Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39054370›Full record

ReviewNature neuroscience2024

Explaining dopamine through prediction errors and beyond.

Samuel J Gershman, John A Assad, Sandeep Robert Datta, Scott W Linderman, Bernardo L Sabatini, Naoshige Uchida, Linda Wilbrecht

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Nature neuroscience, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
47citing papers in PubMed
–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

47 citing papers in PubMed.

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  8. Mesocorticostriatal Reinforcement Learning of State Representation and Value with Implications for the Mechanisms of Schizophrenia.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
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  16. Consensus Paper: Models of Cerebellar Functions.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2026
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Samuel J GershmanDepartment of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. gershman@fas.harvard.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6546-3298
John A AssadDepartment of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Sandeep Robert DattaDepartment of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8068-3862
Scott W LindermanDepartment of Statistics and Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3878-9073
Bernardo L SabatiniKempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0095-9177
Naoshige UchidaDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5755-9409
Linda WilbrechtDepartment of Psychology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3492-8141

Funding

Towards a Unified Framework for Dopamine Signaling in the StriatumU19NS113201 · NINDS · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI DATTA, SANDEEP R · 2019 to 2023
$18.7M
NINDS NIH HHS U19 NS113201United States Department of Defense | United States Air Force | AFMC | Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AF Office of Scientific Research) FA9550-20-1-0413U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health (NIH) U19-NS-113201-01
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The most influential account of phasic dopamine holds that it reports reward prediction errors (RPEs). The RPE-based interpretation of dopamine signaling is, in its original form, probably too simple and fails to explain all the properties of phasic dopamine observed in behaving animals. This Perspective helps to resolve some of the conflicting interpretations of dopamine that currently exist in the literature. We focus on the following three empirical challenges to the RPE theory of dopamine: why does dopamine (1) ramp up as animals approach rewards, (2) respond to sensory and motor features and (3) influence action selection? We argue that the prediction error concept, once it has been suitably modified and generalized based on an analysis of each computational problem, answers each challenge. Nonetheless, there are a number of additional empirical findings that appear to demand fundamentally different theoretical explanations beyond encoding RPE. Therefore, looking forward, we discuss the prospects for a unifying theory that respects the diversity of dopamine signaling and function as well as the complex circuitry that both underlies and responds to dopaminergic transmission.

Indexed as

DopamineRewardAnimalsHumansModels, NeurologicalDopamine

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

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.