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Reward

High expectations for GABA

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 13, pages 150–151 (2012)Cite this article

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these findings confirm unequivocally that VTA dopamine neurons respond to rewards and reward-predicting stimuli

The authors recorded the activity of VTA neurons in mice that learned to associate different odours with a small or large reward, a punishment (an air puff) or no reward. They found three types of responses: some neurons showed phasic firing in response to the reward-predicting odour and the reward itself (type I neurons); some neurons fired persistently during the delay between the reward-predicting odour and the reward (type II neurons); and the remaining neurons persistently reduced their firing during this delay (type III neurons).

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Cohen, J. Y. et al. Neuron-type-specific signals for reward and punishment in the ventral tegmental area. Nature 18 Jan 2012 (doi: 10.1038/nature10754)

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  1. Leonie Welberg
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Welberg, L. High expectations for GABA. Nat Rev Neurosci 13, 150–151 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3194

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