Kauê M. Costa

Abstract Dopamine is classically thought to drive learning based on errors in the prediction of rewards and punishments. However, animals also learn to predict cues with no intrinsic value or biological relevance to ongoing behavior, and it is unclear whether such latent learning also relies on dopaminergic prediction errors.

Abstract Cue reactivity is the maladaptive neurobiological and behavioral response upon exposure to drug cues and is a major driver of relapse. The leading hypothesis is that dopamine release by addictive drugs represents a persistently positive reward prediction error that causes runaway enhancement of dopamine responses to drug cues, leading to their pathological overvaluation compared to non-drug reward alternatives. However, this hypothesis has not been directly tested.

Abstract Dopamine is classically thought to drive learning based on errors in the prediction of rewards and punishments. However, animals also learn to predict cues with no intrinsic value, and it is unclear if such latent learning also relies on dopaminergic prediction errors. Here, we tested this by recording dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens and dorsomedial striatum while rats executed a sensory preconditioning task that incorporates both types of learning.