The Experts below are selected from a list of 219 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform

Bernard W. Balleine - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • From learning to action: the integration of dorsal striatal input and output pathways in Instrumental Conditioning.
    The European journal of neuroscience, 2018
    Co-Authors: James Peak, Genevra Hart, Bernard W. Balleine
    Abstract:

    Considerable evidence suggests that the learning and performance of Instrumental actions depend on activity in basal ganglia circuitry; however, these two functions have generally been considered independently. Whereas research investigating the associative mechanisms underlying Instrumental Conditioning has identified critical cortical and limbic input pathways to the dorsal striatum, the performance of Instrumental actions has largely been attributed to activity in the dorsal striatal output pathways, with direct and indirect pathway projection neurons mediating action initiation, perseveration and cessation. Here, we discuss evidence that the dorsal striatal input and basal ganglia output pathways mediate the learning and performance of Instrumental actions, respectively, with the dorsal striatum functioning as a transition point. From this perspective, the issue of how multiple striatal inputs are integrated at the level of the dorsal striatum and converted into relatively restricted outputs becomes one of critical significance for understanding how learning is translated into action. So too does the question of how learning signals are modulated by recent experience. We propose that this occurs through recurrent corticostriatothalamic feedback circuits that serve to integrate performance signals by updating ongoing action-related learning.

  • The role of the anterior, mediodorsal, and parafascicular thalamus in Instrumental Conditioning.
    Frontiers in systems neuroscience, 2013
    Co-Authors: Laura A. Bradfield, Genevra Hart, Bernard W. Balleine
    Abstract:

    The traditional animal model of Instrumental behavior has focused almost exclusively on structures within the cortico-striatal network and ignored the contributions of various thalamic nuclei despite large and specific connections with each of these structures. One possible reason for this is that the thalamus has been conventionally viewed as a mediator of general processes, such as attention, arousal and movement, that are not easily separated from more cognitive aspects of Instrumental behavior. Recent research has, however, begun to separate these roles. Here we review the role of three thalamic nuclei in Instrumental Conditioning: the anterior thalamic nuclei (ANT), the mediodorsal (MD), and parafascicular thalamic nuclei (PF). Early research suggested that ANT might regulate aspects of Instrumental behavior but, on review, we suggest that the types of tasks used in these studies were more likely to recruit Pavlovian processes. Indeed lesions of ANT have been found to have no effect on performance in Instrumental free-operant tasks. By contrast the mediodorsal thalamus (MD) has been found to play a specific and important role in the acquisition of goal-directed action. We propose this role is related to its connections with prelimbic cortex (PL) and present new data that directly implicates this circuit in the acquisition of goal-directed actions. Finally we review evidence suggesting the PF, although not critical for the acquisition or performance of Instrumental actions, plays a specific role in regulating action flexibility.

  • Extracellular Dopamine Levels in Striatal Subregions Track Shifts in Motivation and Response Cost during Instrumental Conditioning
    The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2011
    Co-Authors: Sean B Ostlund, Bernard W. Balleine, Kate M. Wassum, Niall P. Murphy, Nigel T. Maidment
    Abstract:

    Tonic dopamine (DA) signaling is widely regarded as playing a central role in effort-based decision making and in the motivational control of Instrumental performance. The current study used microdialysis to monitor changes in extracellular DA levels across subregions of the nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum of rats as they lever pressed for food reward on a probabilistic schedule of reinforcement, a procedure that ensured they would experience variation in the amount of effort needed to earn rewards across tests. Each rat was given three tests. Rats were hungry for the first and last test, but were sated on food before the middle test, allowing us to assess the effects of a downshift in motivational state on task performance and Conditioning-induced DA efflux. During hungry tests, DA levels rose in both the shell and core of the accumbens and, to a lesser degree, in both the medial and lateral divisions of the dorsal striatum. Interestingly, changes in DA efflux across hungry tests in the accumbens core were negatively correlated with changes in the effort required to obtain rewards. We also found that--across regions--the DA response to Instrumental Conditioning was attenuated when rats were sated before testing. Furthermore, the effect of satiety on DA efflux in the accumbens shell was positively correlated with its effect on task performance. Together, the results indicate that tonic DA contributes to the control of Instrumental performance by conveying information about the costs and benefits of responding to different striatal subregions.

  • the integrative function of the basal ganglia in Instrumental Conditioning
    Behavioural Brain Research, 2009
    Co-Authors: Bernard W. Balleine, Mimi Liljeholm, Sean B Ostlund
    Abstract:

    Recent research in Instrumental Conditioning has focused on the striatum, particularly the role of the dorsal striatum in the learning processes that contribute to Instrumental performance in rats. This research has found evidence of what appear to be parallel, functionally and anatomically distinct circuits involving dorsomedial striatum (DMS) and dorsolateral striatum (DLS) that contribute to two independent Instrumental learning processes. Evidence suggests that the formation of the critical action–outcome associations mediating goal-directed action are localized to the dorsomedial striatum, whereas the sensorimotor connections that control the performance of habitual actions are localized to the dorsolateral striatum. In addition to the dorsal striatum, these learning processes appear to engage distinct corticostriatal networks and to be embedded in a complex of converging and partially segregated loops that constitute the cortico-striatal thalamo-cortical feedback circuit. As the entry point for the basal ganglia, cortical circuits involving the dorsal striatum are clearly in a position to control a variety of motor functions but, as recent studies of various neurodegenerative disorders have made clear, they are also involved in a number of cognitive and executive functions including action selection, planning, and decision-making. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  • Genetic control of Instrumental Conditioning by striatopallidal neuron-specific S1P receptor Gpr6.
    Nature neuroscience, 2007
    Co-Authors: Mary Kay Lobo, Bernard W. Balleine, Sean B Ostlund, Yijun Cui, X. William Yang
    Abstract:

    Instrumental Conditioning allows animals to learn about the consequences of their own actions, but the underpinning molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here we show that the sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor Gpr6 is selectively expressed in the striatopallidal neurons in the striatum. Gpr6-deficient mice showed reduced striatal cyclic AMP production in vitro and selective alterations in Instrumental Conditioning in vivo. Thus, Gpr6 is the first striatopallidal neuron-specific genetic regulator of Instrumental Conditioning in a mammal.

Manuel Schabus - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

Kerstin Hoedlmoser - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

Thomas Pecherstorfer - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

G Gruber - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.