Kenway Louie

Abstract Learning to predict rewards is a fundamental driver of adaptive behavior. Midbrain dopamine neurons (DANs) play a key role in such learning by signaling reward prediction errors (RPEs) that teach recipient circuits about expected rewards given current circumstances and actions.

Abstract Inhibition is crucial for brain function, regulating network activity by balancing excitation and implementing gain control. Recent evidence suggests that beyond simply inhibiting excitatory activity, inhibitory neurons can also shape circuit function through disinhibition.

Introduction A fundamental assumption in classical economics is that reward magnitudes and reward probabilities (computational components), following the expected utility theory (von Neumann and Morgenstern, 1947), are integrated in optimal way, that is, multiplicatively, for deriving option values and making choices. To explain systematic violations of optimal decision making in humans, behavioral economists have developed the prospect theory (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979).