Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22305286›Full record

ArticleBiological psychiatry2012

Phasic mesolimbic dopamine signaling precedes and predicts performance of a self-initiated action sequence task.

Kate M Wassum, Sean B Ostlund, Nigel T Maidment

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Biological psychiatry, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
64citing papers in PubMed
3.0field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

64 citing papers in PubMed, 110 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Sequence termination cues drive automated habit-like strategy via dopamine-mediated processes.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
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  4. Striatal Dopamine at Learned Sequence Boundaries Sustains Birdsong.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
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  13. Anticipation of Appetitive Operant Action Induces Sustained Dopamine Release in the Nucleus Accumbens.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2023
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Review
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  18. Opposing Roles of the Dorsolateral and Dorsomedial Striatum in the Acquisition of Skilled Action Sequencing in Rats.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2022
    Article
  19. Functional dissociation of behavioral effects from acetylcholine and glutamate released from cholinergic striatal interneurons.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2022
    Article
  20. 5-HTPsychopharmacology · 2022
    Article

4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Kate M WassumUniversity of California Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. kwassum@ucla.edu
Sean B Ostlund
Nigel T Maidment
University of California, Los Angeles · US

Funding

The Role of Striosome Neurons in Mediating Opiod RewardP50DA005010 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI FANSELOW, MICHAEL S · 1987 to 2021
$30.7M
UCLA Training Program in Translational Neuroscience of Drug Abuse (TNDA)T32DA024635 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI LARA A. RAY, Kate M Wassum · 2008 to 2026
$6.2M
ROLE OF ENDOGENOUS OPIODS IN HEROIN ABUSER01DA009359 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI MAIDMENT, NIGEL T · 1995 to 2012
$2.3M
Cocaine-Seeking and the Transfer of Behavioral ControlR01DA029035 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI OSTLUND, SEAN BJORN · 2011 to 2015
$1.5M
NIDA NIH HHS DA029035NIDA NIH HHS DA05010NIDA NIH HHS DA09359NIDA NIH HHS P50 DA005010NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA009359NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA029035NIDA NIH HHS T32 DA024635
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSequential reward-seeking actions are readily learned despite the temporal gap between the earliest (distal) action in the sequence and the reward delivery. Fast dopamine signaling is hypothesized to mediate this form of learning by reporting errors in reward prediction. However, such a role for dopamine release in voluntarily initiated action sequences remains to be demonstrated.

methodsUsing fast-scan cyclic voltammetry, we monitored phasic mesolimbic dopamine release, in real time, as rats performed a self-initiated sequence of lever presses to earn sucrose rewards. Before testing, rats received either 0 (n = 11), 5 (n = 11), or 10 (n = 8) days of action sequence training.

resultsFor rats acquiring the action sequence task at test, dopamine release was strongly elicited by response-contingent (but unexpected) rewards. With learning, a significant elevation in dopamine release preceded performance of the proximal action and subsequently came to precede the distal action. This predistal dopamine release response was also observed in rats previously trained on the action sequence task, and the amplitude of this signal predicted the latency with which rats completed the action sequence. Importantly, the dopamine response to contingent reward delivery was not observed in rats given extensive pretraining. Pharmacological analysis confirmed that task performance was dopamine-dependent.

conclusionsThese data suggest that phasic mesolimbic dopamine release mediates the influence that rewards exert over the performance of self-paced, sequentially-organized behavior and sheds light on how dopamine signaling abnormalities may contribute to disorders of behavioral control.

Indexed as

Reinforcement, PsychologyAnimalsConditioning, OperantDopamineMaleNeostriatumNucleus AccumbensRatsRats, Sprague-DawleyRewardSignal TransductionDopamine

Identifiers

PMID22305286
PMCPMC3471807
OpenAlexW2055197689

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.