Region-specific weighting of sensory intensity and reward prediction error by dopamine signals

Growing evidence shows that dopamine signaling is diverse, with dopaminergic neurons responding to rewarding and aversive stimuli. Here, we hypothesized that this heterogeneity arises from a distributed balance between two components of dopamine signaling: sensory intensity of a stimulus, and reward prediction error. To test this, we simultaneously recorded dopamine release across striatal and cortico-amygdalar circuits using multi-site fiber photometry and a fluorescent dopamine sensor during a classical conditioning paradigm. Using a regression model, we found that striatal areas such as the dorsal striatum and nucleus accumbens emphasized reward prediction error, whereas the medial prefrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala favored sensory intensity. Noise correlation analyses further supported these findings by revealing two modules of coordinated dopamine activity: one linking striatal regions and another linking cortical-amygdalar circuits. Together, our results suggest that dopamine balances sensory and reward information, a mechanism that may support attentional processes alongside its role in associative learning.