ArticleScience (New York, N.Y.)2016
Dopamine neurons encode performance error in singing birds.
Article in Science (New York, N.Y.), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 138 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
138 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Convergent and divergent neural circuit architectures that support acoustic communication.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2022Pooled it
- Distributed cortical learning through LEC-mediated γ-synchrony.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Successful reinforcement history suppresses explicit and implicit error corrections.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Distinct forms of dopamine transmission control locomotion and learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Striatal Dopamine at Learned Sequence Boundaries Sustains Birdsong.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A synaptic locus of song learning.Nature · 2026Article
- Real-Time Segmentation and Classification of Birdsong Syllables for Learning Experiments.eNeuro · 2026Article
- Article
- Variation in song structure does not predict associative learning performance in zebra finches (Taeniopygia castanotis) raised under controlled cultural conditions.Animal cognition · 2026Article
- Dopaminergic Innervation of the Nidopallium Caudolaterale in the Japanese Quail.The Journal of comparative neurology · 2026Article
- Article
- Recent social experience alters song behavior in Drosophila.Current biology : CB · 2026Article
- Article
- Estimating the motor exploration in reinforcement learning.iScience · 2026Article
- An anatomical substrate of credit assignment in reinforcement learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Encoding of motor sequences in primate globus pallidus and motor cortex: Uniform preference for ordinal position.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Correctness is its own reward: bootstrapping error signals in self-guided reinforcement learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Bursts from the past: Intrinsic properties link a network model to zebra finch song.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Neuronal activity underlying vocal production in bats.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Review
- Striatal Dopamine Actions and Movement: Inferences from Parkinson Disease.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Review
78 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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6 authors.
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Abstract
Many behaviors are learned through trial and error by matching performance to internal goals. Yet neural mechanisms of performance evaluation remain poorly understood. We recorded basal ganglia-projecting dopamine neurons in singing zebra finches as we controlled perceived song quality with distorted auditory feedback. Dopamine activity was phasically suppressed after distorted syllables, consistent with a worse-than-predicted outcome, and was phasically activated at the precise moment of the song when a predicted distortion did not occur, consistent with a better-than-predicted outcome. Error response magnitude depended on distortion probability. Thus, dopaminergic error signals can evaluate behaviors that are not learned for reward and are instead learned by matching performance outcomes to internal goals.
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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.