Topic: probabilistic rewards

Some psychiatric disorders are characterized by excessively optimistic or pessimistic predictions of future events, as well as changes in dopamine levels. However, how changes in dopamine could lead to biased value predictions is unknown. Here, we draw this link by examining the role of baseline dopamine levels in value learning. Value learning is thought to depend, in part, on synaptic plasticity driven by dopamine reward prediction errors (RPEs) acting upon D1 and D2 receptors in medium spiny neurons (MSNs) of the striatum. At reported striatal dopamine levels, D1 and D2 receptors are mostl

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is critical for flexible decision-making, and dynamical motifs have been identified in PFC population activity that could support certain aspects of this process (e.g., context-dependent line attractors for sensory input integration). PFC is also known to encode a plethora of decision-relevant variables, including task progression, action, and value. It remains an open question whether there are dynamical motifs that track all these variables to inform decisions. Further, it is unclear how outcome feedback alters neural representations of these variables and impacts

The hippocampus is thought to organise knowledge about the world by binding stimuli into representations of discrete states, which can be utilised to guide flexible behaviour. In the laboratory, such states are often characterised as distinct spatial locations and contexts. However, real-life experiences are often defined by latent non-spatial contexts. Despite a hypothesised key role, the extent to which the hippocampus may form representations of such abstract states is unclear. To study the role of hippocampus in such latent state representations, we used a 2-armed bandit task in mice. In t

Cognitive flexibility is necessary for efficient disengagement from a previous task or reconfiguring and implementing new responses to a novel demand. The orbitofrontal cortex is associated with value encoding and is crucial for flexibility to switch behaviours in front of unexpected outcomes. However, the neuronal mechanisms behind such flexibility to modify the encoded value are unknown. We aim to determine the dynamical mechanisms of orbitofrontal neuronal circuits involved in value-based decisions across different environmental contingencies. For this purpose, we perform large-scale electr