title: A "good parent" function of dopamine: transient modulation of learning and performance during early stages of training.
abstract: While extracellular dopamine (DA) concentrations are increased by a wide category of salient stimuli, there is evidence to suggest that DA responses to primary and conditioned rewards may be distinct from those elicited by other types of salient events. A reward-specific mode of neuronal responding would be necessary if DA acts to strengthen behavioral response tendencies under particular environmental conditions or to set current environmental inputs as goals that direct approach responses. As described in this review, DA critically mediates both the acquisition and expression of learned behaviors during early stages of training, however, during later stages, at least some forms of learned behavior become independent of (or less dependent upon) DA transmission for their expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA. jon.horvitz@bc.edu
authors.forename: Jon C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Horvitz
authors.forename: Won Yung
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Cecile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morvan
authors.forename: Yaniv
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Eyny
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Balsam
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001519:Behavior; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001552:Benzazepines / Q000494:pharmacology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D018492:Dopamine Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008954:Models, Biological; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology; D020891:Raclopride / Q000494:pharmacology; D012201:Reward
chemical_list: D001552:Benzazepines; D018492:Dopamine Antagonists; D020891:Raclopride; D004298:Dopamine