title: Associative learning: the instructive function of biogenic amines.
abstract: Biogenic amines like dopamine or octopamine modify neural function at multiple levels, sensitizing or depressing behaviour. Recent studies in insects have now shown that, besides a role in motivational modulation, biogenic amines substitute the reinforcer function in associative learning, thus instructing the nervous system about the relevance of external events.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre on Animal Cognition, CNRS - University Paul-Sabatier, 31062 Toulouse cedex 9, France. giurfa@cict.fr <giurfa@cict.fr>
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giurfa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D001679:Biogenic Amines / Q000502:physiology*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001679:Biogenic Amines