BOLD Responses Reflecting Dopaminergic Signals in the Human Ventral Tegmental Area

Current theories hypothesize that dopamine neuronal firing encodes reward prediction errors. Although studies in nonhuman species provide direct support for this theory, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies in humans have focused on brain areas targeted by dopamine neurons [ventral s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2008-02, Vol.319 (5867), p.1264-1267
Main Authors: D'Ardenne, Kimberlee, McClure, Samuel M, Nystrom, Leigh E, Cohen, Jonathan D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Basal Ganglia - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Brain research
Brain stem
Central nervous system
Central neurotransmission. Neuromudulation. Pathways and receptors
Conditioning, Classical
Cues
Dopamine - physiology
Error signals
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Imaging
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Mental Processes - physiology
Midbrain
Neurons
Neuroscience
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Oxygen - blood
Probability
Reinforcement (Psychology)
Reward
Signal reflection
T tests
Ventral tegmental area
Ventral Tegmental Area - physiology
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
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Summary:Current theories hypothesize that dopamine neuronal firing encodes reward prediction errors. Although studies in nonhuman species provide direct support for this theory, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies in humans have focused on brain areas targeted by dopamine neurons [ventral striatum (VStr)] rather than on brainstem dopaminergic nuclei [ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra]. We used fMRI tailored to directly image the brainstem. When primary rewards were used in an experiment, the VTA blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response reflected a positive reward prediction error, whereas the VStr encoded positive and negative reward prediction errors. When monetary gains and losses were used, VTA BOLD responses reflected positive reward prediction errors modulated by the probability of winning. We detected no significant VTA BOLD response to nonrewarding events.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1150605