Topic: valence-based learning

Hedonic or valence-based learning by valence is inherent to cognition. From a neuroethological perspective, value-assignment requires emotional or volitional characteristics that improve the representation of the environment. Such processing is especially relevant in functions involving episodic memory such as spatial learning, in which navigation may be enhanced by associating states with hedonic values – e.g., the poisonous plant near the river is aversive, and the prey inside a cave is attractive. In this context, dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) have been studied in their encoding of op