Status-dependent competition engagement via mesocortical pathway

The decision to engage in competition, enabling individuals to acquire resources with minimal risk and energetic cost, is based on prior outcomes. Yet the neural mechanism underlying this decision-making process remains unclear. Here, we developed a win maze, allowing mice to voluntarily decide whether to re-engage in competition following an outcome. Dominant males showed a stronger preference for competition engagement than subordinate males. Mechanistically, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) population activity exhibited rotational dynamics during the task, with the competition process driving an enlarged loop trajectory, and remained within the competition-related latent space during consecutive win trials. Meanwhile, winning outcomes evoked dmPFC dopamine release, which was associated with competition re-engagement. Consistently, inhibiting the ventral tegmental area (VTA)^DA → dmPFC pathway or dmPFC dopamine D1 receptor-positive (D1R⁺) neurons during winning outcomes abolished re-engagement in dominant males, whereas activating the VTA^DA → dmPFC pathway enhanced engagement in subordinate males. Together, these findings reveal a status-dependent dopamine mechanism that translates competitive outcomes into future engagement decisions.