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Reward

Dopamine's expanding universe

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 10, pages 624–625 (2009)Cite this article

Bromberg-Martin and Hikosaka trained two monkeys to move their eyes (saccade) towards either of two targets on a screen to receive a small or large water reward. The targets did not predict the size of the reward; rather, saccading to one of the targets triggered a cue that provided information about the size of the upcoming reward, whereas saccading to the other target triggered a non-informative cue.

The monkeys showed a preference for the target that was associated with an informative cue. Even when the task was modified to include a second cue (appearing on the screen after the first cue) that was always informative about the upcoming reward, the monkeys still chose the target that would trigger an informative first cue, indicating that they preferred to receive the information sooner rather than later.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

  1. Bromberg-Martin, E. S. & Hikosaka, O. Midbrain dopamine neurons signal preference for advance information about upcoming rewards. Neuron 63, 119–126 (2009)

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  2. Pleger, B. et al. Influence of dopaminergically mediated reward on somatosensory decision-making. PLoS Biol. 7, e1000164 (2009)

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Authors
  1. Leonie Welberg
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Welberg, L. Dopamine's expanding universe. Nat Rev Neurosci 10, 624–625 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2708

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2708

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