Talk Title: Toward a Normative Understanding of Dopamine’s Function in the Brain

Lecture Followed by a reception.

Dopamine regulates multiple brain functions including learning, motivation, and movement. Furthermore, the striatum, a major target of dopamine neurons, is parceled into multiple subregions that are associated with different types of behavior, such as Pavlovian, goal-directed, and habitual behaviors. An important question in the field is how dopamine regulates these diverse functions. It has been thought that midbrain dopamine neurons broadcast a reward prediction error signal to facilitate associative learning. However, recent studies have found more diverse dopamine signals than originally thought. How can we reconcile these results? In this talk, I will discuss our recent studies characterizing diverse dopamine signals, and how these findings can be understood in theoretical frameworks.

This talk is available by zoom webinar: https://mit.zoom.us/j/92488574365

Don't have an MIT ID and need access to the event? https://tim-tickets.atlas-apps.mit.edu/noJ1Z3N2e82SK3VB8