ArticleNature2019
Dissociable dopamine dynamics for learning and motivation.
Article in Nature, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 383 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
383 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dopamine D2-receptor blockade in humans disrupts the effect of effort on learning.PLoS biology · 2026Trial
- Liraglutide restores impaired associative learning in individuals with obesity.Nature metabolism · 2023Trial
- Sequence termination cues drive automated habit-like strategy via dopamine-mediated processes.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Catecholamine metabolism revisited: from neurochemistry to integrative physiology and pathophysiology.Physiological reviews · 2026Review
- Effort, timing and choice: a refined rodent effort choice task with excellent sensitivity to dopamine modulators.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Coordinated yet asymmetric striatal neuromodulatory dynamics encode associative learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Differential effects of acute, chronic, and social defeat stress on microglial morphology in the basolateral and central amygdala, and the medial and lateral habenula.Brain structure & function · 2026Article
- Mitochondrial calcium influx-driven bioenergetics selectively enable drug addiction.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- The multilevel exploration test, a novel paradigm to measure exploratory behavior in depression animal models and the involvement of the PL-ZI circuit.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Article
- Article
- Characterization of nucleus accumbens dopamine dynamics during positive and negative operant reinforcement in rats.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The Tower Foraging Park: A paradigm for studying cognitive and motor processes underlying behavioral flexibility in freely moving mice.iScience · 2026Article
- Cerebellar neural populations orchestrate dopamine reward signaling with single-trial precision.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Nigra-Subthalamic Dopaminergic Circuitry Modulates and Represents Distinct Pain Modality in Physiological and Pain States in Mice.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Probing biomarkers and clinical utility of reward learning across species using the Probabilistic Reward Task: 20 years of findings.Nature. Mental health · 2026Article
- Striatal dopamine signals internal states related to behavioral performance over prolonged timescales in monkeys.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Prediction error correlates in the striosome-dopamine circuit emerge from information gain.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Intrinsic motivation to study and amotivation for most frequently performed activities: Association with increased non-specific psychological distress.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2026Article
- Local control of dopamine release in nucleus accumbens gates opioid withdrawal aversion.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Midbrain endocannabinoids actuate dopamine-based action selection.Cell reports · 2026Article
323 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The dopamine projection from ventral tegmental area (VTA) to nucleus accumbens (NAc) is critical for motivation to work for rewards and reward-driven learning. How dopamine supports both functions is unclear. Dopamine cell spiking can encode prediction errors, which are vital learning signals in computational theories of adaptive behaviour. By contrast, dopamine release ramps up as animals approach rewards, mirroring reward expectation. This mismatch might reflect differences in behavioural tasks, slower changes in dopamine cell spiking or spike-independent modulation of dopamine release. Here we compare spiking of identified VTA dopamine cells with NAc dopamine release in the same decision-making task. Cues that indicate an upcoming reward increased both spiking and release. However, NAc core dopamine release also covaried with dynamically evolving reward expectations, without corresponding changes in VTA dopamine cell spiking. Our results suggest a fundamental difference in how dopamine release is regulated to achieve distinct functions: broadcast burst signals promote learning, whereas local control drives motivation.
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Registered trials
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.