Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: Decision-making often involves using sensory cues to predict possible rewarding or punishing reinforcement outcomes before selecting a course of action. Recent work has revealed complexity in how the brain learns to predict rewards and punishments. Analysis of neural signaling during and after learning in the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex, two brain areas that process appetitive and aversive stimuli, reveals a dynamic relationship between appetitive and aversive circuits. Specifically, the relationship between signaling in appetitive and aversive circuits in these areas shifts as a function of learning. Furthermore, although appetitive and aversive circuits may often drive opposite behaviors - approaching or avoiding reinforcement depending upon its valence - these circuits can also drive similar behaviors, such as enhanced arousal or attention; these processes also may influence choice behavior. These data highlight the formidable challenges ahead in dissecting how appetitive and aversive neural circuits interact to produce a complex and nuanced range of behaviors.
Source: Frontiers in Neuroscience
Authors: Crista L. Barberini, Sara E. Morrison, Alex Saez, Brian Lau, C. Daniel Salzman
Language: English
Topic: Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
Awards: Neural mechanisms underlying simple and complex reinforcement learning, Elucidation of prefrontal-amygdala neural circuitry with optogenetic techniques, Core Facilities for Vision Research, Neurobiology and Behavior Research Training Grant, G5606419172, Neural Mechanisms Underlying Reinforcement Learning, G737831313, Neurophysiology underlying neural representations of value, Research Training in Mood and Anxiety Disorders: From Animal Models to Patients
OpenAlex ID: W2121236804