The DOI matches its Crossref record; 25 of the 25 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Mesolimbic dopamine release conveys causal associations
Open accessAbstract
Learning to predict rewards based on environmental cues is essential for survival. It is believed that animals learn to predict rewards by updating predictions whenever the outcome deviates from expectations, and that such reward prediction errors (RPEs) are signaled by the mesolimbic dopamine system—a key controller of learning. However, instead of learning prospective predictions from RPEs, animals can infer predictions by learning the retrospective cause of rewards. Hence, whether mesolimbic dopamine instead conveys a causal associative signal that sometimes resembles RPE remains unknown. We developed an algorithm for retrospective causal learning and found that mesolimbic dopamine release conveys causal associations but not RPE, thereby challenging the dominant theory of reward learning. Our results reshape the conceptual and biological framework for associative learning.
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Cites
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“of positive and negative RPEs [similar to (79)].”
BackgroundPhasic Firing in Dopaminergic Neurons Is Sufficient for Behavioral Conditioning
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Subsecond dopamine release promotes cocaine seeking
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“S8), (iii) rodents can be as fast as Bayesian ideal observers in detecting changes in the rate of exponentially scheduled rewards (38), and (iv) even the original experiments that inspired the RescorlaWagner model showed that animals learn the mean inter-reinforcer interval despite unpredictable timing (39, 40) [see (…”
Background
Cited by
From reinforcement learning to agency: Frameworks for understanding basal cognition
Seifert, G., Sealander, A., Marzen, S., & Levin, M. (2024) · BioSystems · doi:10.1016/j.biosystems.2023.105107 · Cited by 16
Reward magnitude determines reinforcement learning efficiency
Gong, S., Martell, A., Dudman, J. T., & Coddington, L. T. (2026) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aeb0813 · Cited by 2
Metadata
- Authors
- Jeong, H., Taylor, A., Floeder, J. R., Lohmann, M., Mihalas, S., Wu, B., Zhou, M., Burke, D. A., & Namboodiri, V. M. K.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2022-12-23
- Volume
- 378
- Issue
- 6626
- Pages
- eabq6740-eabq6740
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W4310941140
- Cited by
- 231
- References
- 25
- FWCI
- 18.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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- Jeong, H., Taylor, A., Floeder, J. R., Lohmann, M., Mihalas, S., Wu, B., Zhou, M., Burke, D. A., & Namboodiri, V. M. K. (2022). Mesolimbic dopamine release conveys causal associations. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq6740
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