WWTF VRG13-007)
  • Shire
  • H. Lundbeck A/S
  • Medical Research Council (093875/Z/10/Z, G1000183, MRC Ref G1000183)
  • NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre
  • Cilag
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Reinforcement Learning in Robotics
Keywords
dopamine D2 receptor, reinforcement learning, sulpiride, reward choice, loss avoidance, striatal dopamine, genetic polymorphism
MeSH terms
Adult, Choice Behavior, Double-Blind Method, Genotype, Humans, Male, Models, Psychological, Neuropsychological Tests, Polymorphism, Genetic, Prolactin, Reaction Time, Reinforcement, Psychology, Sulpiride, Receptors, Dopamine D2, Dopamine Antagonists, Receptors, Dopamine D3, Young Adult, Genotyping Techniques

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review