Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33861952›Full record

ArticleCell2021

Wave-like dopamine dynamics as a mechanism for spatiotemporal credit assignment.

Arif A Hamid, Michael J Frank, Christopher I Moore

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cell, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 114 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
114citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

114 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Sequence termination cues drive automated habit-like strategy via dopamine-mediated processes.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
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  7. Article
  8. Controlling Spatio-Temporal Sequences of Neural Activity by Local Synaptic Changes.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Prefrontal Mechanisms of Rule Learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Dual cholinergic mechanisms for sculpting striatal dopamine in vivo.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Trial-by-trial learning of successor representations in human behavior.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  20. Article

54 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Arif A HamidDepartment of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA; Carney Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Electronic address: arifhamid.DA@gmail.com.
Michael J FrankDepartment of Cognitive Linguistics & Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA; Carney Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Electronic address: michael_frank@brown.edu.
Christopher I MooreDepartment of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA; Carney Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Electronic address: christopher_moore@brown.edu.

Funding

Project 4_Bruchas : Circuit-level Approaches for Dissecting Approach/Avoidance Behaviors Mediated by Nociceptin Systems in MiceP50MH119467 · NIMH · MCLEAN HOSPITAL · PI PIZZAGALLI, DIEGO A · 2020 to 2024
$15.9M
Cognitive Neurocomputational Task Reliability and Clinical Applications ConsortiumR01MH084840 · NIMH · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI Deanna Barch, Cameron S. Carter · 2008 to 2026
$8.5M
Clinical and Computational Studies of Dopamine Function in SchizophreniaR01MH080066 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · PI GOLD, JAMES M. · 2008 to 2017
$6.4M
Howard Hughes Medical InstituteNIMH NIH HHS P50 MH119467NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH080066NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH084840
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Significant evidence supports the view that dopamine shapes learning by encoding reward prediction errors. However, it is unknown whether striatal targets receive tailored dopamine dynamics based on regional functional specialization. Here, we report wave-like spatiotemporal activity patterns in dopamine axons and release across the dorsal striatum. These waves switch between activational motifs and organize dopamine transients into localized clusters within functionally related striatal subregions. Notably, wave trajectories were tailored to task demands, propagating from dorsomedial to dorsolateral striatum when rewards are contingent on animal behavior and in the opponent direction when rewards are independent of behavioral responses. We propose a computational architecture in which striatal dopamine waves are sculpted by inference about agency and provide a mechanism to direct credit assignment to specialized striatal subregions. Supporting model predictions, dorsomedial dopamine activity during reward-pursuit signaled the extent of instrumental control and interacted with reward waves to predict future behavioral adjustments.

Indexed as

Behavior, AnimalRewardAnimalsAxonsCorpus StriatumDopamineFemaleMaleMiceMice, Mutant StrainsDopamineagency learningbasal gangliacredit assignmentdecisionmakingdopaminemotivated behaviorsreinforcement learningstriatum

Identifiers

PMID33861952
PMCPMC8122079

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.