ArticleeNeuro2024
Sensory Cues Potentiate VTA Dopamine Mediated Reinforcement.
Article in eNeuro, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Basolateral amygdala dopamine transmits emotional salience.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Demonstrating the ability of GABAergic cells in the zona incerta to modulate motivation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The gut-brain vagal axis governs mesolimbic dopamine dynamics and reward events.Science advances · 2026Article
- Sex, social rank, and nicotine co-administration shape cocaine- and cocaethylene-induced reinstatement in monkeys.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- VTA dopamine neuron activity produces spatially organized value representations.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 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
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Sensory cues are critical for shaping decisions and invigorating actions during reward seeking. Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are central in this process, supporting associative learning in Pavlovian and instrumental settings. Studies of intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) behavior, which show that animals will work hard to receive stimulation of dopamine neurons, support the notion that dopamine transmits a reward or value signal to support learning. Recent studies have begun to question this, however, emphasizing dopamine's value-free functions, leaving its contribution to behavioral reinforcement somewhat muddled. Here, we investigated the role of sensory stimuli in dopamine-mediated reinforcement, using an optogenetic ICSS paradigm in tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-Cre rats. We find that while VTA dopamine neuron activation in the absence of explicit external cues is sufficient to maintain robust self-stimulation, the presence of cues dramatically potentiates ICSS behavior. Our results support a framework where dopamine can have some base value as a reinforcer, but the impact of this signal is modulated heavily by the sensory learning context.
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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.