ArticleeNeuro
Sign Tracking and Goal Tracking Are Characterized by Distinct Patterns of Nucleus Accumbens Activity.
Article in eNeuro. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reproducible human reward imaging phenotypes exhibit differential sensitivity to dopamine D2 receptor antagonism.Nature communications · 2026Article
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- Galactic cosmic radiation produces sex-specific, circuit-selective cognitive vulnerability: countermeasure trade-offs revealed by multi-domain assessment.Research square · 2026Article
- Beyond dopamine: Broader neuromodulatory contributions in sign- and goal-tracking.Psychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Article
- Dopamine receptor sensitivity and Pavlovian conditioned approach.Research square · 2025Article
- Modulation of Dopamine Neurons Alters Behavior and Event Encoding in the Nucleus Accumbens during Pavlovian Conditioning.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Adolescent alcohol exposure persistently alters orbitofrontal cortical encoding of Pavlovian conditional stimulus components in female rats.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Role of nucleus accumbens D1-type medium spiny neurons in the expression and extinction of sign-tracking.Behavioural brain research · 2024Article
- Article
- Reinforcement-learning in fronto-striatal circuits.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Review
- Neurons of the Ventral Tegmental Area Encode Individual Differences in Motivational "Wanting" for Reward Cues.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2020Article
- Effects of the cannabinoid receptor agonist CP-55,940 on incentive salience attribution.Psychopharmacology · 2020Article
- Basolateral Amygdala to Nucleus Accumbens Communication Differentially Mediates Devaluation Sensitivity of Sign- and Goal-Tracking Rats.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2020Article
- Increased Goal Tracking in Adolescent Rats Is Goal-Directed and Not Habit-Like.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
During Pavlovian conditioning, if a cue (e.g., lever extension) predicts reward delivery in a different location (e.g., a food magazine), some individuals will come to approach and interact with the cue, a behavior known as sign tracking (ST), and others will approach the site of reward, a behavior known as goal tracking (GT). In rats, the acquisition of ST versus GT behavior is associated with distinct profiles of dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), but it is unknown whether it is associated with different patterns of accumbens neural activity. Therefore, we recorded from individual neurons in the NAc core during the acquisition, maintenance, and extinction of ST and GT behavior. Even though NAc dopamine is specifically important for the acquisition and expression of ST, we found that cue-evoked excitatory responses encode the vigor of both ST and GT behavior. In contrast, among sign trackers only, there was a prominent decrease in reward-related activity over the course of training, which may reflect the decreasing reward prediction error encoded by phasic dopamine. Finally, both behavior and cue-evoked activity were relatively resistant to extinction in sign trackers, as compared with goal trackers, although a subset of neurons in both groups retained their cue-evoked responses. Overall, the results point to the convergence of multiple forms of reward learning in the NAc.
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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.