ArticleeLife2021
Tonic firing mode of midbrain dopamine neurons continuously tracks reward values changing moment-by-moment.
Article in eLife, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Endogenous Opioid System in Compulsive Eating.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Prediction error correlates in the striosome-dopamine circuit emerge from information gain.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- The neural basis of prosocial effort-based decision making in older adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Rapid dopaminergic signatures in movement: Reach vigor reflects reward prediction error and learned expectation.Science advances · 2026Article
- Impact of distinct neurotransmitter release modes on neuronal signaling.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Adenosine in the Brain: Recent Progress on Detection, Function, and Translation.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Review
- Tonic dopamine and biases in value learning linked through a biologically inspired reinforcement learning model.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Kappa opioid receptors diminish spontaneous dopamine signals in awake mice through multiple mechanisms.Neuropharmacology · 2025Article
- Striatal dopamine signals errors in prediction across different informational domains.Science advances · 2025Article
- Levodopa treatment: impacts and mechanisms throughout Parkinson's disease progression.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Review
- Rapid Dopaminergic Signatures in Movement: Reach Vigor Reflects Reward Prediction Error and Learned Expectation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Pre-choice midbrain fluctuations affect self-control in food choice: A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- The lateral habenula regulates stress-related respiratory responses via the monoaminergic system.Pflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Midbrain KCC2 downregulation: Implications for stress-related and substance use behaviors.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2024Review
- Enhanced cognitive flexibility and phasic striatal dopamine dynamics in a mouse model of low striatal tonic dopamine.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Article
- A chemogenetic approach for dopamine imaging with tunable sensitivity.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Human Substantia Nigra Neurons Encode Reward Expectations.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Striatal and Behavioral Responses to Reward Vary by Socioeconomic Status in Adolescents.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Parkinson's Disease: Cells Succumbing to Lifelong Dopamine-Related Oxidative Stress and Other Bioenergetic Challenges.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Animal behavior is regulated based on the values of future rewards. The phasic activity of midbrain dopamine neurons signals these values. Because reward values often change over time, even on a subsecond-by-subsecond basis, appropriate behavioral regulation requires continuous value monitoring. However, the phasic dopamine activity, which is sporadic and has a short duration, likely fails continuous monitoring. Here, we demonstrate a tonic firing mode of dopamine neurons that effectively tracks changing reward values. We recorded dopamine neuron activity in monkeys during a Pavlovian procedure in which the value of a cued reward gradually increased or decreased. Dopamine neurons tonically increased and decreased their activity as the reward value changed. This tonic activity was evoked more strongly by non-burst spikes than burst spikes producing a conventional phasic activity. Our findings suggest that dopamine neurons change their firing mode to effectively signal reward values in a given situation.
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