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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 4, 2026

An Operant Intra-/Extra-dimensional Set-shift Task for Mice

An Operant Intra-/Extra-dimensional Set-shift Task for Mice

Published on: January 22, 2016

Phasic dopamine release induced by positive feedback predicts individual differences in reversal learning.

Marianne Klanker¹, Tessa Sandberg², Ruud Joosten²

¹Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Meibergdreef 47, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 22660, 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

|September 8, 2015

Summary

Dopamine (DA) in the striatum helps adapt learned behaviors. This study shows DA signals linked to positive feedback during reversal learning predict individual differences in adapting to changing reward cues.

Keywords:

Cognitive flexibility Dopamine Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry Feedback learning Reversal learning

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Last Updated: Apr 4, 2026

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Published on: August 24, 2016

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Behavioral Neuroscience
Learning and Memory

Background:

Striatal dopamine (DA) is crucial for reward-based learning.
The role of DA in adapting previously learned behaviors to environmental changes, like reversal learning, is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the involvement of DA in the rapid updating of response-reward information during reversal learning.
To examine the dynamics of DA release in the ventromedial striatum during reversal learning.

Main Methods:

Rats were trained on a lever discrimination task with cue-signaled availability.
Response-reward contingencies were reversed after stable discrimination.
Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry was used to monitor DA release in the ventromedial striatum.

Main Results:

Before reversal, cue presentation induced DA release; after reversal, reward delivery did.
Cue-induced DA release rapidly reappeared following correct responses post-reversal, especially in successful learners.
DA signaling patterns related to positive feedback predicted individual learning differences.

Conclusions:

Phasic DA dynamics in the ventromedial striatum encode reward-predicting cues and are associated with positive feedback during reversal learning.
These DA signals predict individual differences in behavioral adaptation, highlighting a distinct role in updating learned behaviors.