Cited by 186Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesMemory and Neural Mechanisms

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VTA dopamine neuron activity encodes social interaction and promotes reinforcement learning through social prediction error

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Solié, Clément, Girard, Benoit, Righetti, Beatrice, Tapparel, Malika, Bellone, Camilla·2022·Nature Neuroscience

DOI 10.1038/s41593-021-00972-9PMC PMC7612196

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Abstract

Social interactions are motivated behaviors that, in many species, facilitate learning. However, how the brain encodes the reinforcing properties of social interactions remains unclear. In this study, using in vivo recording in freely moving mice, we show that dopamine (DA) neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) increase their activity during interactions with an unfamiliar conspecific and display heterogeneous responses. Using a social instrumental task, we then show that VTA DA neuron activity encodes social prediction error and drives social reinforcement learning. Thus, our findings suggest that VTA DA neurons are a neural substrate for a social learning signal that drives motivated behavior.

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Authors: Solié, C., Girard, B., Righetti, B., Tapparel, M., & Bellone, C.
Affiliations: University of Geneva (CH)
Corresponding author: Bellone, Camilla
ORCID: Solié, Clément
Tapparel, Malika
Bellone, Camilla
Venue: Nature Neuroscience
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published: 2021-12-02
Volume: 25
Issue: 1
Pages: 86-97
ISSN: 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
1546-1726
DOI: 10.1038/s41593-021-00972-9
PMC: PMC7612196
OpenAlex: W3217059373
Cited by: 186
References: 48
Citations by year: 2026: 41 · 2025: 45 · 2024: 45 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 5
FWCI: 11.27
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: green
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Licence: www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
www.springer.com/tdm (vor)
Locations: Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (publishedVersion)
PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (182326, 150704)
Topics: Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Keywords: ventral tegmental area, dopaminergic neurons, social interaction, social learning, neural coding, motivated behavior, conspecific interactions
MeSH terms: Social Interaction, Animals, Reinforcement, Psychology, Reward, Ventral Tegmental Area, Mice, Dopaminergic Neurons

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VTA dopamine neuron activity encodes social interaction and promotes reinforcement learning through social prediction error

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