Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40505657›Full record

ArticleCell2025

Dopamine encodes deep network teaching signals for individual learning trajectories.

Samuel Liebana, Aeron Laffere, Chiara Toschi, Louisa Schilling, Jessica Moretti, Jacek Podlaski, Matthias Fritsche, Peter Zatka-Haas, Yulong Li, Rafal Bogacz and 2 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cell, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing 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

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Inferring learning rules during de novo task learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Dopaminergic computations for perceptual decisions.Current opinion in behavioral sciences · 2024
    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

12 authors.

Samuel LiebanaDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK. Electronic address: samuel.liebanagarcia@dpag.ox.ac.uk.
Aeron LaffereDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK.
Chiara ToschiDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK.
Louisa SchillingDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK.
Jessica MorettiDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK.
Jacek PodlaskiDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK.
Matthias FritscheDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK.
Peter Zatka-HaasDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK.
Yulong LiSchool of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Rafal BogaczMRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TH, UK.
Andrew SaxeGatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit & Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, University College London, London W1T 4JG, UK.
Armin LakDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK. Electronic address: armin.lak@dpag.ox.ac.uk.

Funding

Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Striatal dopamine plays fundamental roles in fine-tuning learned decisions. However, when learning from naive to expert, individuals often exhibit diverse learning trajectories, defying understanding of its underlying dopaminergic mechanisms. Here, we longitudinally measure and manipulate dorsal striatal dopamine signals in mice learning a decision task from naive to expert. Mice learning trajectories transitioned through sequences of strategies, showing substantial individual diversity. Remarkably, the transitions were systematic; each mouse's early strategy determined its strategy weeks later. Dopamine signals reflected strategies each animal transitioned through, encoding a subset of stimulus-choice associations. Optogenetic manipulations selectively updated these associations, leading to learning effects distinct from that of reward. A deep neural network using heterogeneous teaching signals, each updating a subset of network association weights, captured our results. Analyzing the model's fixed points explained learning diversity and systematicity. Altogether, this work provides insights into the biological and mathematical principles underlying individual long-term learning trajectories.

Indexed as

DopamineLearningAnimalsCorpus StriatumDecision MakingDeep LearningMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLNeural Networks, ComputerOptogeneticsRewardDopaminebasal gangliadopaminegradient descentindividual variabilitylong-term learningneural networkreinforcement learningreward prediction errorsaddle pointstriatum

Identifiers

PMID40505657
PMCPMC7619352

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.