title: Neural mechanisms of reward-related motor learning.
abstract: The analysis of the neural mechanisms responsible for reward-related learning has benefited from recent studies of the effects of dopamine on synaptic plasticity. Dopamine-dependent synaptic plasticity may lead to strengthening of selected inputs on the basis of an activity-dependent conjunction of sensory afferent activity, motor output activity, and temporally related firing of dopamine cells. Such plasticity may provide a link between the reward-related firing of dopamine cells and the acquisition of changes in striatal cell activity during learning. This learning mechanism may play a special role in the translation of reward signals into context-dependent response probability or directional bias in movement responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. jeff.wickens@otago.ac.nz
authors.forename: Jeffery R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Wickens
authors.forename: John N J
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: Brian I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Hyland
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D012201:Reward