title: Learning-dependent plasticity in human auditory cortex during appetitive operant conditioning.
abstract: Animal experiments provide evidence that learning to associate an auditory stimulus with a reward causes representational changes in auditory cortex. However, most studies did not investigate the temporal formation of learning-dependent plasticity during the task but rather compared auditory cortex receptive fields before and after conditioning. We here present a functional magnetic resonance imaging study on learning-related plasticity in the human auditory cortex during operant appetitive conditioning. Participants had to learn to associate a specific category of frequency-modulated tones with a reward. Only participants who learned this association developed learning-dependent plasticity in left auditory cortex over the course of the experiment. No differential responses to reward predicting and nonreward predicting tones were found in auditory cortex in nonlearners. In addition, learners showed similar learning-induced differential responses to reward-predicting and nonreward-predicting tones in the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens, two core regions of the dopaminergic neurotransmitter system. This may indicate a dopaminergic influence on the formation of learning-dependent plasticity in auditory cortex, as it has been suggested by previous animal studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Puschmann
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brechmann
authors.forename: Christiane M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Thiel
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D059032:Learning Curve; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000502:physiology; D012201:Reward; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004298:Dopamine