The cognitive basis of intracranial self-stimulation of midbrain dopamine neurons
biorxiv(2022)
Abstract
Recently there has been a reckoning in the dopamine field. This has suggested that the dopamine prediction error may function as a teaching signal, without endowing preceding events with value. We studied the cognitive basis of intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS), a setting where dopamine appears to be valuable. Physiological frequencies seen during reinforcement learning did not support robust ICSS or promote behavior that would indicate the stimulation was represented as a meaningful reward in a specific or general sense. This was despite demonstrating that this same physiologically-relevant signal could function as a teaching signal. However, supraphysiological frequencies supported robust ICSS where the stimulation was represented as a specific sensory event, which acted as a goal to motivate behavior. This demonstrates that dopamine neurons only support ICSS at supraphysiological frequencies, and in a manner that does not reflect our subjective experience with endogenous firing of dopamine neurons during reinforcement learning.
One sentence summary Dopamine neurons only support ICSS at supraphysiological frequencies and in a manner not reflecting dopamine’s role in learning.
### Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
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Key words
dopamine,cognitive basis,self-stimulation
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