美国约翰霍普金斯大学Patricia H. Janak课题组发现腹侧苍白球中的奖励预测误差定量信号。相关论文于2020年8月10日在线发表在《自然—神经科学》杂志上。

研究人员在腹侧苍白球（VP，与奖励寻求行为相关的基底神经节区域）中定量了基于结局历史的奖励预测误差（RPE）信号。研究人员训练了大鼠对奖励预测线索做出响应，并拟合了计算模型来预测奖励交付时单个神经元的放电速率。研究人员发现，VP神经元的一个亚群编码RPE，并且比伏隔核（VP的输入）更强大。VP RPE预测了任务投入的变化，并且在奖励交付期间对VP的光遗传学操纵双向地改变了大鼠随后的奖励寻求行为。

这些数据表明，VP在计算影响适应性奖励寻求的教学信号中起着关键作用。

据了解，神经系统被认为可以计算奖励预测误差（RPE），从而促进适应性行为。在中脑多巴胺系统中人们已观察到RPE的相关性，但对其他奖励处理区域中RPE信号存在的程度的了解却很少。

附：英文原文

Title: A quantitative reward prediction error signal in the ventral pallidum

Author: David J. Ottenheimer, Bilal A. Bari, Elissa Sutlief, Kurt M. Fraser, Tabitha H. Kim, Jocelyn M. Richard, Jeremiah Y. Cohen, Patricia H. Janak

Issue&Volume: 2020-08-10

Abstract: The nervous system is hypothesized to compute reward prediction errors (RPEs) to promote adaptive behavior. Correlates of RPEs have been observed in the midbrain dopamine system, but the extent to which RPE signals exist in other reward-processing regions is less well understood. In the present study, we quantified outcome history-based RPE signals in the ventral pallidum (VP), a basal ganglia region functionally linked to reward-seeking behavior. We trained rats to respond to reward-predicting cues, and we fit computational models to predict the firing rates of individual neurons at the time of reward delivery. We found that a subset of VP neurons encoded RPEs and did so more robustly than the nucleus accumbens, an input to the VP. VP RPEs predicted changes in task engagement, and optogenetic manipulation of the VP during reward delivery bidirectionally altered rats’ subsequent reward-seeking behavior. Our data suggest a pivotal role for the VP in computing teaching signals that influence adaptive reward seeking.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-0688-5

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-020-0688-5