Dopaminergic and prefrontal basis of learning from sensory confidence and reward value. Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience (Beacon) Seminar
Deciding between stimuli requires combining their learned value with one’s sensory confidence. We trained mice in a visual task that probes this combination. Mouse choices reflected not only present confidence and past rewards but also past confidence. Their behaviour conformed to a model that combines signal detection with reinforcement learning. In the model, the predicted value of the chosen option is the product of sensory confidence and learned value. We found precise correlates of this variable in the pre-outcome activity of midbrain dopamine neurons and of medial prefrontal cortical neurons. However, only the latter played a causal role: inactivating medial prefrontal cortex before outcome strengthened learning from the outcome. Dopamine neurons played a causal role only after outcome, when they encoded reward prediction errors graded by confidence, influencing subsequent choices. These results reveal neural signals that combine learned value with sensory confidence before choice outcome and guide subsequent learning.
Date:
3 December 2019, 13:00 (Tuesday, 8th week, Michaelmas 2019)
Venue:
Biology South Parks Road, South Parks Road OX1 3RB
Venue Details:
Schlich Lecture Theatre
Speaker:
Dr Armin Lak (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Organising department:
Department of Experimental Psychology
Organiser:
Dr Nick Myers (University of Oxford )
Organiser contact email address:
nicholas.myers@psy.ox.ac.uk
Part of:
Department of Experimental Psychology - Cognitive & Behavioural Neuroscience Seminar series (BEACON)
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editors:
Nicholas Irving,
George Goss,
Nicola Bridge
