ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2018
Rethinking dopamine as generalized prediction error.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 105 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
105 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Prediction in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2021Pooled it
- Methamphetamine potentiates the use of outcome-specific associations via a hypothalamic-dopamine circuit.Neuron · 2026Article
- Subicular spatial codes arise from predictive mapping.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Flexible navigation with neuromodulated cognitive maps.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Prediction error correlates in the striosome-dopamine circuit emerge from information gain.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Dopamine in the ventral and tail of striatum supports global and local evaluation in reward-threat conflict.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Dopamine Responses in Medial Frontal Cortex Are More Consistent with a Generalized Arousal Signal Than Signed Reward Prediction Errors.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Dopaminergic responses to identity prediction errors depend differently on the orbitofrontal cortex and hippocampus.Behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- From Spontaneous Ignitions to Sensorimotor Cell Assemblies via Dopamine: A Spiking Neurocomputational Model of Infants' Hand Action Acquisition.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- A brief history of dopamine prediction errors.Frontiers in computational neuroscience · 2026Review
- A computational mechanism linking momentary craving and decision-making in alcohol drinkers and cannabis users.Nature. Mental health · 2026Article
- On the origin of the reward function: Exploring the role of conditioned reinforcement and social learning.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2025Review
- Between planning and map building: Prioritizing replay when future goals are uncertain.Neuron · 2025Review
- Phasic dopamine encodes persistent attraction to reward cues.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Estrogen modulates reward prediction errors and reinforcement learning.Nature neuroscience · 2025Article
- Decoding hidden goal-directed navigational states and their neuronal representations using a novel labyrinth paradigm and probabilistic modeling framework.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Trial-by-trial learning of successor representations in human behavior.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Trial-by-trial learning of successor representations in human behavior.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Joint models reveal human subcortical underpinnings of choice and learning behavior.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- The interoceptive origin of reinforcement learning.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2025Review
45 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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3 authors.
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Abstract
Midbrain dopamine neurons are commonly thought to report a reward prediction error (RPE), as hypothesized by reinforcement learning (RL) theory. While this theory has been highly successful, several lines of evidence suggest that dopamine activity also encodes sensory prediction errors unrelated to reward. Here, we develop a new theory of dopamine function that embraces a broader conceptualization of prediction errors. By signalling errors in both sensory and reward predictions, dopamine supports a form of RL that lies between model-based and model-free algorithms. This account remains consistent with current canon regarding the correspondence between dopamine transients and RPEs, while also accounting for new data suggesting a role for these signals in phenomena such as sensory preconditioning and identity unblocking, which ostensibly draw upon knowledge beyond reward predictions.
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