Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40804043›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Tonic dopamine and biases in value learning linked through a biologically inspired reinforcement learning model.

Sandra Romero Pinto, Naoshige Uchida

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing 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

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Striatal Gradient in Value-Decay Explains Regional Differences in Dopamine Patterns and Reinforcement Learning Computations.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. An opponent striatal circuit for distributional reinforcement learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Sandra Romero PintoDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. sr4265@columbia.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0194-1198
Naoshige UchidaDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. uchida@mcb.harvard.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5755-9409

Funding

Towards a Unified Framework for Dopamine Signaling in the StriatumU19NS113201 · NINDS · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI UCHIDA, NAOSHIGE · 2019 to 2023
$18.7M
Distributional Reinforcement Learning in the BrainR01NS116753 · NINDS · HARVARD UNIVERSITY · PI DRUGOWITSCH, JAN, UCHIDA, NAOSHIGE · 2020 to 2024
$2.9M
NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS116753NINDS NIH HHS U19 NS113201Simons Foundation Simons Collaboration on Global BrainU.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) R01NS116753U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) U19NS113201
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A hallmark of various psychiatric disorders is biased future predictions. Here we examined the mechanisms for biased value learning using reinforcement learning models incorporating recent findings on synaptic plasticity and opponent circuit mechanisms in the basal ganglia. We show that variations in tonic dopamine can alter the balance between learning from positive and negative reward prediction errors, leading to biased value predictions. This bias arises from the sigmoidal shapes of the dose-occupancy curves and distinct affinities of D1- and D2-type dopamine receptors: changes in tonic dopamine differentially alters the slope of the dose-occupancy curves of these receptors, thus sensitivities, at baseline dopamine concentrations. We show that this mechanism can explain biased value learning in both mice and humans and may also contribute to symptoms observed in psychiatric disorders. Our model provides a foundation for understanding the basal ganglia circuit and underscores the significance of tonic dopamine in modulating learning processes.

Indexed as

DopamineLearningReinforcement, PsychologyAnimalsBasal GangliaHumansMaleMiceModels, NeurologicalNeuronal PlasticityReceptors, Dopamine D1Receptors, Dopamine D2RewardDopamineReceptors, Dopamine D1Receptors, Dopamine D2

Identifiers

PMID40804043
PMCPMC12350682

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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.