Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39561186›Full record

ArticlePLoS computational biology2024

Reward Bases: A simple mechanism for adaptive acquisition of multiple reward types.

Beren Millidge, Yuhang Song, Armin Lak, Mark E Walton, Rafal Bogacz

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS computational biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing 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

14 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. 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
    Article
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  3. A brief history of dopamine prediction errors.Frontiers in computational neuroscience · 2026
    Review
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  13. Multi-timescale reinforcement learning in the brain.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023
    Article
  14. Article
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

5 authors.

Beren MillidgeMRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Yuhang SongMRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-7999-0291
Armin LakDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Mark E WaltonDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Rafal BogaczMRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-8994-1661

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/S006338/1Medical Research Council MC_UU_00003/1Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Animals can adapt their preferences for different types of reward according to physiological state, such as hunger or thirst. To explain this ability, we employ a simple multi-objective reinforcement learning model that learns multiple values according to different reward dimensions such as food or water. We show that by weighting these learned values according to the current needs, behaviour may be flexibly adapted to present preferences. This model predicts that individual dopamine neurons should encode the errors associated with some reward dimensions more than with others. To provide a preliminary test of this prediction, we reanalysed a small dataset obtained from a single primate in an experiment which to our knowledge is the only published study where the responses of dopamine neurons to stimuli predicting distinct types of rewards were recorded. We observed that in addition to subjective economic value, dopamine neurons encode a gradient of reward dimensions; some neurons respond most to stimuli predicting food rewards while the others respond more to stimuli predicting fluids. We also proposed a possible implementation of the model in the basal ganglia network, and demonstrated how the striatal system can learn values in multiple dimensions, even when dopamine neurons encode mixtures of prediction error from different dimensions. Additionally, the model reproduces the instant generalisation to new physiological states seen in dopamine responses and in behaviour. Our results demonstrate how a simple neural circuit can flexibly guide behaviour according to animals' needs.

Indexed as

Dopaminergic NeuronsModels, NeurologicalRewardAnimalsBasal GangliaBehavior, AnimalComputational BiologyLearningReinforcement, Psychology

Identifiers

PMID39561186
PMCPMC11614280

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.